Bangaon

Bangaon (Bengali: বনগাঁ) is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the state of West Bengal, India. Bangaon is one of the five sub-divisions of the District Of North 24 Parganas. Other sub-divisions are Barasat, Barrackpore, Basirhat and Bidhan Nagar.
Contents [hide]
1 Geography
1.1 Geo-political significance
1.2 Climate
1.3 River
2 Demographics
3 Politics
4 Education
5 Road
6 Sports
7 Birthplace
8 Area of contamination
9 Healthcare
9.1 Main Festival
9.1.1 Other occations & fairs
10 Attractive place to visit
11 References
[edit]Geography

Bangaon is located at 23.07°N 88.82°E.[1] It has an average elevation of 7 metres (22 feet). It is the last station on the Sealdah-Bangaon section of Eastern Railway, 77 km from Sealdah Station.[2] It is part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system. The Sealdah – Bangaon railway was built between 1882 and 1884.[3]
[edit]Geo-political significance
Bongaon has border with Bangladesh. In Bongaon it is called Petrapole and in the Bangladesh side it is called Benapole. It is the most favoured road check post. The Indian Railway has started a weekly goods rail transport of 35 wagons, Sonar Bangla, from Bongaon. It was started by the then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee under the National Democratic Alliance government. The route was established in 1884 and the Barisal Express operated passenger services till 1947. After the partition, a mixed service (passenger and goods) continued till the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. With the creation of Bangladesh, the goods train service was reintroduced for two years from 1972 but again closed for lack of goods. India and Bangladesh signed an agreement in July last to re- establish the train link. This was in line with the initiatives of the previous BNP Government, which formed a committee in 1994 to assess the feasibility. Officials said the route would cut short 63 km compared to the Darshana-Gethe track to Dhaka and facilitate smooth traffic of 7 lakh metric tonnes of expected import-export items in a year. According to the agreement, goods train from both sides would be allowed at Benapole and Petrapole from where the Bangladesh Railway and the Indian Railway would take wagons of their counterparts to the destination.Petrapole Border is the most Profitable Border among the whole Indo-Bangladesh border. Most Business of Bangladesh come from this Bordeer. [4]
[edit]Climate
Rainfall - 1,579mm(normal)
Temperature - Max 41 °C in May and Min 10 °C in January
Relative Humidity - Between 50% in March & 90% in July
Soil Status - varies from sandy to clay loam
Ratio of Land - High:Medium:Low = 17:44:39
[edit]River
Ichamati River goes through the Bongaon Subdivision.
[edit]Demographics

As of 2001 India census,[5] Bangaon had a population of 102,115. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Bangaon has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 55% of the males and 45% of females literate. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age. SC population is around 80-90%.
[edit]Politics

Gopal Seth son of Late Bhupemdranath Seth(Former MP of Bongaon) of Trinamool Congress won the Bangaon assembly seat in the 2009 by-sub-elections.The Sub-Election held because The former MLA Sougata Roy had to leave because he became the Central minister.
Bhupemdranath Seth of Trinamool Congress defeated Pankaj Ghosh of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) in the 2006 state assembly elections. Pankaj Ghosh of CPI(M) defeated Bhupendranath Seth (Independent and Indian National Congress respectively) in 2001 and 1996. Bhupemdranath Seth of Congress defeated Ranajit Mitra of CPI(M) in 1991. Ranajit Mitra of CPI(M) defeated Bhupendranath Seth of Congress in 1987. Bhupendranath Seth of Congress defeated Ranajit Mitra of CPI(M) in 1982. Ranajit Mitra of CPI(M) defeated Bhupendranath Seth of Congress in 1977. [6]
Bongaon lok sabha is constituted of Bongaon,Bagdah,Gaighata,Kalyani,Swarupnagar,Haringhata and Chakdah. The seat is reserved for SC. Now it is commuted by TMC.
The Municipality is presently headed jointly by the All India Trinamool Congress and Congress party. and the current/working chairman of Bongaon municipality is Prasanta Kumar Bala. He has been elected from TMC.
[edit]Education

