The British colonial period saw Balurghat develop as an administrative town within the sprawling Dinajpur district of the Bengal Presidency. Railways arrived, educational institutions were founded, and the town grew as a local commercial hub trading in rice, jute, sugar cane, and oilseeds. The town’s role in the 1942 Quit India Movement is still remembered with pride: under the leadership of Congress figure Saroj Ranjan Chatterjee, townspeople formed a procession to besiege Balurghat, before the movement was suppressed by armed police and the District Magistrate.
The Partition of India in 1947 cut the old Dinajpur district in two. The western portion remained in West Bengal and was renamed West Dinajpur; the eastern portion went to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). This geographic wound changed Balurghat fundamentally, transforming what had been an interior town into a border settlement overnight. Traditional trade routes were severed, demographic upheaval followed, and the town reinvented itself as an administrative centre. In 1992, West Dinajpur was further divided into Uttar (North) Dinajpur and Dakshin (South) Dinajpur, with Balurghat becoming the headquarters of the new southern district.
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