Basirhat

For other uses, see Basirhat (disambiguation).

Basirhat
City
Basirhat Location in West Bengal, India Show map of West Bengal Basirhat Basirhat (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 22°39′26″N88°53′39″E / 22.65722°N 88.89417°E / 22.65722; 88.89417
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	North 24 Parganas
Government
• Type	Municipality
• Body	Basirhat Municipality
• Municipality Chairman	Aditi Roychowdhury Mitra [1]
Area [2]
• Total	22.50 km2 (8.69 sq mi)
Elevation	6 m (20 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	125,254
• Density	5,600/km2 (14,000/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	743412
Area code	3217
Vehicle registration	WB-21
Lok Sabha constituency	Basirhat
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Basirhat Dakshin, Basirhat Uttar
Website	https://basirhatmunicipality.in

Basirhat is a city of West Bengal, India. It is located on the banks of the Ichamati (Ichhamati) River. Basirhat was constituted a municipality in 1869. It is connected by road and rail with Barasat and by road to the Kolkata urban area via the Dum Dum suburban complex. It is a major trade depot for the rice, jute, mustard, legumes, dates, and potatoes produced in the surrounding agricultural area. Sugar milling and metalware manufacture are the chief industries.

Geography

8km
5miles

B

A

N

G

L

A

D

E

S

H

Bidyadhari
River

Burokalabati
River

Raimangal River

Ichhamati
River

Sarapul

R

Sandeshkhali

R

Sandelerbil

R

Nazat

R

Murarisha

R

Matia

R

Malancha

R

Kalinagar

R

Iswarigachha

R

Hemnagar

R

Hasnabad

R

Haroa

R

Ghojadanga
check post

R

Bamanpukuria

R

Swarupnagar

R

Taki

M

Basirhat

M

Baduria

M

Uttar Bagundi

CT

Sadigachhi

CT

Raghunathpur

CT

Mathurapur

CT

Minakhan

CT

Itinda

CT

Hingalganj

CT

Dhanyakuria

CT

Deora

CT

Dakshin Chatra

CT

Dandirhat

CT

Balihati

CT

Bankra

CT

  

Cities, towns and locations in Basirhat subdivision, North 24 Parganas district
M: municipal town, CT: census town, R: rural/ urban centre
Owing to space constraints in the small map, the actual locations in a larger map may vary slightly

Location

Basirhat is located at 22°39′26″N88°53′39″E / 22.65722°N 88.89417°E / 22.65722; 88.89417 .

Area overview

The area shown in the map is a part of the Ichhamati-Raimangal Plain, located in the lower Ganges Delta. It contains soil of mature black or brownish loam to recent alluvium. Numerous rivers, creeks and khals criss-cross the area. The tip of the Sundarbans National Park is visible in the lower part of the map (shown in green but not marked). The larger full screen map shows the full forest area. ^[3] A large section of the area is a part of the Sundarbans settlements. ^[4] The densely populated area is an overwhelmingly rural area. Only 12.96% of the population lives in the urban area and 87.04% of the population in rural areas. ^{[5] [6]}

Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full-screen map.

Civic administration

Police station

Basirhat police station covers an area of 267 km² and serves a population of 637,538. Basirhat PS has under it Basirhat town outpost and two other outposts at Panitor and Boatghat. The police district has a 22 km border, out which 14 km is land border and 8 km is riverine border. 11 km of the border remains unfenced. Basirhat PS has jurisdiction over Basirhat municipal area and Basirhat I CD Block. ^[7]

Around half of the 4,095 km long India-Bangladesh border has been fenced and vigil along the border has been tightened up. As of 2017, Cattle smuggling across the border was unofficially estimated to be a Rs. 4,000 crore business, half of it across the Basirhat border and the balance through Malda and Murshidabad. ^[8]

Basirhat railway station

In 2017, The Sunday Guardian reported, “The crackdown by the Border Security Force (BSF) on the illegal, but lucrative, business of cow smuggling along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, resulted in immense resentment among a section of the area’s minority community. This culminated in the communal flare-up in the state’s Basirhat sub-division earlier this month. A source close to the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress told The Sunday Guardian over phone, “Cow smuggling to Bangladesh, through the riverine border in Basirhat, Taki and other adjoining areas, has taken a hit as the BSF has become very strict and is maintaining a constant vigil. This has hurt the locals, who were earning crores from these illegal activities. Rendered jobless, they blamed the situation on the majority community.”” ^[9]

