New Town, Kolkata

New Town is a fast-growing planned satellite city of Kolkata.[3][4] It comes under North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is close to Kolkata and covered by New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA).[5] HIDCO plans developing infrastructure like - roads, drains, sewerage line, water supply lines, major beautification works etc and executes constructions like - buildings, projects, parks, museum, subways, overbridges etc in New Town.[6] This new information technology and residential hub is being developed on the north-eastern fringes of Kolkata. 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 Jyoti Basu in the late 1990s. The master plan envisions a township which is at least three times bigger than the neighbouring planned Salt Lake City. New Town (close to 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).[7] New Town was enabled with 10.5 km of Wi-Fi Zone along the Major Arterial Road (part of Biswa Bangla Sarani) from Haldiram, near Dumdum/Kolkata Airport to Salt Lake Sector V, which also make it India's first Wi-Fi road connectivity. The stretch has already been declared as a green corridor.[8]

For the area under Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, see Rajarhat.

New Town

Rajarhat Newtown
Planned Township
Apartment high-rises in New Town
New Town
Location in West Bengal, India
New Town
New Town (India)
New Town
New Town (Asia)
New Town
New Town (Earth)
Coordinates: 22.5894°N 88.4748°E / 22.5894; 88.4748
Country India
StateWest Bengal
DistrictNorth 24 Parganas
RegionGreater Kolkata
Government
 • TypeStatutory Development Board
 • BodyNew Town Kolkata Development Authority, West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO)
Area
 • Total30 km2 (10 sq mi)
Elevation
9 m (30 ft)
Population
 (July 2018)[2][1]
 • Total36,541
 • Density1,218/km2 (3,150/sq mi)
Languages
 • OfficialBengali, English
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
700135, 700136, 700156, 700157, 700160, 700161
Telephone code+91 33
Vehicle registrationWB
Lok Sabha constituencyBarasat
Vidhan Sabha constituencyRajarhat New Town
Websitewww.nkdamar.org, www.wbhidcoltd.com

Geography

New Town is located at 22°35′22″N 88°28′29″E. The township is located in the Bidhannagar subdivision of North 24 Parganas district.[9] It is part of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area.[10]

Economy
DLF IT Park, New Town, Jyoti Basu Nagar

New Town being three times the size of Salt Lake has emerged as the second IT hub of Kolkata. Already several Information Technology majors are operational, while others like TCS (40 acres), Wipro (45 acres) and Infosys (50 acres)[11] have been allotted space along with Cognizant. Many luxurious hotels like Lemon Tree Premier Hotel, Novotel, Swissotel, Westin etc. have also come up in the area.

Demographics
Uniworld City, an apartment complex within New Town

As of April 2018, the residential population of New Town is estimated to be more than 1 million with 0.5 million additional floating population.[12]

Civic administration

The New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has been constituted under The New Town Kolkata Development Authority Act, 2007 (The West Bengal Act XXX of 2007) for rendering various civic services and amenities within New Town, Kolkata and it has come into effect since November, 2008. It is a transitional arrangement in the way of creation of an Urban Local Body (ULB). The administration is headed by a chairman, exercising authority over a member secretary and Chief executive officer, who in turn oversee various specific committees, set up to implement various duties.

Utility services

Newtown's current administrator is Koushik Sarkar. As of 2015, New Town gets 200 lpcd of treated water every day with potable water that is sourced from the Hooghly River.[13] 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.[13] All the garbage is compacted at compacting stations before disposing of it in dumping grounds.

Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) plans and executes development projects in New Town, Kolkata. The erstwhile planning area of HIDCO is divided into four Action Areas ie. Action Area - I , Action Area – II , Action Area - III and Action Area - IV (still not started). The Central Business District (CBD) is located between Action Area - I & II. As multinational IT companies are coming in New Town, HIDCO is developing the city as per their master plan. HIDCO has also decided to install the geographic information system (GIS) to integrate the database on the number of house owners, property tax, mutation, building construction etc in New Town.[14]

Electricity is supplied and managed by New Town Electric Supply Company Limited (NTESCL).[13] 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 (BSNL), as well as private enterprises, among them Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Jio, Tata DoCoMo are the leading telephone and cell phone service providers in the city.[15]:25–26:179 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.[16][17]

Transport
Box Bridge connects New Town with Salt Lake along Major Arterial Road over Kestopur Canal

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.[13] As of November 2016, the New Garia – Dumdum/Kolkata Airport Line (Line 6) of the Kolkata Metro, which passes through New Town, is under-construction with cost inflation and delays[18][19]

Metro Rail-flyover above Major Arterial Road

Education

Some of the educational and training institutes that are setting up their campuses in New Town:

For the children, to study up to the 12th standard, New Town also houses many schools:

  • Delhi Public School
  • Narayana School
  • The Newtown School
  • Bodhicariya Senior Secondary School
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See also

References
  1. "NKDA Overview".
  2. "New Town to become Municipality".
  3. "Satellite Towns List".
  4. "Danger in Satellite townships".
  5. "NTKDA Act, 2007" (PDF). NTKDA. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  6. "Times of India". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  7. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/West-Bengal-seeks-smart-green-city-tag-for-New-Town/articleshow/37867094.cms%5B%5D
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Change of guard".
  10. "KMA notification" (PDF). Urban Development Department, Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  11. "Infosys in Kolkata".
  12. https://www.facebook.com/Millennium-Post-1121157364607635. "E-Auction in New Town's Action Area II sees stellar response". www.millenniumpost.in. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  13. "Smart City Proposal" (PDF). NKDAMAR. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. p. 7. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  14. "HIDCO Overview".
  15. "Annual report 2010–11" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  16. "Kolkata connects India to 4G era". Times of India. New Delhi. 11 April 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  17. "City of the third revolution — First 4G service to be launched in Calcutta". The Telegraph. Kolkata. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  18. "Rail set to take over East-West". The Telegraph. 8 February 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  19. "Hidco clears route for Garia-airport Metro". Times of India. 25 September 2011. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  20. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 October 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. Chakraborti, Suman (18 February 2015). "Rajarhat to get education hub". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
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