| Jyoti Basu Nagar (Rajarhat) | |||
| — city — | |||
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| Coordinates | |||
| Country | India | ||
| State | West Bengal | ||
| District(s) | North 24 Parganas | ||
| Chairman | Tapas Chatterjee | ||
| Parliamentary constituency | Dum Dum, Barasat | ||
| Assembly constituency | Rajarhat Gopalpur, Rajarhat New Town | ||
| Civic agency | Rajarhat Gopalpur Municipality but without water supply | ||
| Population • Density |
271,781 (2001[update]) • 9,706 /km2 (25,138 /sq mi) |
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| Sex ratio | 939 ♂/♀ | ||
| Literacy | 76% | ||
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) | ||
| Area | 28 square kilometres (11 sq mi) | ||
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Codes
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| Website | http://www.north24parganas.gov.in | ||
Rajarhat Gopalpur (Bengali: রাজারহাট)[1] (renamed from New Town on 7 October 2010), a neighbourhood of Calcutta, located in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, is a fast-growing planned new city. It is situated near the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport. Many high-profile industrialists of national and international standing are investing in the township. The place is an impressive information technology and computer engineering hub.
This new industrial and residential hub is being developed on the north-eastern fringes on Calcutta, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. It consists of the two erstwhile villages Rajarhat and Gopalpur, which is now a city and municipality named 'Rajarhat Gopalpur'. The area mainly consisted of huge acres of cultivable lands and water bodies. The process of investing for residential and industrial facilities and infrastructural development of the area has mainly started under the leadership of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in the late 1990s. The governmental master plan envisions a township here at least three times bigger than the neighbouring planned Salt Lake city of Bidhannagar. According to governmental proposals, the township will be extended up to the extreme south of the state, i.e., up to the Sunderbans near the Bay of Bengal.
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Rajarhat Gopalpur is located at .[2] This city covers an area of 28 km2,[3] and is located in Barasat Sadar subdivision of North 24 Parganas district.
As of 2001 India census,[4] the Rajarhat Gopalpur Municipality had a population of 271,781. Males constituted 52% of the population and females 48%. In 2001, the area also had an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy was 81%, and female literacy was 72%. Ten percent of the population were under 6 years of age in the area. Muslims comprised about 45% of the population, the rest being mainly Hindus.
With the completion of the establishment and development of the township, the population of the area is poised for a significant increase. The sex ratio, literacy rate and every other regional statistics will therefore see radical changes within a few years. The existing populace is mainly engaged in subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, and skilled and unskilled labour. The population intended to be settled there is the upper-middle and middle-classes of West Bengal.
Though major hospitals are yet to be built, this area has good connectivity with other parts of Calcutta which have sophisticated health centers. A handful of million dollar healthcare facilities are under projection, and most of them will be completed within the years 2010-2012. The most notable to mention is intensive care hospital and state-of-the-art Tata Cancer Centre by industrialist and international steel-baron Ratan Tata.Couple of new hospitals like UMRI (Uma Medical related Institute), Zoom healthcare and Charnock City exist here.
The area needs more healthcare facilities of its own, to be established both by private organisations, and by government which will ensure good health facilities at a reasonable price.
Being a planned township, Rajarhat, has been divided into three Areas, Action Area - I, mainly consisting of Malls, a Sub- CBD, and planned residential and commercial plots; Action Area - II is supposedly planned to have a main Central Business District (CBD), institutional plots, IT Business Parks like DLF and Unitech, and plots for large apartment complexes, it will also house the Kolkata Museum of Modern Art, a open Maidan with recreation area along a large wetland/lake; Action Area - III mainly consists of high rise residential complexes and mini sub-townships like Uniworld City and Sukhobristi.
The area has, though not internationally excellent, one of the best entertainment facilities in the state of West Bengal. Apart from private clubs of every offices and estates, the area has a good number of children's parks and clubs. Notable mention among those will be a water park called Aquatica; a good children's park called Nicco Park; a huge picnic spot consisting of waterbodies called Nalban; and a club for adults with traditional Indian yoga and spa facilities, called Vedic Village.
Several international shopping malls are being constructed in the area, a few of them being already completed. Notable malls are Axis Mall and City Centre. Also, nearing completion is DLF Galleria mall. The Rajarhat - New Town area is a shopper's paradise in the real sense of the term, but all these malls have been planned especially keeping in mind the needs of the elite class. Some of the shopping malls in Rajarhat include (complete as well as planned):-
International five-star hotels like ITC Sonar and Hyatt Regency are situated nearby. These hotels have good multicuisine and pub facilities. Some more five-star and super luxurious hotels are planned, including one being recently announced in 2007 by Ratan Tata for his chain of Ginger hotels. The only operational five star hotel being Swissotel Kolkata Neotia Vista. Construction work of other five star hotels such as Novotel and Westin have begun. But in general, the Rajarhat - New Town area till date seriously lacks good restaurants and pubs of reasonable prices.
The main mode of transportation, like other parts of Kolkata includes Air Conditioned / Non-AC Government and Private Buses, Taxi, and other popular India transports like Auto Rickshaw. However, the buses are sporadic and the routes originating out are very few. The New Garia - Airport line of the Kolkata Metro is supposed to pass through Rajarhat by 2014.[5][6] There is also a plan to extend the Circular Railway from Bidhannagar Road (Ultadanga) to Rajarhat.[7] The Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is very near to the township, providing air connectivity to the rest of the World.
Newtown-Rajarhat being 3 times the size of Saltlake have been alloted as the second IT Hub of Calcutta. Already several IT majors are operational, while others like TCS (alloted 40 acres ) and Wipro (allotted 45 acres) have been alloted space. Real Estate Companies like DLF, Bengal Unitech of Unitech group, Shapoorji Pallonji, Singapore based Keppel Land, Ambuja Realty, Bengal Peerless etc. are developing Commercial/Retail/Residential projects,some of which are largely operational today.[8][9]
Some of the operational IT Companies in Rajarhat includes IBM, Genpact, Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, Ericsson, Accenture, Phillips, HCL Technologies, eRevMax, Aegis, Xoriant Corp. and many mid-to small cap Tech firms. IT majors like TCS, Infosys and Wipro have also acquired prime land in Rajarhat and their facilities will be ready by late 2011 or early 2012.
Rajarhat Gopalpur municipality was established in 1994. Current chairman is Tapas Chatterjee.[3]
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