Chinsurah subdivision is an administrative subdivision of the Hooghly district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Overview
The eastern portion of Chinsurah subdivision is part of the Hooghly Flats, a natural physiographic region, that is a narrow strip of land along the Hooghly. The interior of the subdivision is part of the Hooghly-Damodar Plain, the agriculturally rich alluvial plains lying between the two rivers. The entire area is a part of the Gangetic Delta. The Hooghly is a tidal river and has a high west bank. The Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, the Danes and the British dominated industry, trade and commerce in this area for more than two centuries, and as a result the Hooghly Flats region is highly industrialised.[1]
Subdivisions
The Hooghly district is divided into the following administrative subdivisions:[2]
Cities and towns in the Chinsurah subdivision (except Polba Dadpur and Dhaniakhali CD Blocks) in Hooghly district M: municipal city/ 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
The right bank of the Hooghly River has been industrialised over a long period. With the leading European powers dominating the area's industry, trade and commerce for over two centuries, it is amongst the leading industrialised areas in the state. At the same time the land is fertile and agricultural production is significant.[5]
In Chinsurah Mogra CD Block 64.87% of the population is urban and 35.13% is rural. Amongst the four remaining CD Blocks in the subdivision two are overwhelmingly rural and two are wholly rural.[6]
The map alongside shows a portion of Chinsurah subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.
Industries are concentrated in the cities and towns of the Chinsurah Mogra area (outside the CD Block area), along the Hooghly. In the 17th and 18th centuries different industrial units came into existence with the development of various European settlements along the Hooghly. Initially, it was traditional industries, but later comparatively heavier industries came in. Amongst the better known industrial units in Chinsurah subdivision are:[11]
Dunlop India Ltd. opened its factory at Sahaganj in 1936 and it pioneered the manufacture of a number of products such as automobile and aeroplane tyres, and produced industrial belting later.[12] Pawan Kumar Ruia of the Ruia group, acquired Dunlop from Manu Chhabria’s Jumbo Group in 2005, but has been struggling ever since to restart the closed Sahaganj factory.[13]
Tribeni Tissues is owned by Paper Boards and Speciality Papers Division of ITC Ltd. at Tribeni.[14]
Ascon Agro Products Limited, jointly owned by the SPS Group and the Pailan Group, produces potato flakes at Dhaniakhali. It is locally marketed using the POTO brand. Potato flakes are used to make snacks and are also used as a thickening agent in soups and bakery products. The plant was inaugurated by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the West Bengal chief minister, in 2007.[16][17][18][19][20]
S.R.Industry, manufacturer of construction and agricultural machinery, was established at Pandua in 1996.[21]
Hooghly is an agriculturally prosperous district of West Bengal. Although the economy has been shifting away from agriculture, it is still the pre-dominant economic activity and the main source of livelihood for the rural people of the district. One third of the district income comes from agriculture.[23] Given below is an overview of the agricultural production (all data in tonnes) for Chinsurah subdivision, other subdivisions and the Hooghly district, with data for the year 2013-14.[24]
Hooghly district had a literacy rate of 81.80% as per the provisional figures of the census of India 2011. Chinsurah subdivision had a literacy rate of 79.17%, Chandannagore subdivision 83.01%, Srirampore subdivision 86.13% and Arambag subdivision 79.05.
[25]
The table below (data in numbers) gives a comprehensive picture of the education scenario in Hooghly district for the year 2013-14:[25]
Note: Primary schools include junior basic schools; middle schools, high schools and higher secondary schools include madrasahs; technical schools include junior technical schools, junior government polytechnics, industrial technical institutes, industrial training centres, nursing training institutes etc.; technical and professional colleges include engineering colleges, medical colleges, para-medical institutes, management colleges, teachers training and nursing training colleges, law colleges, art colleges, music colleges etc. Special and non-formal education centres include sishu siksha kendras, madhyamik siksha kendras, centres of Rabindra mukta vidyalaya, recognised Sanskrit tols, institutions for the blind and other handicapped persons, Anganwadi centres, reformatory schools etc.[25]
The following institutions are located in Chinsurah subdivision:
Techno India Group Public School, Chinsurah, Hooghly is a CBSE affiliated senior secondary school which was established in 2005 offering education from Play Group to Std. XII.[34]
Government Training College, a teachers' training college, established at Hugli-Chuchura in 1955.[47][48]
Indira Gandhi Teachers’ Training College was established at Sultangachha, Pandua.[49]
Healthcare
The table below (all data in numbers) presents an overview of the medical facilities available and patients treated in the hospitals, health centres and sub-centres in 2014 in Hooghly district.[50]
Private Hospitals:* (Name, location, beds)[52]
Vivekananda Seva Sadan, Vill & PO Mandra, Dhaniakhali, 25 beds
Jannedra Memorial Child Health Care Hospital, Lions Club, Dhaniakhali, 25 beds
.* Excluding nursing homes
Electoral constituencies
Lok Sabha (parliamentary) and Vidhan Sabha (state assembly) constituencies in Chinsurah subdivision were as follows:[53]
Lok Sabha constituency
Reservation
Vidhan Sabha constituency
Reservation
CD Block and/or Gram panchayats and/or municipal areas
Bansberia municipality, Aknna, Amnan, Goswami Malipara, Harit and Mahanad GPs of Polba Dadpur CD Block, and Mogra II and Saptagram gram panchayats of Chinsurah Mogra CD Block
Belmuri, Bhastara, Dashghara I, Dashghara II, Dhanekhali I, Dhanekhali II, Gurap, Gurbari I, Gurbari II, Khajurdaha Milki, Mandra, Somaspur I and Somaspur II GPs of Dhaniakhali CD Block, and Babnan, Dadpur, Makalpur and Satithan GPs of Polba-Dadpur CD Block
-
-
Other two assembly segments in Chandannagore subdivision
^"District Statistical Handbook 2014 Hooghly". Tables 18.1. Data for subdivisions/ district calculated by totalling the CD Block data provided. Department of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
^ abc"District Statistical Handbook 2014 Hooghly". Basic data: Table 4.4, 4.5, Clarifications: other related tables. Department of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
^"Private Hospitals in Hooghly district"(PDF). The list includes Nursing Homes also, but below we are giving only Hospitals. Hooghly district administration. Retrieved 17 July 2017.