Name of 3 unions in Bogura changed

After the controversy, the district administration has decided to change the names of the three unions discussed in Bogura's Shibganj and the newly formed Mokamtala upazila. The new names have been approved based on the opinions of local residents. The new names will come into effect after the final approval of the Local Government Department and the publication of the government gazette.

The proposal in this regard was approved at a coordination meeting held at the Deputy Commissioner's office on Sunday (July 19).

As per the decision, the new name of Mirbari Union in Shibganj Upazila will be Betgari Union. The name of Simanta Union in the newly formed Mokamtala Upazila has been changed to Jagannathpur Union and Diganta Union has been changed to Rahabal Union. However, the name of Swarnagram Union will remain unchanged.

Deputy Commissioner Md. Taufiqur Rahman said that the new names have been approved in the coordination meeting. Now the matter will be sent to the Local Government Department. The names will officially come into effect after the approval of the ministry and the publication of the gazette.

In a notification published on June 14, the names of four new unions for the administrative reorganization of Shibganj Upazila and the newly formed Mokamtala Upazila were announced. These were Mirbari, Simanto, Diganta and Swarnagram.

However, the name Mirbari was the name of the ancestral home of Mir Shahe Alam, the State Minister for Local Government and Member of Parliament for Bogra-2 constituency, and the names Simanto and Diganta were similar to the names of his two sons, which led to widespread criticism on social media. Later, the issue was also discussed in the National Parliament. Although State Minister Mir Shahe Alam claimed that the similarity of the names was a coincidence.

After the debate, the administration said that the names were decided based on the opinions of the local people. However, this claim was also questioned. Later, public hearings were organized on the instructions of the Prime Minister. A public hearing was held on June 23 regarding the renaming of the three unions, and a second round of public hearings was held on June 25 to determine the new name of Diganta Union. The new names of the three unions were finalized based on the recommendations received from there.