History & Background
The Ramsagar reservoir was excavated between 1750 and 1755 CE on the orders of Maharaja Ramnath of Dinajpur, after whom it is named. According to local tradition, a severe multi-year drought had dried up every water body in the region, so the Raja commissioned the digging of a massive tank to secure drinking water for his subjects, employing a large workforce at a cost of around 30,000 taka at the time. The resulting lake stretches about 1,079 metres long and 192.6 metres wide. The surrounding area was first developed as a park in 1960, and on 30 April 2001 it was formally declared a national park under the Bangladesh Wildlife (Preservation) Amendment Act, 1947, covering roughly 27.76 hectares of forest planted by the Forest Department around the historic lake.