Nijhum Dwip Island of Bangladesh

Nijhum Dwip Island

Nijhum Dwip Island of Bangladesh

Nijhum Dwip which means Quiet Island, is a small island under Hatiya upazila. It is situated in Noakhali District in Bangladesh. Once it was called Char Osman

Map Of Nijhum Dwip. A cluster of islands (mainly, Ballar Char, Kamlar char,Char Osman and Char Muri) emerged in the early 1950s as an alluvium in the shallow estuary of the Bay of Bengal On the south of Noakhali. These new sandbanks first drew the notice of a group of fishermen, who named it Baular Char (literally, the alluvium of sand) later transformed into Ballar Char. Occupying an area of 14050 acres the island situated between 21 0 1 / to 22 0 6 /north latitude and 90 0 3 / to 91 0 4 / east longitude

Migratory Birds in Nijhum Dwip. During winter, thousands of migratory birds flock in to island. The fishermen use the airy and sunny land as an ideal place for drying their catches from the sea. Sometimes many of them also construct straw huts on the island as seasonal residences.

In 1974 the Forest Department took an aforestation program for a duration of twenty years in the north side of the island. Covering an area of nine thousand acres, it has now developed into a deep forest with a variety of plant species. Among the trees Keora is much seen. Besides this Gewa, Kankra, Bain, Babul, Karamja, Pashur and many other species are seen.

On 8 th April, 2001 the government declared the 40390 acres of forest of Jahajmara range including 9550 acres of forest land on Nijhum Dwip as a National Park for the protection and development of the biodiversity of the forest. But in practice, there a very lazy appearance of that declaration.

It was named 'Nijhum Dwip' by former Minister Amirul Islam Kalam in 1979 observing its isolation and mild nature.