Kamarhati – Location and overview
Kamarhati is a city and a municipality in North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is close to Kolkata and is also a part of the area covered by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is situated on the left bank of the Hooghly River, about 18 km north of Kolkata.
Old days
Earlier Kamarhati was a part of North Suburban Municipality. In 1881-82 its name was changed to Baranagar Municipality and Kamarhati became a part of it. In the year 1899, Kamarhati was separated from Baranagar Municipality and then Kamarhati Municipality came into existence. During the British Raj it was a place for bungalows and gardens where the rich ‘Babu’ of Kolkata frequented.
History
In the year 1947 With the partition of Bengal, “millions of refugees came from former East Pakistan”. Most of the refugees were non-agriculturists in the initial stage. Some of them made their own arrangements, but “it was the illegal occupiers who made East Bengali refugees famous or infamous.” Squatting has ranged from forcible occupation of barracks to mass takeover of private, government and barren land.
By 1949, there were 65 refugee colonies in Dumdum and Panihati zones. In the absence of adequate official arrangements for resettlement, they were in a sense “self-resident”. Within a very short period of time the refugees (often with government/administrative support) not only got a place to live but also developed a society with markets, schools, temples and sometimes colleges, hospitals and recreation centres. Kamarhati Municipality is included in the Kolkata Metropolitan Region for which the KMDA is the statutory planning and development authority. Belgharia Police Station under Barrackpore Police Commissionerate has jurisdiction over Kamarhati town area.
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Some of the industries in Kamarhati are:
- Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd., with five manufacturing units. Established in 1939 by KK Birla, it is now the flagship company of the Adventz Group headed by Saroj Poddar.
- The Kamarhatti Company Limited, established in 1877 by Jardine Henderson Limited, is one of the oldest functioning compound jute mills in the world. It is now part of the Kamarhatti Group headed by BP Agarwal.
- Agarpara Jute Mills operates in both overseas and Indian markets.
- Prabhatak Jute Mills Limited, incorporated in 1935, is presently headed by Brij Mohan Mall.
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