Social,
Environmental & Economic Sustainability
Our analysis of the rank of the district
Backwardness : Does not figure in list of 447 backward
districts
Disability : 20 (Census 2001)
HIV : Does not figure in A & B Category dists
Minority : Yes
Literacy Ratio : 85 (Census 2001)
Water : Occurrence of High Arsenic in Ground Water
Challenges of the district : Our research with local communities
Sanitation, health, education and women empowerment
are some of the issues where we need urgent attention of the government.
Government does not provide us with good services and facilities.
We do not have good doctors sometimes there are no medicines available
in our village. Because of this we need to travel to cities even
for a small ailment.
Brief About Howrah District
HISTORY OF HOWRAH
This smallest district in West Bengal is situated between
22o12’ 30” and 22o46’ 55” north latitude and 88o22’ 10” and 87o50’
45” east longitude. It was recently transferred from the Burdwan
Division to the Presidency Division under Government of West Bengla
Notification No. 999-G.A. dated March 4, 1963.
It is bounded on the north by the Arambagh and Serampore subdivisions
of the Hooghly district; on the east by Calcutta and the Barrackpur,
Alipur and Diamond Harbour subdivisions of the 24-Parganas district;
on the south by the Tamluk subdivision of the Midnapur district;
and on the west partly by the Tamluk and Ghatal subdivisions of
the latter district and partly by the Arambagh subdivision of
the Hooghly district. The boundaries are partly natural and partly
artificial. On the west and south-west the Rupnarayan, and on
the east and south-east the Bhagirathi constitute natural boundaries,
while on the north, except for small stretches to the north-east
and north-west bounded by the Baly Khal and the Damodar respectively,
the boundary is formed by an artificial line marking the southern
limits of the Hooghly district.
Howrah, the second largest city of West Bengal and twin of Kolkata
is said to have a rich history that dates back to 500 years. The
name itself is possibly derived from a village named Harirah which
was located in or about the site of modern day Howrah City.
Venetian explorer Ceasare Federici was the first european who
mentioned a place called Bator in his journal in 1578 AD which
is identifiable with the modern day place around the Howrah City.
The Bengal Council of East India Company, on the accession of
the Emperor Farrukshiyar to the throne of Delhi in AD 1713, sent
a deputation to him praying for a settlement of the villages 'Salica'
(Salkia), 'Harirah'(Howrah), 'Cassundeah'(Kasundia), 'Ramkrishnopoor'
(Ramkrishnapur), and 'Battar'(Betor) to the west of river Bhagirathi
and once the settlement was made in favour of the East India Company
the places were quickly adopted as exit and entry point of sea
fareing business hubs and the modernisation of Howrah city as
we know it now, began.
The Howrah Railway Terminus came up in 1854 and in 1862 the first
municipal administration started functioning though the modern
day Corporation as we see it now came into being in 1980 when
the Howrah Act,1980 was implemented.
TOURISM AT HOWRAH
Once known as the ‘Manchester of Bengal’, this District
has a number of places of tourist interest, a few of which are
the most visited sites in the country and all located in and around
the Howrah Municipal Corporation.
Destination Howrah shall consist of the following spots:-
The Howrah Station
The Howrah Bridge or the Rabindra Setu
The Indian Botanic Garden
The Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur
The Belur Math & temple
The second Hooghly Bridge or Vidyasagar Setu
Panitras Samtaber, the birth place of the great Bengali novelist
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Gadiara- the confluence of the Hooghly and the Rupnarayan.
Garchumuk- the confluence of the Hooghly and the Damodar.
Description of the Spots
The Howrah Station
It is the gateway of Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal
to the rest of the country. Developed towards the early part of
the twentieth century, it has become one of the most important
transit points for passengers and goods movement in the country.
The present station building will be completing its glorious 100
years in 2006.
Howrah is the terminus of the first Indian Railway system namely
East Indian Railways. A survey for the East Indian Railway was
taken up in 1845 and construction began in 1851. The section of
the Railways, a Broad gauge railway 5'6" was opened in 1854
from Howrah to Hooghly. In 1855 the line was extended upto Raniganj
and in 1862 upto Benares. After construction of the first Howrah
Bridge in 1874, the Howrah Station was remodeled and improved.
The other great line, the Bengal Nagpur Railway, also a Broad
gauge Railway, was extended to Howrah in 1900, thus connecting
it with Nagpur and Bombay on the West and Cuttuck, Puri and madras
on the South. After this, the Station was further remodeled and
became a joint Station for E. I. Rly. and B. N. Rly. The old Station
was made over to the B. N. Rly. The E. I. Rly. And B. N. Rly.
were subsequently renamed as Eastern Rly and South- Eastern Rly
respectively. Howrah station has now a large imposing building
facing the river with clock Tower and twenty long platforms for
the passenger trains & three for the goods trains.
