Konnagar
Encyclopedia
Konnagar(also called Konnagore) is a city and a municipality
in Hooghly District
in the India
n state
of West Bengal
. There are 20 wards in the Konnagar Municipal Area. It is under Uttarpara
police station in Serampore
subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority
. Konnagar is under the Serampur Loksabbha Kendra and Uttarpara Bidhansava Kendra.The Website of Konnagar Municipality is http://www.konnagarmunicipality.org/
, the renowned Derozian sasasas
and Brahmo leader, contributed substantially towards development of Konnagar. A pioneer in women's emancipation, he assisted in the development of schools in the area. The railway station was opened in 1856 and the post office in 1858.
In 1931, Tomas Bata, the Czech shoe tycoon, established his first Indian operation at Konnagar. By 1936, the Konnegar plan was phased out. In May 1931, Tomas sold his business interests to his brother Jan Antonin Bata who established Batanagar, Bata's first permanent shoe factory in India. The Bata brand was established on August 24, 1894 in Zlín, Czech Republic. The company first established itself in India in 1931 by renting a building to start an experimental shoe production plant in Konnagar, West Bengal with 75 Czech experts. Though it was under Jan Antonin Bata administration that designed, developed and built the industrial city called Batanagar in 1934. Jan Bata also build factories in Digha near Patna, and elsewhere in India, employing more than 7,000 people. Batanagar, under Jan Bata's ideals became one of the bigger sub-urban towns near Kolkata.
The Sens of Konnagar are also very famous for their contribution to the cultural growth in the place. They were the zamindars till late 19th century, but slowly with the British rule coming to an end, the zamindari rules also collapsed.
Konnagar has been the home of many notable personalities. It was the ancestral home of the great nationalist and religious leader Sri Aurobindo
http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Hinduism/sri_aurobindo.htm famous Indian Geographer Shashi Bhusan Chatterjee and noted physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra
. http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/SKMitra.htm Shafiur Rahman one of the martyrs of the language movement in East Pakistan was born in Konnagar. http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/bengali_heritage/bangla_language_movement.htm)
Thetown had been visited by the greats like Tagore
, Mahasweta Devi
and many others. Tagore was believed to be just a child when he and his family came to this town to escape the onslaught of Dengue which hit Kolkata.He revisited the town again when he was 19. He came to visit the Brahmasomaj Ghat along with his father Maharshi Debendranath. Shibram Chakrabarty used to live here for a brief period of time in his childhood near G.T.Road beside Konnagar High School.Sri Aurobindo
's father and famous Indian geographer Shashi Bhusan Chatterjee happened to be a pupil of Konnagar High School established in the 19th century.And the town though got recognition chiefly due to the initiatives of Sib Chandra Deb
, its antiquity can hardly be denied. Its reference is there even in the 500 years old Mangal Kabyo.
The town is known for quality sweets, musical excellence and dense population.
and Uttarpara
on the Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line
and Grand Trunk Road
. It is located on the west bank of the River Hooghly
.
West side of the Konnagar railway station is called Nabagram. Most of the population in Nabagram is migrated from East Bengal. Being situated only 13.5 K.M from the heart of Kolkata the area enjoys semi urban status. Nabagram is typically beautiful as it is soothingly vegetation covered and neatly planned. Nabagram is known for its classy cultural tastes and excellence in fields of music. Nabagram has numebrous bands, theatre groups and dance troups. Off late, the annual worship of "Tara Maa", an incarnation of goddess Kali, during the month of August/September, has become a popular practice in Nabagram, apart from the regular quota of magnificent Durga Pujas held here. Nabagram has a much culturally youthful outlook, which contrasts it from Konnagar.
Konnagar is also the place of the famous Kalitala and Baro Mandir. Baro Mandir(Twelve Temples)was built in 1821. Thousands of devotees visit Kalitala during the puja of Goddess Kali. The goddess is known as Sukhantala Kali Thakur and in the month of Bashikh (April) a month long Mela(Carnival)is celebrated with fun. The unique feature of this puja is, the idol is created and decorated in one single day. Later it is immersed in the river Ganga, after the puja is over, on the same day.
Rajrajeshwari Puja is held in the month of February in Maghi Purnima. This festival is 300 years old and is celebrated for three days.
, Konnagar had a population of 72,211. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Konnagar has an average literacy rate of 80%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 84%, and female literacy is 77%. In Konnagar, 8% of the population is under 6 years of age. A Book fair & Industrial Fair is also held every year by the Municipality. A number of VIPs,Ministers come to inaugurate that fair.
Two century-old athletics club happen to be at Konnagar. They are Olympic Club and Friends' Union Club.
And also a well known Swimming Club called Konnagar Swimming Club
ABRL has opened an outlet of MORE at the town on December 24, 2009.
Durga Puja is clebrated with magnificent pomp and glamour in Konnagar
In Konnagar
In Nabagram
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in Hooghly District
Hooghly District
Hooghly district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal in India. It can alternatively be spelt Hoogli or Hugli. The district is named after the Hooghly River.The headquarters of the district are at Chinsura...
in the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n state
States and territories of India
India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...
of West Bengal
West Bengal
West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...