CD block HQ

The headquarters of Basirhat I CD block are located at Basihat. ^[10]

Demographics

Religion in Basirhat municipality (2011) [11]
Religion			Percent
Hinduism			77.60%
Islam			22.21%
Others			0.19%

According to the 2011 census, Basirhat Municipality had a population of 125,254. Basirhat had a sex ratio of 981 females per 1000 males and a literacy rate of 87.35%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 18.94% and 0.41% of the population respectively. ^[12]

Bengali is the predominant language, spoken by 99.77% of the population. ^[13]

Education

Basirhat College was established in 1947. Affiliated with the West Bengal State University, it offers honours courses in Bengali, English, Sanskrit, philosophy, political science, history, geography, education, accountancy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, physiology and economics. It also offers general courses in arts, science and commerce, and a post-graduate course in Bengali. ^{[14] [15]}

The Front Gate of Bhabla Tantra Sir Rajendra High School

Healthcare

Basirhat District & Super Specialty Hospital under The Health & Family Welfare Department of the State Government of West Bengal has been bestowed with the responsibility of conserving and emerging the health care facility within Basirhat sub-division & its surrounding catchment area since 1965, Basirhat District Hospital & Super Specialty Hospital caters health services amongst 22.7 lakhs populations covering 1,777 km². In the year 2013, the 250 bedded Basirhat Sub-Division Hospital augmented to 300 Bedded District Hospital and later on, in the year 2017 the District Hospital increased with additional 300 beds with introduction of Super Specialty Hospital, now Basirhat District Hospital & Super Specialty Hospital running with 600 beds pride & success. ^[16]

Basirhat is one of the areas where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination. ^[17]

Notable people

• Titumir
• Tapan Bandyopadhyay
• Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
• Saptarshi Banerjee
• Rafikul Islam Mondal

External links

• Media related to Basirhat at Wikimedia Commons
• Basirhat Municipality Website

• External videos
  My city is Basirhat (with commentary in Bengali)
  Fencing of India-Bangladesh border

References

1. Official District Administration site Archived 20 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Basirhat Municipality".
3. "District Census Handbook North Twenty Four Parganas, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Page 13. Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
4. "District Human Development Report: South 24 Parganas". Chapter 9: Sundarbans and the Remote Islanders, p 290-311. Development & Planning Department, Government of West Bengal, 2009. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
5. "District Statistical Handbook". North 24 Parganas 2013, Tables 2.1, 2.2, 2.4b. Department of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
6. "District Census Handbook North Twenty Four Parganas, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Map of North Twenty Four Parganas with CD Block HQs and Police Stations (on the fifth page). Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
7. "Know your police station". Basirhat PS. North 24 Parganas district police. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
8. Guha Roy, Shantanu (12 July 2017). "Riots in Basirhat had nothing to do with religion, it's a Hindu-Muslim fight over controlling cow smuggling". Firstpost, 13 July 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
9. "Crack down on cow smuggling triggered Basirhat violence". Dibyendu Mondal. The Sunday Guardian, 16 July 2017. 15 July 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
10. "District Census Handbook North Twenty Four Parganas, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Map of North Twenty Four Parganas with CD Block HQs and Police Stations (on the fifth page). Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
11. "Table C-01 Population by Religion: West Bengal". censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
12. "District Census Handbook: North 24 Parganas" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. 2011.
13. "Table C-16 Population by Mother Tongue: West Bengal". www.censusindia.gov.in. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
14. "Basirhat College". BC. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
15. "Basirhat College". College Admission. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
16. "Health & Family Welfare Department". Health Statistics. Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 28 October 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
17. "Groundwater Arsenic contamination in West Bengal-India (19 years study )". Groundwater arsenic contamination status of North 24-Parganas district, one of the nine arsenic affected districts of West Bengal-India. SOES. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 24 August 2007.