Basirhat

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  ?Basirhat
West Bengal • India
Map indicating the location of Basirhat
Thumbnail map of India with West Bengal highlighted
Location of Basirhat
Coordinates: 22°40′N 88°53′E / 22.66, 88.89
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Area
• Elevation
• 6 m (20 ft)
District(s) North 24 Parganas
Population 113,120 (2001)
Municipality Chairman Jamini Bhusan Roy[1]

Coordinates: 22°40′N 88°53′E / 22.66, 88.89

Basirhat (In Bengali: বসিরহাট)is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal, India. Basirhat is a river side subdivisional town.

Contents

[edit] History

Basirhat has a long history of farmer's movement like 'Tevaga Andolan'.

Freedom fighter Dinesh Chandra Majumder was born here in 1907.[2]

Basirhat was connected to Kolkata by a narrow-gage railway (the Martin company railway) for a long time; it is non-existent now.

Not far from Basirhat is Sikra-Kulingram the birhplace of Swami Brahmananda, the first president of Ramakrishna Mission.

[edit] Geography

Basirhat is located at 22.66° N 88.89° E.[3] It has an average elevation of 6 metres (19 feet).

Basirhat situated near the river Ichamoti which is a branch river of Ganges. It is well connected with Kolkata by rail (65 km) as part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system and road. It is very near to Bangladesh. It is 42 km from Barasat on the Barasat-Basirhat-Hasnabad branch line of Eastern Railway.[4]

[edit] Economics

Agriculture is the main source of income. Other industries like brick making and fisheries are also dominant in this area. Two other things are very popular from Basirhat 1. Sweet called "Nolen Gurer Sandesh", also"patali" both from local date-palm syrup 2. Hand made towel called "Gamcha"

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census,[5] Basirhat had a population of 113,120. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Basirhat has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 54% of the males and 46% of females literate. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

[edit] Education

There is Basirhat College, and two famous schools; Basirhat Town High School and Basirhat High School.

[edit] Healthcare

Basirhat is one of the areas where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination. [6]

[edit] Nearby place

[edit] Bhabla

Bhabla (also spelt Bhyabla) near Basirhat is the place of birth and ancestral home of pioneering industrialist, Sir Rajen Mookerjee. He had contributed substantially for the development of Basirhat.[7][8] Bhyabla station is 2 km from Basirhat station.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Official District Administration site
  2. ^ Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976/1998), Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, (Bengali), p 207, ISBN 8185626650
  3. ^ Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Basirhat
  4. ^ Eastern Railway time table.
  5. ^ Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns. (Provisional). Census Commission of India. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
  6. ^ Groundwater Arsenic contamination in West Bengal-India (19 years study ). Groundwater arsenic contamination status of North 24-Parganas district, one of the nine arsenic affected districts of West Bengal-India. SOES. Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
  7. ^ Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali, p 470.
  8. ^ Bhabla

[edit] See also