The Howrah Bridge or the Rabindra Setu
The old Howrah Bridge, a floating pontoon Bridge, was
opened in October 1874 and made over to Port Commissioners who
managed and maintained it. Designed by the late Sir Bradford Leslie,
it had a total length of 1528 feet between centres of abutments
and provided a 48’ feet roadway and two 7’ feet footways. The
most novel feature was the removable section which when floated
out gave a 200’ feet clear openings, with a head room of 22’ feet,
were also provided for smaller crafts. The adjusting ways or shore
spans, one at each end of the bridge, consisted of three 160’
feet long bow string girders.
The traffic between commercial Kolkata and industrial Howrah having
enormously increased during the first quarter of the 20th Century,
the old bridge was quite insufficient and it was decided to build
a new one. The shifting mode of the river Hooghly was dangerous
for either a cantilever or a suspension Bridge and hence a Bridge
was designed as a sort of combination of the both. It is however
known as and reputed as a cantilever Bridge and is the third largest
bridge of its kind in the World having a over-all length of 2150’
feet with a single span of 1500’ feet. The new Howrah Bridge was
designed by M/s. Rendell, Palmer and Tritton, consulting Engineers.
It took 8 years to complete the bridge and 26,500 tons of steel
including 18,200 tons of high tensile quality were used. The total
cost of construction of the land and all ancillary works, amounted
Rs. 3.33 crores.
It is interesting to note that the Bridge expands about 4.8 inches
during the heat of the day and contracts an equal length in the
cool of the night. Another peculiarity of the Bridge is that the
Bridge bends over slightly in strong winds. The framework has
also been built to withstand earth-quakes, as Calcutta lies in
a seismic zone.
The height of the Bridge at the supporting towers on the both
ends is 300’ feet. Each tower has a constant width of 11’ feet
and a tapering from 8’-6’’ to 4’-6’’ at the top. The entire structure
is laid on main piers of re-enforced concrete monoliths with steel
ceiling edges. Each pier is 181’-6’’ long by 81’-6’’ wide and
is amongst the largest in the world. The monoliths and grinders
on the Calcutta side are 103’ feet deep and on the Howrah side
it is 88’ feet deep. These monoliths are the heaviest in the World.
One can have a bird’s eye view of Howrah Station and glimpses
of the cities of Kolkata and Howrah along the banks of the Hoogly
River standing at middle of the bridge.
The Indian Botanic Garden previously known as Royal Botanic Garden
with the famous Banyan tree is comprised of 285.05 acres of land
that is about 1000 bighas and lies on the bank of the River Hooghly
just outside the Municipal area of Howrah bordering its southern
boundary line and adjoins the compound of the Sibpur Engineering
College on the South.
This green belt is considered to be the lungs of the highly industrial
and urbanized city of Howrah. Use of plastic materials has been
banned in the Garden Campus.
In the Garden, beside the great banyan tree we have a fair collection
of rare indigenous and exotic plants, beautiful Amazon lilies,
climbing plants, varieties of palm, delicate orchids and all sorts
of large trees – mahagoguny, teak, walnut etc. We also find here
a nursery (not open to the public), a Conservatory, a Palm House,
a Herbarium, an Orchid conservatory. We have also a second large
Banyan tree. Besides we can find in the Garden the following Monuments
and buildings:- Wallich's monument, Kyds' Monument, Griffiths
Monument, Jack's Monument, Kurze's Monument, Roxburg's
The Great Banyan Tree
This tree is the chief attraction and also the pride
and glory of the Garden. It resembles more like a forest than
a single tree and evokes awe and wonder in the minds of the vast
multitude of daily visitors. The tree has sent down innumerable
roots from its branches vertically to the ground and the roots
have grown thick and shout to bear all the appearance of so many
trunks. The striking development of the aerial roots from branches
is peculiarity of the Banyan tree. The main trunk of the Banyan
tree was about 51 feet in girth in December, 1894 and the aerial
roots which actually reached the ground at that date numbered
378 and the roots newly formed which did not reach the ground
numbered 100. It may be observed that aerial roots are thrown
out from such places where support for the horizontally spreading
branches is mostly required. The circumference of the leafy dead
of the tree, if its sinnosities be followed, is 976 ft. otherwise
it is 858 feet. The tree is not symmetrical and the main stem
does not stand on the centre of the space covered by it. The long
diameter of the space is 287 ft. and the short diameter is 264
feet. during the great Cyclones of 1864 and 1867 several of the
largest limbs on the northern and western sides were removed.
