Kulti

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For the Swedish tennis player, see Nicklas Kulti.

?Kulti West Bengal • India
Kulti
Coordinates: 23°44′N 86°51′E / 23.73, 86.85
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 114 m (374 ft)
District(s)	Bardhaman
Population	290,057 (2001)
Website: bardhaman.gov.in/

Coordinates: 23°44′N 86°51′E / 23.73, 86.85 Kulti (Bengali: কুল্টি) is a city and a municipality in Bardhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

1 Geography
2 History
- 2.1 IISCO Plant
3 Demographics
4 Politics
5 References
6 Notes
7 See also

[edit] Geography

Kulti is located at 23.73° N 86.85° E^[1]. It has an average elevation of 114 metres (374 feet).

The Asansol-Durgapur region is composed of undulating latterite soil. This area lies between two mighty rivers – the Damodar and the Ajay. They flow almost parallel to each other in the region – the average distance between the two rivers is around 30 km. For ages the area was heavily forested and infested with plunderers and marauders. The discovery of coal led to industrialisation of the area and most of the forests have been cleared. ^[2] At the western fringe of the area the Barakar River forms the boundary with Jharkhand.

[edit] History

[edit] IISCO Plant

Earlier a small village, Kulti has grown around the IISCO plant for more than a century. The plant has many historical achievements to its credit:

India’s first blast furnace was built way back in 1870, when even in the industrially developed countries there were few blast furnaces. That open top blast furnace used coal instead of charcoal for the first time, thereby introducing modern metallurgy to India. The furnace was in operation from 1875 till the fifties when it was dismantled, as the plant at Burnpur was expanded.

Steel was made for the first time in India in 1904, in open hearth furnaces. The furnace lost out to the cheap steel dumped into the country from England. Steel making withered away and Kulti remained an iron making plant with numerous foundries producing a wide range of intricate castings. Large castings and large diameter cast iron pipes produced at Kulti for more than century are still being used at many places throughout the country. Technological obsolescence and vast changes in the process of steelmaking forced the closure of the foundries.

Spun pipes were produced for the first time in India by the centrifugal casting process in 1945. Even when other plants came up, Kulti continued to have a national market share of 50-70%. While technological obsolescence ate away its roots, unfair market practices finally forced it to down its shutters. In 2003, the plant was closed down with voluntary retirement to most of the workers.

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census^[3], Kulti had a population of 290,057. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Kulti has an average literacy rate of 62%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 70%, and female literacy is 52%. In Kulti, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

[edit] Politics

Ujjal Chatterjee of Trinamool Congress won the Kulti assembly seat in 2006 ^[4] Maniklal Acharya of Forward Block had won the seat in 2001 ^[5]

Prior to that the seat was won by Maniklal Acharjee of Forward Block in 1996 and 1991, Tuhin Samanta of Indian National Congress in 1987, Madhu Banerjee of Forward Block in 1982 and 1977, Ramdas Banerjee of Indian National Congress in 1972 and 1971, Dr. Taraknath Chakrabarti of Samyukta Socialist Party in 1969, Dr. Jai Narayan Sharma of Indian National Congress in 1967 and 1962, Benarasi Prasad Jha of Praja Socialist Party in 1957. In 1952, independent India’s first election, Kulti was a twin member constituency and those elected were Jai Narayan Sharma and Baidyanath Mondal, both of Indian National Congress. ^[6]

Kulti has been a part of Asansol (Lok Sabha constituency). ^[7]