Formation of the District

The existence of Munger as a separate executive centre dates from the year1812, It appears from a letter dated the 15^th July of that year, that Mr. Ewing was appointed to have charge of Munger Criminal Court, called the court of Joint Magistrate of Munger and that he was made subordinate to the Magistrate of Bhagalpur and worked like a sub-divisional officer.

A letter also from Mr. Dowdeswell, Secretary to the Government, dated the 22^nd October, 1811 proves that at that time no magisterial authority exited at Munger except that of the Magistrate of Bhagalpur to whom it was addressed : “I am directed”, it runs, to acquaint you that his Excellency the Vice-President in council considers it of importance that you should revert to the practice which formerly existed holding the Kachari during a part of the year at Munger, and that he desires that you will make necessary arrangement for the purpose”. But the extent of the Munger jurisdiction is not mentioned in the local records till September, 1814 when it is clearly stated to comprised five Thanas or police divisions, viz. Munger, Tarapur, Surajgarha, Mallepur and Gogri.

No change seems to have been made in the powers or jurisdiction of the Munger court till 1832 when it was made revenue-receiving Centre under the name of a Deputy Collectorship. This new office was conferred on the joint Magistrate. Form this time officer exercised most of the power of a full Magistrate-Collector. He had now power to correspond directly with the chief Executive and the Revenue authority as an independent authority.

The earliest record of value in the collectorate appears to be the letter from the Commissioner of Bhagalpur to the Secretary to the Sadar Board of Revenue. At Fort William, dated the 29^th May, 1850. He writes-“It appears from the record that the native town and Bazar of Munger have for a long period been considered government property. This though constituting one Mahal, was divided into 13 Tarafs, Viz. (1) Bara Bazar, (2) Deochi Bazar, (3) Goddard Bazar, (4) Wellesly Bazar, (5) Munger Bazar, (6) Gorhee Bazar, (7) Batemanganj Topekhana Bazar, (8) Fanok Bazar, (10) Dalhatta Bazar, (11) Belan Bazar, (12) Rasoolganj and (13) Begampur

Geography & Economy

Physical Features and Natural Resources

The district of Munger is hemmed among the Ganges in the north, Bhagalpur district in the east, Barh district in the west and the district of Jamui in the south. It covers almost 14 Development Blocks. The total area is 3301.70 Km² and the total population is 1,924,317, vide 1991 census. The density of population per Km² was 583 in 1991.

Relief Feature

Plain Lands in the North:

The Northern plain of Munger district has two facets of landscape i.e. diaras north of the Gangatic levee and tal lands south of the levee. Some of the Gangetic levee and tal lands south of the levee. Some of the important diaras are Maheshpur, Heru, Bahadurpur, Kalarampur, Budhwa and Taufir diaras. These diaras suffer from annual inundation along with the erosion and deposition of soils. This is the area of bood hazards with the sedimentary rocks.

The area south of the Gangetic levee is known as Tal lands. Some of the important tals are Barhiya tal, Mainma tal, Bilya tal, Bariarour tal and others. Some of the important rivers e.g. Kiul Harohar, Dakranal and Baduar deposit soil in their flood plains. Tal lands also suffer from annual inundation, water loggings and deposition of soil.

Mineral Water

Munger district has long been famous for its mineral waters and hot water springs, There is a belt of thermal springs along a Zone from the Kharagpur hills to the Rajgir hills of the Patna district. There are altogether seven groups of thermal springs in this district. These are:-

Bharari (Chormara Group)
Bhimbandth Group
Hingania Group
Remeshwar-Lakshmishwar –Bhowrah Kunds groups.
Rishikund groups.
Sitakund – Phillips-kund group and
Sringirishi group

CLIMATE

Munger district is a part of Zone – III with sub-zone in South Bihar Plains. The zone is located on south of river Ganges and comprises districts of Munger, Bhagalpur, Gaya, Aurangabad, Rothas, Bhojpur, Patna and Nalanda. It is sub humid and much drier as compared to zone-I and III. It has monsoon sub-tropical climate ranging from sub-dry and sub-humid conditions. There are three district seasons in this zone viz., summer, monsoon and winter.

SUMMER (MARCH TO MAY)

The summer season is characterized by gradual rise in temperature, occasional thunder showers and hail storm, high velocity westerly during this season is very dry resulting in sunstroke deaths at times. The maximum temperature rises up to 45o C.

MONSOON (JUNE TO SEPTEMBER )

It starts from middle of June and continues up to end of September. Monsoon is characterized by cloudy weather, high humidity, frequent rains and weak variable surface wind. Maximum rainfall occurs during July and August.

WINTER (OCTOBER TO FEBRUARY)

Winter season is characterized by gradual decrease in temperature which comes to a minimum in the first week of January. Thereafter, the temperature starts increasing. The minimum temperature varies from 3.50 C to 90 C.

RAINFALL

The rainfall under this zone is mainly influenced by the south-west monsoon which sets in the second week of June and continues up to end of September. Sometimes cyclonic rain also occurs. The average annual rainfall of this zone is 1078.7 mm. The rainfall distribution is marked seasonal in character. Greatly limiting water availability in certain times of the year and requiring disposal of excess water in some weeks during monsoon also occur. The average annual rainfall of Munger district is 1146.4mm (53year average), out of which 80% is received during monsoon season and the rest (more than5%)in summer season. In case of Munger district, the temporal variation annual rainfall was recorded at a maximum of 2181.6 mm in 1971 and a minimum of 481.6 mm in 1972 with annual coefficient of variation of 27.2%. July and August received maximum monthly rainfall in the district. The monthly co-efficient of variation of rainfall for monsoon from June to September was 68.5%, 44.3% and 51.8% respectively for Munger.

Soil

Soil of Munger district is grey to dark grey in color, medium to heavy in texture, slightly to moderately alkaline in reaction, cracks during summer (1) cm to more than 5 cm wide and more than 50 cm deep) becomes shallow with onset of monsoon, with clay content nearly 40% to 50% throughout the profile. Slicken side along with the wedge shaped structural aggregates absorb soil are found in level land or depression. Soil becomes bonding during summer and remains inundated rains. The clay minerals found are smectites followed by hydrous mica. The soil has a good fertility status. Diara land soils are light textured and well drained with free calcium carbonate (CaCO3) that varies between 3% to 8% but seldom exceeds 10% particularly no genetic low zone gives a coarse stratification micro relief, udic moisture regime clay. Minerals found are hydrous mica, smectite, kaolonite and chloride. The nature of sediments deposited in Diara land can be generally stated as those near the streams are coarser in texture i.e., sand which gradually becomes finer with distance a grade to heavy texture of clay in the central part of the meander, these being always layers of sand at varying department which generally do not go deeper than 40 cm to 60 cm of surface deposited as a result of changing course of the current.