Breaking of branches by frequent severe storms of wind during
the hot season is a regular feature. The southern side has however
hitherto entirely escaped damage by storms. The age of the tree
is not actually known but according to current of tradition prevailing
in the neighbourhood, in 1786 when the garden was established,
the tree was quite a small tree growing on the top of a wild date-tree
under which a Sadhu used daily to sit. According to this tradition
the age of the tree would be 235 years now in 2004.
Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur
It is the premier Engineering college in the State
and one of the best Engineering colleges in the country. It is
situated on the balks of the River Hooghly at the south-eastern
border of the town and the north of the Indian Botanic Garden.
The site, comprised of about 50 acres of land, was originally
included within the compound of Indian Botanic Garden and selected
by Bishop Middleton, the first Bishop of Calcutta for Bishop's
College. The main building of the Engineering College – a Gothic
structure, was also erected for the old Bishops' College. The
land comprised of 62 Bighas was presented by Marquis of Hastings
and money was found by Foreign Bible Society and the Church Missionary
Society. The foundation stone was laid in 1820 and the College
was opened in 1824.
The college is upgraded to the status of a Deemed University in
the recent past with facilities of learning of almost all the
trades of engineering.
Belur Math & temple
Belur Math is situated just outside the boundary of
Howrah Municipal Corporation on the north and stands on the West
Bank of the river Hooghly. It was founded in 1897 by Swami Vivekananda,
the great savant of India, and other disciples of Sri Sri Ramkrishna
Paramhansa, who is regarded by the Hindus as an incarnation of
God and occupies a place of great honour amongst the religious
leaders of the world. A magnificent temple has been built at a
great cost by the unique munificence of two pious American ladies,
Miss Helen Rubel and Mrs Auna Worcester.
The breadth of the shrine is 100’ ft and its length, including
the prayer hall, is 233’ ft. On a marble pedestal in the shrine
is a marble statute of Sri Ramkrishna in his familiar Asana. The
prayer hall is 152’ ft. long, 72’ ft. wide and 48’ ft. high.
The math is the headquarters of the Ramkrishna Mission, a society
established for the propagation of the orthodox Hindu faith chastened
with modern outlook. There is also a large Museum inside the Math
on the lives of Sri Ramkrishna and his close disciples. The temple
and the Math is visited by countless people, most of whom are
religiously inclined, to celebrate the birthday anniversary of
Sri Ramkrishna (18th February 1836) in February when a fair is
held there. The place also attracts large number of visitors from
Kolkata and abroad every day, especially of Sundays and holidays.
Garchumuk
Situated at the confluence of the Hooghly and the Damodar, this
spot has a quiet scenic beauty. The undulating irrigation canal
connecting the two rivers add to the beauty of the spot.
There are two Bungalows of Howrah Zilla Parishad. The new Bungalow
is situated in the vicinity of the confluence. There is also one
deer park within the campus of the old bungalow.
Though the spot is yet to take a place in the tourist map, it
can be developed as a major tourist spot with adequate publicity,
proper maintenance of the deer park and beautification of the
embankment.
Panitras-Samtaber
It is the home place of the immortal Bengali novelist
Sri Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Though he was a Bengali writer,
his great novels and short stories dealing in human emotions are
translated in almost all major languages of India. His two-storied
dwelling house is situated at Panitras or Samtaber village on
the bank of the river Rupnarayan in a perfect lonely village atmosphere
of Bengal. The building is now preserved as a Museum where mementoes
of Saratbabu like table, chair, chappals, stick, bed, writing
tables are kept apart from his works(books),some manuscripts and
personal letters. Saratbabu spent twelve years(1926-1938) of his
literary life in this place before permanently settling at Kolkata.
During this period he created some of his finest stories &
novels such as Abagir Swarga, Bamuner Meye, Palli Samaj, Ramer
Sumati, Mahesh, Srikanta(4th part).
Second Hooghly Bridge or Vidyasagar
Setu
Vidyasagar Setu – otherwise known as the Second Hooghly Bridge
opened to the traffic in 1992 is the finest product of modern
architecture and technology. It is intricately connected with
the cities of Kolkata and Howrah by a series of over-bridges and
situated at a distance of 1.5 k.m. southwards of Ravinrda Setu.It
is erected on only four pillars and hanged on 121 number of iron
ropes. The bridge is 458 metres long and 115 metres wide. One
can have a glimpse of a large part of
Kolkata standing at the middle of the bridge. The beauty of the
bridge and its background is largely utilized by the Film Industries
of India for shooting purposes.
