Basirhat

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Basirhat
City
City of Basirhat
City of Basirhat
Basirhat is located in West Bengal
Basirhat
Basirhat
Location in West Bengal, India
Basirhat is located in India
Basirhat
Basirhat
Basirhat (India)
Coordinates: 22°39′26″N 88°53′39″E / 22.65722°N 88.89417°E / 22.65722; 88.89417Coordinates: 22°39′26″N 88°53′39″E / 22.65722°N 88.89417°E / 22.65722; 88.89417
Country India
StateWest Bengal
DistrictNorth 24 Parganas
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
 • BodyBasirhat Municipality
 • Municipality ChairmanAsit Majumdar[1]
Area
 • Total22.50 km2 (8.69 sq mi)
Elevation
6 m (20 ft)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total144,891
 • Density6,400/km2 (17,000/sq mi)
Languages
 • OfficialBengali, English
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
743412
Area code3217
Lok Sabha constituencyBasirhat
Vidhan Sabha constituencyBasirhat Dakshin, Basirhat Uttar

Basirhat is a city and a municipality in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, India. It is located on the banks of the Ichamati (Ichhamati) River.

Geography[edit]

Cities, towns and locations in Basirhat subdivision, North 24 Parganas district
M: municipal town, CT: census town, R: rural/ urban centre
Owing to space constraints in the small map, the actual locations in a larger map may vary slightly

Location[edit]

Basirhat is located at 22°39′26″N 88°53′39″E / 22.65722°N 88.89417°E / 22.65722; 88.89417.

Area overview[edit]

The area shown in the map is a part of the Ichhamati-Raimangal Plain, located in the lower Ganges Delta. It contains soil of mature black or brownish loam to recent alluvium. Numerous rivers, creeks and khals criss-cross the area. The tip of the Sundarbans National Park is visible in the lower part of the map (shown in green but not marked). The larger full screen map shows the full forest area.[3]A large section of the area is a part of the Sundarbans settlements.[4]The densely populated area is an overwhelmingly rural area. Only 12.96% of the population lives in the urban areas and 87.04% of the population lives in the rural areas.[5][6]

Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Civic administration[edit]

Police station[edit]

Basirhat police station covers an area of 267 km2 and serves a population of 637,538. Basirhat PS has under it Basirhat town outpost and two other outposts at Panitor and Boatghat. The police district has a 22 km border, out which 14 km is land border and 8 km is riverine border. 11 km of the border remains unfenced. Basirhat PS has jurisdiction over Basirhat municipal area and Basirhat I CD Block.[7]

Around half of the 4,095 km long India-Bangladesh border has been fenced and vigil along the border has been tightened up. As of 2017, Cattle smuggling across the border was unofficially estimated to be a Rs. 4,000 crore business, half of it across the Basirhat border and the balance through Malda and Murshidabad.[8]

In 2017, The Sunday Guardian reported, “The crackdown by the Border Security Force (BSF) on the illegal, but lucrative, business of cow smuggling along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, resulted in immense resentment among a section of the area’s minority community. This culminated in the communal flare-up in the state’s Basirhat sub-division earlier this month. A source close to the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress told The Sunday Guardian over phone, “Cow smuggling to Bangladesh, through the riverine border in Basirhat, Taki and other adjoining areas, has taken a hit as the BSF has become very strict and is maintaining a constant vigil. This has hurt the locals, who were earning crores from these illegal activities. Rendered jobless, they blamed the situation on the majority community.””[9]

Road from station to Basirhat market area

CD block HQ[edit]

The headquarters of Basirhat I CD block are located at Basihat.[10]

Demographics[edit]

According to the 2011 census, Basirhat Urban Agglomeration had a population of 144,891, out of which 73,491 were males and 71,400 were females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 12,578. Effective literacy rate for the 7+ population was 86.88 percent.[11] Bengali is the principal language spoken in the area.

Education[edit]

Basirhat College was established in 1947. Affiliated with the West Bengal State University, it offers honours courses in Bengali, English, Sanskrit, philosophy, political science, history, geography, education, accountancy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, physiology and economics. It also offers general courses in arts, science and commerce, and a post-graduate course in Bengali.[12][13]

The Front Gate of Bhabla Tantra Sir Rajendra High School

Healthcare[edit]

Basirhat District Hospital functions with 300 beds.[14]

Basirhat is one of the areas where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination.[15]

External links[edit]

External video
My city is Basirhat (with commentary in Bengali)
Fencing of India-Bangladesh border

References[edit]

  1. Official District Administration site Archived 20 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Basirhat Municipality".
  3. "District Census Handbook North Twenty Four Parganas, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Page 13. Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  4. "District Human Development Report: South 24 Parganas". Chapter 9: Sundarbans and the Remote Islanders, p 290-311. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2009. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  5. "District Statistical Handbook". North 24 Parganas 2013, Tables 2.1, 2.2, 2.4b. Department of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  6. "District Census Handbook North Twenty Four Parganas, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Map of North Twenty Four Parganas with CD Block HQs and Police Stations (on the fifth page). Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  7. "Know your police station". Basirhat PS. North 24 Parganas district police. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  8. Guha Roy, Shantanu. "Riots in Basirhat had nothing to do with religion, it's a Hindu-Muslim fight over controlling cow smuggling". Firstpost, 13 July 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  9. "Crack down on cow smuggling triggered Basirhat violence". Dibyendu Mondal. The Sunday Guardian, 16 July 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  10. "District Census Handbook North Twenty Four Parganas, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Map of North Twenty Four Parganas with CD Block HQs and Police Stations (on the fifth page). Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  11. "Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 1 lakh and above" (PDF). Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. Retrieved 21 October 2011.
  12. "Basirhat College". BC. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  13. "Basirhat College". College Admission. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  14. "Health & Family Welfare Department". Health Statistics. Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  15. "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. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2007.