Shakuntala Park

Shakuntala Park is a neighbourhood/ locality and a township in South West Kolkata which lies in the greater Behala region on Biren Roy Road (West). It is in South West Kolkata, part of the greater Behala region.

It is reachable through Behala Chowrasta or through Budge Budge Trunk Road (from Taratala crossing) and Dakghar / Maheshtala of South 24 Parganas. It is starting just two kilometers from Behala Chowrasta and extended up to nearly four kilometers till Oxytown / Shibrampur. It is a predominantly Bengali neighborhood, but especially after 2000s, many South Indians,Oriyas,Goans,North Indians like residents of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan also reside in the area. It is bordered by Shakuntala Park area (Patton Tank Factory) in the east and Ketopole to the west. The main road is Biren Roy Road (West) renamed Ho-Chi-Minh Sarani.

The area was extremely rural prior to the 1972 Bangladesh war. Two people who played a very significant role in shaping this area are Kali Ranjan Thakur Chakraborty, a teacher by profession, and Biru Chakraborty. They named this area as Shakuntala Park. The lane which is now called 12 feet road, was originally called Shakuntala Park. Later, 16 feet road locality, Kalipur locality, Syamsundar pally locality (1st, 2nd, 3rd lane), Benimaster lane locality, Daspara locality got included and the area is now called Shakuntala Park as a whole.

The West Bengal government's Housing Developments Authority, West Bengal Housing Board developed the township for residential projects, selling vacant plots (2K and 3K series), pre-constructed houses (H2, H1, M1, L and E schemes) and 4 storied apartments as New Shakuntala Park and Swaranika Co-operative Housing Societies. Swaranika consists of 465 flats. The township is divided into 5 zones/ sectors. Also, there are several older locality which later got included under this area like Kalipur locality, Syamsundar pally locality (1st, 2nd, 3rd lane), Benimaster lane locality, Daspara locality etc.

The area was under the jurisdiction of Thakurpukur Police Station and partly under Parnasree Police Station, which are a part of the South West Division of the Kolkata Police Department. There was a Police Outpost situated inside the township beside Mother Dairy booth, Shakuntala Park unit. On 25 February 2014 this outpost was converted into Sarsuna Police Station and the area which was under Thakurpukur PS comes under the jurisdiction of this new police station. Remaining area is under Parnasree PS as it was. This new police station was inaugurated by the then Commissioner of Police, Mr. Surajit Kar Purkayastha, IPS.

There are three lakes (in Bengali known as 'jhil', Lake No. 1, 2, and 3 respectively) located within half a kilometer of the township. Lake 1 is beautified and maintained by Kolkata Corporation. Beautification of Lake 2 & 3 is in the pipeline. This is the center of attraction of the locality for its serene and natural ambience. Apart from the casual visitors countless morning and evening walkers visit this place daily to rejuvenate. It is also a coveted fishing spot. During 'Chat Puja' the Biharis assemble here in scores to offer puja, in a year. There are many clubs and associations in the area (six co-operative societies and their clubs), which organise celebrations for Durga Puja, the main Bengali festival, Kali Puja and all other pujas in their respective puja grounds in different areas of the township. The entire Shakuntala Park Housing area is now a place of growing interest for shooting of different films and TV serials.

There is a big playground beside Lake1 named Central Park under joint supervision of all cooperative societies of the township. A swimming pool is also situated beside Lake1 in the Central Park. On the southern end of the township there are two colleges as Sarsuna General College, Law College and a supermarket named Faayada Store.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India has constructed their Zonal Training Institute, Jeevan Vidya, here which is near Muchipara area. Many L.I.C. employees from across India go there to train, and stay at the L.I.C. Hostel adjacent to the training institute.

The branches of following banks are available viz, Punjab National bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India, Canara Bank (Shakuntala Park branch located at Ketopole), State Bank of India (Shibrampur branch located at Ketopole) and Axis Bank (Shakuntala Park branch located at Shibrampur). The ATMs of following banks are available viz, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, PNB, PSB and UBI.

There are two local milk bars, Mother Dairy and Metro Dairy.

This area is suffering from the problem of water logging in rainy seasons. Though the problem is reduced to a great extent in the area which belongs to Ward No 128 after construction of underground sewerage. The portion which is in Ward No 127 shows no improvement as no underground drainage system is there.

Transport
  • Auto Services are there in between Behala Chowrasta and Shakuntala Park Bus Stoppage. From Behala Chowrasta all over Kolkata is well connected. Also several shuttle car services are there in between Behala Chowrasta and Shakuntala Park. Two Govt bus routes are newly started in Shakuntala Park. Bus routes are S22= From Shakuntala Park to Karunamoyee, Salt lake and S45= From Shakuntala Park to Kolkata Railway Station. Now many bus services are there in Shakuntala Park bus stop.
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