Rampurhat

Rampurhat রামপুরহাট Rampur Hat
Town
Rampurhat Location in West Bengal, India
Coordinates: 24°10′N 87°47′E / 24.17°N 87.78°E / 24.17; 87.78Coordinates: 24°10′N 87°47′E / 24.17°N 87.78°E / 24.17; 87.78
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Birbhum
Government
• MP	Satabdi Roy
• MLA	Asish Banerjee
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	188,435
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	731224
Telephone Code	+91-3461
Lok Sabha constituency	Birbhum
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Rampurhat, Hansan
Website	birbhum.nic.in

Aerial view of Rampurhat

Landscape around Rampurhat

Rampurhat' is a city and a municipality in Birbhum District in the Indian state of West Bengal. Rampurhat is a rapidly growing township. It is a peaceful town near the West Bengal / Jharkhand border. Rampuhat is an important town of Birbhum district as it has dynamic connectivity with the other places of West Bengal and neighboring states via state highways, national highway and rail route. Distance from Kolkata is 220 km (railway distance).

History

This city is important because of the tourist attraction for Tarapith which contains an important Hindu temple and famous for the Great devotee 'Bamakhepa'. It is also recognised as 'Shaktipith' as per Hindu belief. The river Dwarka flows by this side. Another attraction for Hindu devotees 'Nalateswari Mandir' situated at Nalhati, 15 km from the town. The temple is described as one of the 'Satipith' of 51 other Satipith in India. Birchandrapur, 20 km from the town, is famous for the birthplace of Nityananda Swami, co founder of Baisnav religion with Shri Chityanyadev. Birchandrapur, named after Birchandra Goswami - the son of Nityananda, is a part of the village Ekachakra which according to mythology has been inhabited by the Pandavas. 'Akali mandir' is situated at Akalipur, near Bhadrapur, 25 km from Rampurhat and famous for its unique hexagonal structure and had an history of more than 300 years (it is associated with Maharaja Nandakumar). Devi Gujhyakali's idol is without Shiva. Perhaps the idol was from the dynasty of Pawanas followed by Jarasandha of Magadha. Later it was with Raja Chet Singh of Kashi. Hastings attacked Kashi palace and taken the idol to Bengal. Maharaja Nandakumar recovered the idol from British Pirates. He wanted to take the idol at Bhadrapur. Ancestral village of Maharaja Nandakumar was at Bhadrapur around 5 km away from Akalipur. Sthapana of Goddess was done by son of Nandakumar at Akalipur.

various languages are spoken by the people of the town .Bangla,Hindi,bhojpuri,Santahali,Marwari,Gujrati are common language of Rampurhat. People of Rampurhat celebrate all festival with same zeal.The main festivals are Durga puja, Kalipuja,Chhath, Id etc. Chhathpuja is celebrated by bihari community at Gandhipark. Hattala,Nischintapur,Mahajanpatti,etc. are known for Durga puja

Geography

Rampurhat is located at 24.17 North and 87.78 East.^[2]

Rampurhat I consists of the following gram panchayats: Ayas, Dakhalbati, Kusumba, Bonhat, Kasthogora, Mashra, Barshal, Kharun, and Narayanpur.^[3][4]

Rampurhat II block consists of the following gram panchayats: Bishnupur, Hansan I, Margram I, Budhigram, Hansan II, Margram II, Dunigram, Kaluha, and Sahapur.^[3][5]

Rampurhat is an important railway station, having connectivity to several places. Almost all of the trains passing through Rampurhat stop at the station. Given the right train, one can reach Kolkata in around 3.5 hours. A new railway line to Deoghar is being set up.

As Panagarh–Morgram Highway passes through the town so by road communication is well developed along with the railway communication. Frequent State Transport Corp's buses & private owned buses helped the travellers to move to Siliguri, Coachbehar,Kolkata, Burdwan, Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Durgapur, Asansol, Medinipur, Malda, Dumka, Deoghar throughout the day.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,^[6] Rampurhat has a population of 56,258 including block-I(mostly the municipal area) and block-II. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Rampurhat has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 66%. In Rampurhat, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Economics

The town is also known for stone crushers and mines, which are situated on the Bengal - Jharkhand border (most are in Jharkhand). This belt provides employment to a wide range of peoples from all over Birbhum District and Santhal Pargana.There are almost 350 crushers installed.

Civic Administration

There is a Rampurhat municipality.It is divided into 18 wards.Currently,it is controlled by the Indian National Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance.In the 2010 municipal elections,the municipality faced a hung verdict.Later,the Trinamool Congress with 7 elected councillors,formed the municipal board taking support of 4 Congress Councillors (including 2 independents).

Education

There are 6 major schools for high studies - namely Rampurhat J. L. Vidyabhavan(one of the best educational institutes in Birbhum, estd. in 1955) which is co-educational after 10 standard,Rampurhat High School (one of the best in Birbhum and the oldest school of Rampurhat established in 1886),Rampurhat Girls High School(a prestigious high school for girls estd. in 1900),Rampurhat High School for Girls. The schools follow WB Board .One school, The Heritage School follows CBSE curriculum. Two others schools are there- Holy Home and St. Paul's School,situated at suburbs of Rampurhat. They follow ICSE board. Other important schools are Railway Adarsha vidyamandir(HS) & more than 17 primary schools. There are two colleges - Rampurhat College and Asleha Girls college].

Culture

Rampurhat is also well known for cultural activities. A number of schools teach music, dance, recitation and drama. Every year during Dolutsab a big function is arranged in Netaji Subhas Muktomancha, involving multiple cultural performance groups. Rabindra Jayanti is celebrated in the town with many cultural programmes across all localities. During Saraswati puja cultural programmes are organized in the schools. The local tribal people, mostly belonging to the Santhali groups, frequently arrange for programmes representing their cultural aspects. Railway Auditorium and Raktakarabi Puro Mancha are the leading auditoriums. Town Hall is also a place where small programmes are organized. Rampurhat Sangeet Samaj is a proactive cultural and social service organization based out of the town.

Transport

References