New Town, is a fast-growing planned satellite city and a neighbourhood of Kolkata (earlier, Calcutta), located partly in North 24 Parganas district and South 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal. This new information technology and residential hub is being developed on the north-eastern fringes of Kolkata. It consists of areas of two erstwhile villages Rajarhat and Bhangar, which is now a statutory planned development area. The area mainly consisted of huge acres of cultivable lands and water bodies, which have been acquired and developed in a planned manner. The process of investing in residential and industrial facilities and infrastructural development of the area has mainly started under the leadership of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya in the late 1990s. The master plan envisions a township which is at least three times bigger than the neighbouring planned Salt Lake City. The New Town (Rajarhat) has been also declared as a Solar City by the previous UPA government at the Centre and now the initiatives are being taken to declare this city as Smart Green City, a dream project of Narendra Modi (Prime Minister of India) with the help of Government of West Bengal according to a proposal submitted by Mamata Banerjee (Chief Minister of West Bengal).
The New Town Kolkata was enabled with 10.5 km of Wi-Fi Zone connecting the Main Arterial Road to the airport to Sector V, which also make it India's first Wi-Fi road connectivity. The stretch has already been declared as a green corridor.
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Geography
New Town is located at 22.5894°N 88.4748°E / 22.5894; 88.4748. This township covers an area of 28 km2 (11 sq mi), and is located partly in Barasat Sadar subdivision of North 24 Parganas district and partly in South 24 Parganas district. It is part of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area.
Economy
New Town being three times the size of Salt Lake has emerged as the second IT hub of Kolkata. Already several IT majors are operational, while others like TCS (allotted 40 acres) and Wipro (allotted 45 acres) have been allotted space. Real estate companies like DLF, Bengal Unitech of Unitech Group, Shapoorji Pallonji, Tata group, Ambuja Realty, Bengal Peerless, Sureka Group etc. are involved in Commercial/Retail/Residential projects.
Demographics
The city is planned for a population of 10 lakhs, however, as of December 2016, the residential population of New Town is estimated to be around 30,000.
Utility services
As of 2015, New Town gets 200 lpcd of treated water every day with potable water that is sourced from the Hooghly River. Water treatment plants with computerised monitoring and control system are in place. 100% of the garbage is collected by sanitary workers through door to door collection. As of 2015, more than 70% of the solid waste management vehicles and street sweeping vehicles have been fitted with GPS devices for effective monitoring. All the garbage is compacted at compacting stations before disposing of it in dumping grounds.
Electricity is supplied by the privately operated New Town Electric Supply Company, or NTESCL. Fire services are handled by the West Bengal Fire Service, a state agency. The Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate looks after the law and order in the city.
State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, or BSNL, as well as private enterprises, among them Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Tata DoCoMo, Tata Teleservices, Virgin Mobile, and MTS India, are the leading telephone and cell phone service providers in the city. Kolkata being the first city in India to have cell phone and 4G connectivity, the GSM and CDMA cellular coverage is extensive in New Town.
Transport
The main mode of transportation, like other parts of Kolkata includes air conditioned, non-AC government and private buses, taxi, and other popular Indian transports like auto rickshaw and e-rickshaws. As of 2015, around 300 buses on 25 different bus routes, either passes through or originates from New Town. As of November 2016, the New Garia - Airport line of the Kolkata Metro is under-construction with cost inflation and delays There is also a plan to extend the Circular Railway from Bidhannagar Road (Ultadanga) to New Town via Lake Town and Salt Lake.
Education
Some of the educational and training institutes that are setting up their campuses in Rajarhat:
- University of Engineering & Management (UEM), Kolkata
- Amity University Kolkata
- Presidency University
- St. Xaviers University
- Rabindra Bharati University
- IIT Kharagpur Research Park
- Aliah University
- Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management
- Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
- Ramakrishna Mission Centre of Excellence
- Belle Vue Nursing College
- West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) Training Institute
- Al Ameen Mission Trust
- Techno India
For the children, to study up to the 12th standard, New Town also houses many schools:
- Delhi Public School
- New Town School
- Calcutta Public School
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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