Karimganj, Assam, India

🇮🇳 Karimganj, officially Sribhumi, is a town in the Karimganj district of the Indian state of Assam. It is the administrative headquarters of the district. The area of Karimganj Town is 16.09 km². It has an average elevation of 13 metres (42 feet).

Bengali and Meitei (Manipuri) are the official and the additional official languages of the town respectively.

On 21 November 2024, the Assam government renamed Karimganj town as Sribhumi town.

Demographics As per as the official census of 2011, Karimganj Town had a population of 56,854 of which 28,473 are males while 28,381 are females. Children in the age group of 0 to 6 years were 4,946. Karimganj had a literacy rate of 86.35%, out of which male literacy was 87.91% and female literacy was 84.78%. The sex ratio is 996. There were 12,234 households as of 2011.

Most of the people in the town follow Hinduism, with significant followers of Islam and a small Christian and Jain population.

Politics Karimganj is a part of Karimganj North Assembly constituency and Karimganj (Lok Sabha constituency).

Education Various educational institutions and higher secondary are well established and run by the government in Karimganj.

Among them, the most notable are: • Barak Valley Engineering College (BVEC). Located 22.6 km away from the town, it is the first and only State Govt-Engineering college in the entire Barak Valley. • Karimganj Polytechnic

Degree colleges: • Karimganj College • Karimganj Law College • Ramkrishna Nagar College • Rabindra Sadan Girls' College

Sports parks: • Government Boys' HS School Ground

All colleges in Karimganj are affiliated with Assam University.

Etymology Rabindranath Tagore referred to the region as Sribhumi (শ্রীভূমি), and in November 2024, the district was officially renamed to reflect Tagore's vision. Previously known as Karimganj, the district derived its name from Muhammad Karim Chowdhury, a Bengali Muslim mirashdar who established a bazaar (market) near the confluence of the Natikhal and Kushiyara rivers.

History In 1778, Karimganj was established as a subdivision of the undivided Sylhet district, comprising 40 parganas. The name "Karimganj" is derived from Muhammad Karim Chowdhury, a Bengali Muslim mirashdar who established a bazaar (market) south of the confluence of the Natikhal and Kushiyara River. However, due to the Natikhal drying up during autumn, the market was relocated in the 1870s to what is now the town of Karimganj.

1900s During the partition of India in 1947, a plebiscite was held to determine whether the Sylhet region, including Karimganj, would remain in India or join East Pakistan. Abdul Matlib Mazumdar led a delegation advocating for the region to remain with India. However, due to demands from the Muslim League and support from Assam's political leaders at the time, the plebiscite resulted in Sylhet's transfer to Pakistan by a narrow margin. Allegations of electoral fraud and irregularities were raised, but the results stood.

Following the partition, Sylhet was incorporated into East Pakistan, while Karimganj was divided, with part of it remaining in India to ensure connectivity with Tripura. The Kushiyara River was established as the international border between India and Pakistan. Portions of Greater Karimganj, including Beani-Bazar, Barlekha, Shahpur, and Zakiganj, became part of Pakistan.

2000s On 21 November 2024, Karimganj district was officially renamed Sribhumi to honour Rabindranath Tagore, who had described the region as the land of goddess Lakshmi.

Protests and Objections to Renaming The Assam government’s decision to rename Karimganj district as Sribhumi sparked widespread protests and objections from local residents, civil society groups, and opposition parties. Critics argued that the move lacked public consultation and undermined the district’s historical and cultural identity. Nearly 300,000 people signed a memorandum submitted to the Governor opposing the renaming, calling it politically motivated.

A 12-hour bandh was observed on 3 September 2025, backed by the Congress, Left parties, and several local organisations. Clashes broke out between protesters and police during demonstrations, resulting in injuries and detentions.

In early 2025, more than 200,000 citizens signed another petition urging the government to retain the name Karimganj, describing the renaming as unilateral and harmful to the district’s heritage.

Geography Karimganj district occupies an area of 1,809 square km (698 sq mi), comparatively equivalent to Alaska's Afognak Island. It is bordered on the north-east by Cachar District, east and south by Hailakandi District, south by Mizoram, south-west by Tripura state, and on the west and north-west by Bangladesh. Karimganj, the administrative headquarters and main town of the district, also bears the same name. Karimganj town is located on the northern fringe of the district adjoining Bangladesh by the Kushiyara River.

Its distance from Guwahati – the largest city of Assam - is approximately 330 km by road and about 350 km by rail. Distances to other important cities are as follows: Silchar – 55 km, Shillong – 220 km, Agartala – 250 km. Flanked on two sides by the Kushiyara and Longai rivers, Karimganj town is located just on the Bangladesh border, with the Kushiyara river flowing in between. One prominent feature of the place is a long and winding canal called Noti Khal, meandering through the town. Earlier, it used to be a connecting riverway between Kushiyara and Longai, facilitating river communication and also balancing water levels between the two rivers. Now, however, this canal has been blocked at several places through embankments and landfills to pave the way for road transport and construction works. Karimganj and the Barak valley have been prone to serious flooding for decades. The recent floods that caused significant damage were in 1976, 1988, and 2007.

Wildlife The forests of Karimganj were once rich in wildlife but are now vanishing due to hunting, deforestation, and urbanization. Rare species found in the region include the Tiger, Hoolock gibbon, Porcupine, Golden Langur, Monkey, Fox, Asian Elephant, Giant river otter, macaws, parrots, Parakeets, Hornbill, different types of local and migratory birds, Snakes, Capybara, etc. These animals are found mostly in the Patharia Hills reserve forest. Many have suggested it be named an official wildlife sanctuary due to its biodiversity, with another sanctuary being created in the southern part of the forest named Dhaleswari Wildlife Sanctuary.

Economy The town of Karimganj is an important centre of trade and commerce in north-eastern India. Its river port is capable of handling large volumes of cargo carried by ships coming through rivers via Bangladesh. Karimganj is also a border trade centre and import-export business worth crores of rupees carried out through the custom trade point at Dakbangla Ghat in the town and the Sutarkandi Custom Station.

Karimganj is an agricultural district. Historically, tea has been the major agricultural product of the Cachar region including Karimganj.

Divisions Karimganj District has one sub-division. The district has 5 circles (also known as tehsils), Karimganj, Badarpur, Nilambazar, Patharkandi and Ramkrishna Nagar, two cities Karimganj and Patharkandi, 7 police stations (Karimganj, Badarpur, Ramkrishna Nagar, Patharkandi, Ratabari, Nilambazar, and Bazarichara), 95 gram panchayats.

Transport The nearest airport is Kumbhirgram (85 km) near Silchar, in Cachar. Karimganj town is also an important river port and has seasonal cargo and freight transport links with Kolkata through river ways via Bangladesh.

Transport: Rail Karimganj town is linked via both rail and road transport with the rest of India. Karimganj town has a railway junction, with broad gauge lines connecting Assam with Tripura pass through this station. Badarpur railway station is the biggest junction of the district.

Transport: Road The most popular mode of passenger transport is road. A good number of buses - mostly night services - ply between Karimganj and Guwahati daily. Direct long-distance bus services are also available to Shillong, Agartala, and Aizawl. Communication with Silchar, Badarpur, Patharkandi and other nearby places is also mainly dependent on road transport, with services by all sorts of light and heavy vehicles available at frequent intervals.

Sutarkandi international border crossing The district is home to the Sutarkandi International border crossing, which is on Bangladesh–India border on Karimganj-Beanibazar route.