Raiganj

Raiganj is known for Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary (also called the Kulik bird sanctuary), home to a large population of Asian openbills and other waterbirds and it is the largest bird sanctuary in Asia. Raiganj is situated at the banks of Kulik river which helped the town to become an important place for water connectivity. But, in course of time, navigability of Kulik river decreased and business through the waterway was stopped in the first half of the 1970s, especially after the dam was erected to prevent floods. The port area slowly lost its significance and, at present, it is the most backward locality of Raiganj.

The area of this town is about 36.51 km². But the present growing tendency and trend of urbanisation in the area adjacent to this town are also remarkable. The agglomeration areas are also experiencing this trend. Now the vast areas under Birghai, Maraikura, Rupahar, Bahin, karnojora,

Maharaja Hat, is also growing with the population like the town of Raiganj and this population is dependent on Raiganj town.[6]

In the map alongside, all places marked on the map are linked in the full screen version.

Raiganj is home to the following police stations: Raiganj police station has jurisdiction over Raiganj municipal area and Raignaj CD block and covers an area of 472.13  km². It has two town outposts – Mohanbati TOP and Bandor TOP. It has another outpost – Karanjora outpost and a police camp at Bhatun.[7][8]

Raiganj Women police station is located at Raiganj.[9][10]

The headquarters of Raiganj CD block is at Raiganj city.[11][12]

Raiganj is connected by buses to few major cities through NBSTC and private bus services. NH 12 and SH 10A are its lifelines.[18] SH 10A connects it to Kaliaganj, Balurghat, Hili. Buses are available all day long to Balurghat, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Malda, Kolkata and few other important cities. Overnight bus facilities are available mostly to Kolkata, Dhubri.

RDP-SGUJ DEMU at SGUJ

Raiganj railway station is on the Barsoi-Radhikapur branch line. One express train Radhikapur Express is available for reaching Kolkata and a link superfast express train Radhikapur-Anandvihar Express is available for going to New Delhi. Besides these couple of Katihar bound local passenger trains and a Siliguri bound DMU passenger can also be availed. Present C.M of West bengal Mamata Banerjee during her reign as a railways minister announced couple of railways projects for Raiganj which will definitely boost the communication.

• Raiganj-Dalkhola line (43.43 km)
• Raiganj-Itahar-Gazole line

Raiganj has no airport of its own. Government announced an airport in Raiganj named as Raiganj Airport

The nearest operating airport is Bagdogra Airport near Siliguri, about 166 km from Raiganj. IndiGo and SpiceJet are the major carriers that connect the area to Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangkok, Paro, Chandigarh and Balurghat airport

Situated along the National Highway and by the side of the Kulik river is the Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary with an area of 35 acre and buffer area of 286.23 acre. It is the largest bird sanctuary in Asia. The forest, water bodies and the river attract the migratory birds like Open Bill Strok, Night heron, cormorant, little cormorant & Egrets from South Asian countries and coastal regions. Local birds like dove, bulbul, sparrow, king fisher, woodpeckers, owl, duck & cuckoo, can also be seen in large numbers. The migratory birds arrive from end of May to Ist week of July and depart from mid December to end of January. The nesting time is from July to August & egg laying from August to September. The flying training to the young ones is the best time to observe the birds, around October to November. Every winter nearly 150 different bird species arrive here from the north in numbers ranging from 65,000 to 75,000. Some of the common migratory birds seen here are Open-Billed Storks, Asian Open-billed storks, Egrets, Knight Herons, and Cormorants. Indian birds like kites, flycatchers, kingfishers, owls, woodpeckers, drongos, and bee eaters. The sanctuary has artificial network of man made canals which is connected to the River Kulik. During the months of monsoon the flood water from the river enters the plains of the sanctuary. This acts as the important source of food for most of the bird species.

Legal status of the Forest:-

This bird sanctuary is all set to be rejuvenated as plans of developing a deer park and a tortoise park soon at the core of the sanctuary by State government.[19]

Raiganj Church

The Raiganj Church is dedicated to St. Joseph the Worker, the patron saint of Raiganj Diocese. The spacious building has glass and ceiling paintings, prominent pillars on both sides modelled on Greek pillars, carved doors and a high altar with an hexagonal dome on top of it.

Ayodhya is the birthplace for 5 tirthankars Adinath, Ajitnath, Abhinandannath, Sumatinath and Ananthnath. Shri 1008 Digamabar Adinath Jain Mandir is one of the most famous temple in aodhya. A 31 feet tall Adinath idol in standing posture is present here. This place has been recently developed with the blessings of Acharya ratna Deshbhushanji Maharaj and Ganini Pramukh Aryika Gyanmati Mataji. There is a famous shvetambar temple dedicated to Ajitnatha with a copper-colored idol of 30 cm as its Moolnayak. There are other Jain temples including Kamal Mandir, Chaubisi temple etc.[20][21][22]

Raiganj Coronation High School

Raiganj's schools usually use English and Bengali as their medium of instruction, although the use of Hindi language is also stressed. The schools are affiliated with the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. Schools include Raiganj Coronation High School, which is the oldest school in the town, established in 1911 and St. Xaviers School.

There are several colleges and a govt. polytechnic in the town. Recently, Raiganj College has been upgraded to Raiganj University, an autonomous, state-owned university. The colleges of Raiganj were affiliated to University of North Bengal but after establishment of University of Gour Banga at Malda in 2008, the colleges are now affiliated to University of Gour Banga. Notable colleges include Raiganj Surendranath Mahavidyalaya

Raiganj University is a public university in Raiganj, in the Uttar Dinajpur district. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in arts, commerce and sciences. It became a university in August 2015. Earlier it was a university college, which was affiliated to the University of North Bengal. It also offers PhD programmes in Humanities- and Science-based subjects.

It is inaugurated in 2019. There are two different campuses namely, Abdulghata campus and Dr. B.C Roy Street campus.

Raiganj Super Speciality Hospital

Raiganj Medical College & Hospital

There are a total of 400 existing beds for patients in different wards of Raiganj district hospital. But there was no infrastructure for the treatment of dying patients and the patients who suffer from complicated diseases of kidney and heart. Hence, on most occasions, the complicated patients are being transferred either to North Bengal Medical College & Hospital in Siliguri or Malda medical college and even to Kolkata which is 444 km away. The patient parties are facing great crisis to shift their patients either to Siliguri or Malda. Sometimes, patients die on the way as a result of complexities. On 27 November, the state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to Raiganj announced that Raiganj District Hospital would be upgraded to a Super Specialty Hospital and to start new Raiganj Medical College & Hospital in 2018.

In year 2008 23 March, The Union I&B and Parliamentary affairs minister Mr Priyaranjan Dasmunshi inaugurated the newly constructed Raiganj Bhawan in Kolkata(Kasba area).