. There are 20 wards in the Konnagar Municipal Area. It is under Uttarpara
Uttarpara
Uttarpara is a small town of Hooghly District, West Bengal, India. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.It is a town of historical importance. Uttarpara is home to some of the biggest industrial setups in the state...
police station in Serampore
Serampore
Serampore is a city and a municipality in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. It is a pre-colonial town on the right bank of the Hoogli River...
subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority is the statutory planning and development authority for the Kolkata Metropolitan Area in the state of West Bengal, India. The organisation was previously known as Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority and still retains the previous logo...
. Konnagar is under the Serampur Loksabbha Kendra and Uttarpara Bidhansava Kendra.The Website of Konnagar Municipality is http://www.konnagarmunicipality.org/
History
It was a small town that grew to be a town in the 19th century. Sib Chandra DebSib Chandra Deb
Sib Chandra Deb was one of the leading Derozians, virtually the first generation of English-knowing Indians. He had joined Hindu College in 1825 and was subsequently drawn towards Derozio...
, the renowned Derozian sasasas
and Brahmo leader, contributed substantially towards development of Konnagar. A pioneer in women's emancipation, he assisted in the development of schools in the area. The railway station was opened in 1856 and the post office in 1858.
In 1931, Tomas Bata, the Czech shoe tycoon, established his first Indian operation at Konnagar. By 1936, the Konnegar plan was phased out. In May 1931, Tomas sold his business interests to his brother Jan Antonin Bata who established Batanagar, Bata's first permanent shoe factory in India. The Bata brand was established on August 24, 1894 in Zlín, Czech Republic. The company first established itself in India in 1931 by renting a building to start an experimental shoe production plant in Konnagar, West Bengal with 75 Czech experts. Though it was under Jan Antonin Bata administration that designed, developed and built the industrial city called Batanagar in 1934. Jan Bata also build factories in Digha near Patna, and elsewhere in India, employing more than 7,000 people. Batanagar, under Jan Bata's ideals became one of the bigger sub-urban towns near Kolkata.
The Sens of Konnagar are also very famous for their contribution to the cultural growth in the place. They were the zamindars till late 19th century, but slowly with the British rule coming to an end, the zamindari rules also collapsed.
Konnagar has been the home of many notable personalities. It was the ancestral home of the great nationalist and religious leader Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Hinduism/sri_aurobindo.htm famous Indian Geographer Shashi Bhusan Chatterjee and noted physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra
Sisir Kumar Mitra
Sisir Kumar Mitra [or Shishirkumar Mitra] was an Indian physicist.He was born and raised in Calcutta. His parents were the doctor Saratkumari and the school teacher Jaykrishna. At the age of nine he witnessed a hot air balloon and became intrigued in the phenomenon, so he began studying science...
. http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/scientists/SKMitra.htm Shafiur Rahman one of the martyrs of the language movement in East Pakistan was born in Konnagar. http://www.mukto-mona.com/new_site/mukto-mona/bengali_heritage/bangla_language_movement.htm)
Thetown had been visited by the greats like Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
, Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi
Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer.- Biography :Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in Dhaka, to literary parents in a Hindu Brahmin family. Her father Manish Ghatak was a well known poet and novelist of the Kallol era, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa...
and many others. Tagore was believed to be just a child when he and his family came to this town to escape the onslaught of Dengue which hit Kolkata.He revisited the town again when he was 19. He came to visit the Brahmasomaj Ghat along with his father Maharshi Debendranath. Shibram Chakrabarty used to live here for a brief period of time in his childhood near G.T.Road beside Konnagar High School.Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
's father and famous Indian geographer Shashi Bhusan Chatterjee happened to be a pupil of Konnagar High School established in the 19th century.And the town though got recognition chiefly due to the initiatives of Sib Chandra Deb
Sib Chandra Deb
Sib Chandra Deb was one of the leading Derozians, virtually the first generation of English-knowing Indians. He had joined Hindu College in 1825 and was subsequently drawn towards Derozio...
, its antiquity can hardly be denied. Its reference is there even in the 500 years old Mangal Kabyo.
The town is known for quality sweets, musical excellence and dense population.
Geography
Konnagar is located at 22.7°N 88.35°E. It has an average elevation of 14 metres (45 feet).Konanagar is positioned between RishraRishra
Rishra is an Tier Two Industrial Town and has a municipality in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.-Geography:...
and Uttarpara
Uttarpara
Uttarpara is a small town of Hooghly District, West Bengal, India. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.It is a town of historical importance. Uttarpara is home to some of the biggest industrial setups in the state...
on the Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line
Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line
The Howrah-Bardhaman Main Line is a broad-gauge railway line connecting Howrah and Bardhaman. The railway line operates in Howrah, Hooghly and Bardhaman districts in the Indian state of West Bengal...
and Grand Trunk Road
Grand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road also formerly known as Uttarapatha, Shah Rah-e-Azam or Sadak-e-Azam or Badshahi Sadak is one of South Asia's oldest and longest major roads...
