About District

The present district of Buxar consists of areas under Buxar Sadar and Dumraon Sub-Division of the old Bhojpur district and came in existence in the year 1991. Buxar town is the headquarter of the district and also its principal town. The district is bounded on the north by Ballia district of U.P., on the south by Rohtas district, on the west by Ghazipur and Ballia districts of U.P. and on the east by Bhojpur district.

Buxar district consist of 2 Sub-division and 11 Blocks. Of the 11 Blocks, 7 are in Dumraon Sub-division while 4 in Buxar Sadar Sub-division. A town is located each in Buxar and Dumraon Sub-division. All the blocks and the towns of the district are distributed within the Sub-division as below:-

NATURE DIVISION:

Buxar district consist of two Sub-divisions viz. Buxar Sadar and Dumraon stretching over an area of 1,62,380 hectares. The entire strip of land between the river Ganges on the north and the main line of the Eastern Railways on the South, is a low lying alluvial place. The region is considered to be the best wheat growing area in the the State.

The Ganges forms the northern boundary of the district. The river Karmansa joins the Ganges near Chousa.

CLIMATIC CONDITION:

The climate of the district is moderate. The hot weather begins from the middle of March when hot westerly winds begin to blow during the day. The months of April and May are extremely hot, normally the monsoon sets in by the third week of June and continues with intermission till the end of September. The cold weather begins from the months of November and lasts till the beginning of March, January is the coldest month when the temperature comes down as low as 10˚ C. From the month of April, till the break of monsoon, the district experiences occasional thunder storms also.

RAINFALL:

Rain sets sometimes in June accompanied by fall in temperature and increase in humidity. The district experiences maximum rain during the months of July and August. There is slight rainfall in October but November and December are quite dry.

FORESTS:

Due to deforestation, the forest area of this district is very thin. Some commom trees of this district are Mango, Seasum, Mahua, Bamboo and some types of long grasses (Jhalas) are found near diara area of the river Ganga. Jhalas grass is mostly used in roat making of kuccha houses.

The forest of the district are not rich in their products. Fire wood is the most important among its products.

The district had variety of wild animals and game birds when the forest were thick. With the increase in irrigation facilities, the area under cultivation has grown, consequently diminishing the forest. The wild animals have suffered in the process and their number has gone down very considerably. Neelgain, spotted deer, are found in the Plains and near the Ganga bank. A considerable number of monkeys are also found in the Buxar Town area.

Birds of different types like Parrot, Patridges, Quails are also found in the district.

IRRIGATION FACILITIES:

The river Sone and Ganges are the perennial source of surface water. They can provide irrigation to major portion of agricultural land. In the pre Zamindari abolition days the zamindars used to maintain hars and pynes which served the purpose of both irrigation and drainage.

The district Gazetteer of Shahabad (1966) mention as follows:-

The agricultural prosperity of the district depends on artificial irrigation without which may tracts would be uncultivated and the land would be unable to grow sufficient food crops to sustain its population. The three great sources of irrigation were artificial reservoirs, wells and Sone Canal, all of which helped to supplement the natural supply of water and to compensate for its inadequacy or untimely distribution. Ahars are artificial reservoirs meant to collect the rain water. These long shallow tanks where protected by small embankments and served as artificial catchment basin for receiving the water coming down from the adjacent lands. From the ahars, water channels (pines) are connected. The maintenance of the pines was the responsibility of the landlords.

The swoons of artificial irrigation mentioned so far however are of minor importance as compared to the Sone Canal system which has been the most important source of irrigation in the district.

LAND USE PATTERNS:

In this district both the irrigated and non-irrigated areas are being exploited for cultivation purpose. Even some of the large ponds (Jhils) like one at Dumraon which was a duck shooting area have been put to use for cultivation purpose.

Rice, wheat, grams and pluses are the main crops of the district: in some areas near, old Bhojpur vegetables are abundantly grown. These crops and vegetables are transported to other districts. The straw is used as fodder and for rooting the Houses.

MINES AND MINERALS:

The mineral resources of this district is negligible.

INDUSTRIALISATION:

There are however different types of small scale and cottage industries located in this district of Buxar, the details of which have been given below::

• Soap Industry: It is mainly concentrated in Buxar and Dumraon.
• Timber and Furniture works: It is located at Buxar and Dumraon.
• Leather Industry: There are individual leather workers all over the district.

There is a concentration of them at Khilafatpur village in Buxar Sadar Sub-division who are engaged in shoe making. There is shoe making centre in the village which has also been receiving help from the industries department.

LIVE STOCK:

The district of Buxar has large majority of the people engaged in agricultural pursuits and deriving their livelihood from agricultural pursuits. The possession of livestock generally adds to the social status of the farmer. The quality of the live stock has improved because of serious efforts by the Government and the response of the farmers. Since the district has quite a large population of prosperous agriculturists mostly due to the suitability of facilities of canal irrigation the farmers of the canal irrigated area have considerably cattle wealth. Agricultural census conducted taken in 1991 shows the cattle wealth of the district as: Cow-184325, Sheep-15430, Horse-3341, Camel-15, Buffalo-114112, Goat-82186, Mula-240, Ass-1646, Pig-13235, Poultry-70305.

COMMUNICATIONS:

The district has been fairly rich in road communication for a longtime. Francis Buchhunan has mentioned in Buxar Journal that there are some very good roads in the district. He travelled by a very good road with brick bridges from Koilwar to Buxar. He also mentioned a few other good roads viz. the great road to Buxar, the Varanasi road to Sasaram and the great road to Dumraon-Patna-Arrah-Buxar road, Behiya-Piro road, Dumraon-Nasriganj road, Sasaram-Bikramganj-Arrah road as also worth mentioning.

Buxar, the district headquarters is on the the main line of the Eastern Railways.

The Ganges is navigable all the year round and goods are transported to Kolkatta on the east and places in Uttar Pradesh on the west through the rivers.

CREDIT FACILITIES:

The Central Co-operative Banks located in the important towns of the district work as the pivot of Co-operative banking and credit. All the Co-operative Societies are supposed to be affiliated to these banks for credit facility/these banks finance Co-operative institutions which in turn pass on the same to their members. Financing by these banks is restricted to short term and medium term loans for agricultural purposes only. Short term loans are advanced to agriculturist members to meet their needs of seeds, manures etc. Medium term loans are advanced for purchase of live stock, agricultural implements etc.

TRADE AND COMMERCE:

The important wholesale markets in the district are at Buxar and Dumraon. The main commodities exported from Buxar Railway Station are rice, paddy, gur, mango, and the main imports are engineering goods, medicine etc.

Buxar is a district town and an important trade centre. It is also served by railways, roadways and waterways. It is located on the bank of river Ganges and the main trade of the town is grain, vegetables, fish and manufactured goods of jail industry (Central Jail, Buxar manufactures, carperts etc.). There are also a number of mandies and important marketing centres located at Arrah and Buxar.