Silchar

Silchar is the district headquarters of the Cacher district in the North East Indian state of Assam. Silchar is the gateway to the states of Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura. It is bounded on the North by Barali and Jayantia hill ranges, on the South by the State Mizoram, on the East by sister district Hailakandi and Karimganj.

Located in the Surma valley, Noted for its scenic beauty, Silchar is also famous for its cane and bamboo works. Approximately 90% of the residenst are Bengali, who speaks Sylheti dialect.

During the British rule, ships were docked at the bank of the "River Barak" so a market developed at the bank and became a major place of economic activity. The bank was covered with stones to help dock ships and vessels, and the market developed at a place which was fully covered with stones. People started to refer to the place as "Shiler Chor", meaning a bank of stone. Gradually "Shiler Chor" became "Silchar" for linguistic simplification and, later on, British officials started to use "Silchar" in their official documents referring to the surrounding area of the market. "Silchar" became the official name of the place.

Silchar saw one of the uprisings in favour of the Bengali language. When the Assam government, under Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha, passed a circular to make Assamese mandatory, Bengalis of Barak Valley protested. On 19 May 1961, when Assam police opened fire on unarmed protesters at Silchar Railway Station, 11 agitators died. After the popular revolt, the Assam government had to withdraw the circular and Bengali was ultimately given official status in the three districts of Barak Valley

The main tourist attraction here is Khaspur (25 kms) on way to airport, with its ruins of fort and palaces of the Kachari Kingdom (17-18th century)

To Reach

By AIR: The airport is located at Kumbhirgram, about 22 km from Silchar and there are regular flights connecting Silchar with Kolkata, Guwahati, Tezpur, Agartala, Imphal.

By Rail: Silchar is connected with Meter Gauge Rail network of Indian Railway.

By Road: Regular bus services connect Silchar with Guwahati, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Shillong, Aizawl, Agartala and other places.

To See

• Tea Gardens
• Central University
• National Institute of Technology
• Shri Shri Kanchakanti Temple (17 kms from Silchar)
• Khaspur Ruins of Kachari Kingdom(22 kms from Silchar)
• Bhubaneswar temple (50 kms from Silchar)
• Pobha & Milroy Wildlife sanctuary