Among the schools, the Bongaon High School for boys (phone number - 03215 255144) and Kumudini Girls School for girls are one of the most sought after by students, though there are other good schools.By the way another high school Bongaon Kabi Kesheblal Vidyapith for Boys also has a good educational background. Bongaon high school have produced some brilliant students who have signed a lot in the whole world.Starting from Narendranath Mitra & Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay it has produced likes of Dr.Samir Kr Kanjilal to Dr.Dhiman Bhattacharyya in the recent past. Bongaon has a college named Dinabandhu Mahavidyalaya affiuliated to Calcutta University (Phone Number - 03215 255044).The name of the other Important schools are, Kabikashablal Vidya Pith,Saktigarh High school,Gourisundari Balika Vidyalaya etc
[edit]Road

National Highway No. 35,the jessore road goes through the Bongaon Subdivision. "Chakdah Road"(state highway no; 1) is the connector/Bypass between NH-34 and NH-35.
[edit]Sports

In sports and cultural activities Bongaon is very well in the State. There are many Playing grounds in Bongaon like 1. Stadium 2. Prataphgarh 3. Subash Pally's Math 4. BDO office's Play ground.5.avijan sangher math. Football and Cricket are the main game of Bongaon. Stadium is the main ground of Bongaon. Here mostly cricket and Football matches takes place. Other Fields are the Cricket Ground. Prataphgarh is main Cricket Ground. which is situated opposite of Bongaon Sub divisional Hospital.
[edit]Birthplace

Bongaon is the Birth place of famous novelist Bibhuti Bhusan Bandhopadhyay. His novel "Panther Pachali" was picturised by Satyajit Ray which was acknowledged & awarded nationally & internationally.His others novels like "Apur Sansar", "Aparajit" etc are also very famous. The house of Bibhuti Bhusan in Barackpore [5km away from the heart of the town] is a tourist place.Bongaon is also the birthplace of famous historian Rakhal Das Bandhopadhyay, who discovered "Harappa & Mahenjodaro" civilization on the bank of "sindhu" river. His house in Bongaon,near Patrapole] is also a tourist place. Dinabandhu Mitra also from here, He born in Chouberia in Bongaon, his "Neel Darpan" Drama against British Brutality in the field of Indiago Cultivation is very popular.
[edit]Area of contamination

Bongaon is one of the areas where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination. [7]
[edit]Healthcare

Bongaon has a Government aided Hospital namely Dr. J. R. Dhar Sub Divisional Hospital.It has 200 beds and 30 doctors. As most of the people of this region are Below Poverty Line they get free treatments here. Some leading doctors of Bongaon are Dr.Sunirmal Mitra, Dr.Samir Kr. Kanjilal, Dr.Joydeb Mukherjee, Dr.D.Bahubalindra, Dr.M.N.Roy and many more. There are some private Nursing Homes in Bongaon.
[edit]Main Festival
"Durga Puja" is the main festival of . Some other important Festivals of the People are "Kali puja","Biswakarma Puja","Lokenath Puja", "Saraswati Puja","Holi" etc.

[edit]Other occations & fairs
Some popular fair or carnival of Bongaon is Sat-Bhai Kali Talar mela(held on january),Charaker mela(held on mid april,the bengali new

Saat bhai kali talar mela
year),Bongaon mela(also held on april) etc.
[edit]Attractive place to visit

In Bongaon There are some places for the visitors. You can find here the Birthplace / House of Bibhuti Bhusan Bandhapadhya. Here is a park on his name and The villagers of the area are very helpful. they always welcome everyone. This is a picnic spot for many visitors.
The another one is "Parmadan Forest". This forest is under State Forest department. Here you can see Deer, Different types of Birds (Mostly in Winter) , Different types of Monkey and many more.