Ultadanga

Ultadanga
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta)
Time tower and Rabindranath Tagore sculpture near Muchibazar, Ultadanga (Night View)
Country  India
State West Bengal
City Kolkata
District Kolkata
Metro Station Shobhabazar Sutanuti
Municipal Corporation Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KMC wards 13, 14
Population
 • Total For population see linked KMC ward pages
Time zone UTC+5:30 (IST)
Area code(s) +91 33
Lok Sabha constituency Kolkata Uttar
Vidhan Sabha constituency Maniktala

Ultadanga is one of the most crowded junctions in Kolkata. The place is located at the north-eastern fringe of the city and marks the limit of Kolkata District. Prominent places in Ultadanga are Telenga Bagan and Muchi Bazar.

The Bidhan Nagar or Ultadanga railway station.
Busy VIP Road at Ultadanga at Night.

Etymology

Ultadanga lay outside the Maratha Ditch, beyond Halsibagan, where the Sikh billionaire Umichand had a garden. It was land on the opposite bank (ulta in Bengali).[1]

History

The East India Company obtained from the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement. Of these 5 lay across the Hooghly in what is now Howrah district. The remaining 33 villages were on the Calcutta side. After the fall of Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, it purchased these villages in 1758 from Mir Jafar, and reorganised them. These villages were known en-bloc as Dihi Panchannagram and Ultadanga was one of them. It was considered to be a suburb beyond the limits of the Maratha Ditch.[2][3][1]

The name, Ulta Danga, comes from the original name of the place, Ulta Dingi, or a place where small boats which were colloquially called Dingis were made or repaired. It was a ghaat area, and chances are that this too would be on the banks of the Ganges at some point of time in history, before the river changed its course.

In 1889, Maniktala, Ultadanga and Beliaghata became 'fringe area wards' of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.[4]

Geography

Police district

Ultadanga police station is part of the Eastern Suburban division of Kolkata Police. Located at Block 13, CIT Scheme No. VIII M, Kolkata-700067, it has jurisdiction over the police district which is bordered in the north by R.G. Kar Road and Belgachia Road (roads included), in the east by the Eastern Railway track and New Cut Canal up to Durgapur Bridge (canal excluded), in the south by Ultadanga Main Road and Ultadanga Road (roads excluded), and in the west by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road (road excluded).[5]

Ultadanga Women police station, located at the same address as above, covers all police districts under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Suburban division i.e. Beliaghata, Entally, Manicktolla, Narkeldanga, Ultadanga, Tangra and Phoolbagan.[5]

Economy

HSBC, AXIS Bank, Bank of Baroda, United Bank of India and State Bank of India are some of the bank branches located in this area. Ultadanga is near to some of the most happening shopping malls in the city like Mani Square, City Center, Charnok City, and Pantaloon in Kankurgachi etc. Sony World, one of Kolkata’s biggest Sony showrooms is located at Ultadanga crossing near the station. Honey da Dhaba, Bika, Delhi Darbar and Rose are few of the many restaurants located in and close to the Ultadanga area. Arena Animation Kankurgachi, Jetking Institute, FIIT JEE, Credence Academy, Kolkata Cables, BSNL and BrandMantra Solutions Pvt. Ltd. are some of the prominent institutes and offices in Ultadanga and its surrounding areas.There is also a TITAN Showroom in Ultadanga and recently a flyover has been constructed in Ultadanga.

Transport

Ultadanga houses one of Kolkata’s busiest railway stations, the Bidhannagar Road railway station, which remains packed with hurrying passengers throughout the day especially on weekdays. Auto and bus services are available for Baguiati, Bidhannagar. The area is densely populated with not only people but with shops, restaurants, shopping malls, banks, Government housings, Government and private offices, educational and training institutes etc.

Education

Ultadanga houses Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya, a college previously known as Gurudas College of Commerce, affiliated to University of Calcutta. The college is a multi-faculty one with Science, Arts and Commerce streams.

On January 12, 2010, a fire broke out at a slum in Ultadanga known as 'Basanti Colony', leaving 1 man dead and 450 homeless.The homes were again built by the Government and had been redistributed among the residents free of cost within 6 months. The area is popularly known as Basanti colony.

Few G+11 residentials are coming up on the western side of the Bidhannagar Railway Station. 'Sun City' is the most notable and the first among those.There is a Government Girls School too called the Ultadanga Girls School and beside it are two housing colonies -

  • Rohini Coal India Housing Complex
  • Hudco Housing Estate AND

References

  1. 1 2 Nair, P.Thankappan, The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, pp. 14-15, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition.
  2. ↑ "District Census Handbook Kolkata, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Pages 6-10: The History. Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  3. ↑ Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, first published 1909/reprint 1980, pages 103-4 and 221, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  4. ↑ Nair, P.Thankappan, The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, p. 13, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition.
  5. 1 2 "Kolkata Police". Eastern Suburban Division. KP. Retrieved 5 March 2018.

Kolkata/North Kolkata travel guide from Wikivoyage

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