Behala

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Behala and Barisha are localities in South West Calcutta. It is flanked by Mominpur in the north, the New Alipore and Tollygunge in the east, Thakurpukur in the south, and the localities of Budge Budge in the west.

In past it happened to be a separate Municipality by the name South Suburban. In early 1985 the West Bengal government included South Suburban municipality, Gardenreach municipality and Jadavpur into Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

Contents

[edit] History

The stretch of Diamond Harbour Road from Taratala to Thakurpukur has been a very old settlement. It is been populated mostly by West Bengal Hindus. Barisha is the most important place in Kolkata. It has been the biggest settlement of the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family.[1]

Settlement in the area dates back to the 15 th Century, but its urbanisation is relatively recent. Population growth started in Barisha and Behala after the partition of India.

Currently it encompasses one of the largest suburban agglomerations of the city of Calcutta. Huge growth of population especially since the early eighties resulted in the area being on the radar of both the common populace and the business classes. Due to this explosive and unplanned growth, the traffic is by and large dependent on the arterial Diamond Harbour Road, in spite of the parallel James Long Sarani being in existence. During the construction the Taratala fly-over, a large portion of traffic flowed through James Long Sarani to avoid construction activity, causing congestion and therefore pollution to affect other areas of Behala.

Existing markets became all the more congested and new markets added to the congestion. What added fuel to the fire was the encroachments of the sidewalks on both sides of the busy Diamond Harbour Road, thus pushing the pedestrians to the already busy road. Areas like Behala Tram Depot, Barisha Chowrasta and Barisha Sakher Bazar are very congested and traffic moves with a snail's pace during the peak office hours. A tram-line runs up the centre of Diamond Harbour Road from Joka to Behala Tram Depot and often the trams moved faster than the road traffic. The entire stretch of the Diamond Harbour Road from Barisha Sakher Bazar to Taratala is a veritable bottle neck.

[edit] Transport

These places are connected to all parts of the city by extensive bus services.

Behala and Barisha are served by the Majherhat railway station on the Sealdah South section of Kolkata Suburban Railway.

[edit] Medical Facilities

  • Vidyasagar Hospital, Brahmo Samaj Road, Balananda Hospital.

[edit] Educational Institutions

  1. Vivekananda College,Thakurpukur,Diamond Harbour Road
  2. Vivekananda Women's College, Barisha Chowrasta,Diamond Harbour Road
  3. Behala College(http://in.geocities.com/behala_college)
  4. Behala Blind School, Diamond Harbour Road
  5. Birla School, James Long Sarani
  6. National Gems School, A. K. Paul Road
  7. Vivekananda Mission School, Joka
  8. Bidya Bharathi
  9. Orient Day School,James Long Sarani.
  10. Meghmala Roy Education Centre.

[edit] Places of interest

[edit] Famous people

[edit] External links


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