. It is located on the west bank of the River Hooghly
River Hooghly
The Hooghly River or the Bhāgirathi-Hooghly, is an approximately long distributary of the Ganges River in West Bengal, India. It splits from the Ganges as a canal in Murshidabad District at the Farakka Barrage...
.
West side of the Konnagar railway station is called Nabagram. Most of the population in Nabagram is migrated from East Bengal. Being situated only 13.5 K.M from the heart of Kolkata the area enjoys semi urban status. Nabagram is typically beautiful as it is soothingly vegetation covered and neatly planned. Nabagram is known for its classy cultural tastes and excellence in fields of music. Nabagram has numebrous bands, theatre groups and dance troups. Off late, the annual worship of "Tara Maa", an incarnation of goddess Kali, during the month of August/September, has become a popular practice in Nabagram, apart from the regular quota of magnificent Durga Pujas held here. Nabagram has a much culturally youthful outlook, which contrasts it from Konnagar.
Konnagar is also the place of the famous Kalitala and Baro Mandir. Baro Mandir(Twelve Temples)was built in 1821. Thousands of devotees visit Kalitala during the puja of Goddess Kali. The goddess is known as Sukhantala Kali Thakur and in the month of Bashikh (April) a month long Mela(Carnival)is celebrated with fun. The unique feature of this puja is, the idol is created and decorated in one single day. Later it is immersed in the river Ganga, after the puja is over, on the same day.
Rajrajeshwari Puja is held in the month of February in Maghi Purnima. This festival is 300 years old and is celebrated for three days.
Demographics
India censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, Konnagar had a population of 72,211. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Konnagar has an average literacy rate of 80%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 84%, and female literacy is 77%. In Konnagar, 8% of the population is under 6 years of age. A Book fair & Industrial Fair is also held every year by the Municipality. A number of VIPs,Ministers come to inaugurate that fair.
Education
- Konnagar High School
- Konnagar Hindu Balika Vidyalaya
- Ashalata Balika Vidyalaya
- Konnagar Rajendra Smriti Vidyalaya
- Konnagar Sri Aurobindo Vidyapith
- Xavier's English School
- Nabagram High School
- Shishu Bharati School
- Nabagram VidyapithNabagram VidyapithNabagram Vidyapith is a boy's high school located in Konnagar, Hooghly District, West Bengal, India.- Organisation :Nabagram Vidyapith was founded in 1948....
- Nabagram Hiralal Paul College( www.hiralalpaulcollege.org/ugc_discloser.html)
- Kanaipur Boys School
- Nabagram
- Nabagram Hiralal Paul Balika Vidyalaya
- Kanaipur Girls School
- Hiralalpal College
- Konnagar Public Library and free reading room
- Nabagram Text Book Library
- Mother International School
- Glenhill School
- Hanafi Library
- Konnagar Uttaran
- Konnagar Swimming Club
- Rajrajeshari Yuba Sameti
Two century-old athletics club happen to be at Konnagar. They are Olympic Club and Friends' Union Club.
And also a well known Swimming Club called Konnagar Swimming Club
ABRL has opened an outlet of MORE at the town on December 24, 2009.
Durga Puja is clebrated with magnificent pomp and glamour in Konnagar
Major Pujas of Konnagar
In Konnagar
- Dakshin Palli(Chatni Kol)
- Konnagar Baishaki
- 1er Palli
- Konnagar Kalitala
- Choto Kalitola
- Barowaritala
In Nabagram
- Palli Mangal Samity 'C' Block
- Mahadesh Parishad
- B Block
- Palli Sheba Samity
- Saradamoni Pratishthan
People
- Sri Aurobindo Ghosh (Rishi), a famous freedom fighter.
- Shashi Bhusan Chatterjee F.R.G.S & F.R.S.A. Famous Indian Geographer.
- Jaganmoy Mitra Noted singer,as famous as Jagmohan in Hindi songs.
- Sofiur RahmanSofiur RahmanSofiur Rahman is considered in Bangladesh to be a martyr of the language movement which took place in the former East Pakistan....
, martyr of the 1952 Language MovementLanguage MovementThe Bengali Language Movement, also known as the Language Movement , was a political effort in Bangladesh , advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan... - Captain Suman Dasgupta (Vir Chakra) Posthumous Siachen martyr
- Surjo Chakraborty, captain and coach of East Bengal Football club
- Purnachandra Basu, first Indian to make matchsticks
- Dr. Krishnasadhan Ghose,established civil surgeon and the father of Sri Aurobindo
- Lolitmohan Basu, noted wrestler, the town had a street after his name
- Jadunath Mukherjee, second graduate after Bankim chandra
- Atulkrishna Mitra, renowned thespian
- Raja Digambar Mitra, famous Kolkata-based descendant of Mitra family of Konnagar
- Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury,current state minister of Higher Education lives at Konnagar.
- Konnagar Uttaran, work of child mind development.
External links
- Konnagar High School Alumni
- Bata India accessed 31 Dec 2007
- MSN Map