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New Town, Kolkata

Coordinates: 22°35′22″N 88°28′29″E / 22.5894°N 88.4748°E / 22.5894; 88.4748
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For the area under Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, see Rajarhat.

New Town
Rajarhat New Town
Satellite City
New Town skyline
Apartment high-rises in New Town
Rajarhat City Centre 2
DLF IT Park
New Town is located in West Bengal
New Town
New Town
Location in Kolkata, West Bengal, India
New Town is located in India
New Town
New Town
New Town (India)
New Town is located in Asia
New Town
New Town
New Town (Asia)
New Town is located in Earth
New Town
New Town
New Town (Earth)
Coordinates: 22°35′22″N 88°28′29″E / 22.5894°N 88.4748°E / 22.5894; 88.4748
Country India
StateWest Bengal
DivisionPresidency
DistrictNorth 24 Parganas
Government
 • TypeStatutory Development Board
 • BodyNew Town Kolkata Development Authority, West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO)
Area
[1][2]
 • Total
93.3 km2 (36.0 sq mi)
Elevation
9 m (30 ft)
Population
 (July 2018)[1][3]
 • Total
400,000−500,000
 • 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
Website

New Town (a.k.a. Rajarhat New Town) is a planned Satellite city of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is administered by NKDA (New Town Kolkata Development Authority).[4] New Town is declared as a "Solar City" and "Smart Green City" by Government of India.[5]

HIDCO plans developing infrastructure like - roads, drains, sewerage line, water supply lines, major embellishment works and executed constructions like - buildings, projects, parks, museum, subways, over-bridges in New Town.[6] An information technology and residential hub is developed at New Town. 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 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.[7]

History

The area mainly consisted of huge acres of cultivable lands and water bodies, which was acquired and developed in a planned manner. The process of investing in residential and industrial facilities and infrastructural development of the area was mainly started under the leadership of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu in the late 1990s.[8] The master plan envisions a township which is at least three times bigger than the neighbouring planned Salt Lake City.

New Town was declared as a Solar City by the former UPA-lead Government of India[5] and later this city was declared as Smart Green City by NDA-lead Government of India with the help of Government of West Bengal following a proposal submitted by Mamata Banerjee (Chief Minister of West Bengal)[9][10] but later withdrawn from the Smart Cities Mission after the AITC-governed Bengal government decided to withdraw all cities of West Bengal from the competition.[11] It has rejected ₹1,000 crore to be given for development of the city as smart city.[12]

Geography

Most of New Town is in North 24 Parganas district. It was declared as a part of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area in August 2016 by Governor of West Bengal.[13]

Cityscape

Newtown Skyline October 2024
Red Munia (male) at New Town marshland

Planning

New Town has a proposed area of 93.9 km2 in which 30.8 km2 is used for township and 60.354 km2 area is under planning. The township of New Town is divided into Action Area I, II, III and a Central Business District.[14] The erstwhile planning area of HIDCO also included Action Area - IV (still not started). The Central Business District (CBD) is located between Action Area - I & II. HIDCO installed the geographic information system (GIS) to integrate the database on the number of house owners, property tax, mutation, building construction etc. in New Town.[15]

Townships or residential projects

Launched by Ambuja Neotia group and HDFC group in 2023, it is a 72 acre township with an investment of ₹550 Crores. The township will have Nursing College, Hospital, Para medical College, IT/ITes space, Residential Towers, Villas and Club house with 25% reserved for economically weaker sections.[17]

Tech hub

See also: List of tech parks in Kolkata § New Town, and Bengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub

New Town has emerged as the second IT hub of Kolkata after Salt Lake. Growing number of tech parks makes New Town a preferred destination for IT and ITes in East India. Several Information Technology majors are operational like Ericsson, Accenture, Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, ITC Infotech, Mindtree, Adani Labs, British Telecom, TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Cognizant etc.[18] New Town also houses Bengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub.

Financial hub

See also: FinTech Hub, Kolkata

Fintech hub is developed in New Town by HIDCO with many national and international firms like PNB, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and SBI showing interest in the project with their investment in different stages of implementation.[19]

Hotels

Many luxurious hotels like Fairfield by Marriott, Novotel, Ibis, Taj Hotels, Westin Hotels & Resorts, The Park Hotels, Holiday Inn, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Lemon Tree Hotels, Ozen Mansion Kolkata etc. have also come up in the area.[citation needed]

Pride Plaza Hotel

Demographics

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.[20][better source needed]

Civic administration

Authority

The New 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.[13][21]

Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) plans and executes development projects in New Town, Kolkata.

Utility services

As of 2015, New Town gets 200 litre per capita per day (lcpd) of treated water every day with potable water that is sourced from the Hooghly River.[22] 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.[22] All the garbage is compacted at compacting stations before disposing of it in dumping grounds.

Electricity is supplied and managed by New Town Electric Supply Company Limited (NTESCL).[22] 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.[23]: 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.[24][25]

2023 Panchayat Poll Controversy

Although the NKDA had been tasked with carrying out civic functions within Newtown, the township continued to fall under the jurisdiction of the "Jyangra-Hatiara no II block" Panchayat for the purpose of polls to the rural local self-governing body. In early February 2023, the then Urban Development Minister, Firhad Hakim, had said that New Town cannot remain under a panchayat, while acknowledging that parts of the township had been included within a panchayat area as a result of "some error". He also promised that the "error" would be rectified before the upcoming panchayat polls.[26]

Despite prior assurances of exclusion from Panchayat jurisdiction, the Panchayat polls were being held in Newtown. This led to discontent amongst a section of residents of Newtown as they felt that they were wrongfully being "labelled" as "villagers".[27] The Newtown Forum demanded that the township be taken out of the jurisdiction of panchayats. The Forum, in this end, launched a campaign to boycott the polls - they put up hoardings and banners, blocked a few roads and even collected signatures of 12,000 voters in support of the cause.[28][29]

Transport

Rapid transit

  • Kolkata Metro Orange Line: As of November 2023, the New Garia–Dumdum/Kolkata Airport Line (Line 6) of the Kolkata Metro, which passes through New Town, is under-construction and expected to be open before 2026. The metro will be main linkage between Action Area I and II of New Town township.[30][31]
  • A Light Rail Transit System (LRTS) is planned to connect Action Area III to the Biswa Bangla Gate. The estimated cost of the project is around ₹4500 Crores.[32][33]

Roads

Box Bridge connects New Town with Salt Lake along Biswa Bangla Sarani over Kestopur Canal

Biswa Bangla Sarani connects Action Area I and II. It also connects New Town to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The New Town Road and Gitanjali Road also serves as major connectors between Action Area III and Action Area II. The main mode of road transportation includes air conditioned or 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.[22]

Education

Colleges and universities

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

Schools

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

Sports

See also: AIFF National Center of Excellence

AIFF National Center of Excellence is a "state of art" football complex which includes India's first ever roof top pitch. The sports complex is spread across 15 Acres and built with an investment of ₹200 crores.[37]

Cricket Association of Bengal is building an international cricket stadium in New Town. In 2022, CAB bought a 14 Acres plot with ₹30 Crore.[38][39]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "NKDA Overview". Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  2. ^ West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) (27 January 2014). "Landuse and Development Control Plan for New Town Planning Area 2012" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  3. ^ "New Town to become Municipality". 30 July 2018. Archived from the original on 17 September 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  4. ^ "The New Town, Kolkata Development Authority Act, 2007" (PDF). NTKDA. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  5. ^ a b Biswas, Amar; Singh, Omveer (May 2017). "Rajarhat New Town an Urban Perspective: A Case Study of Urbanization, West Bengal, India". International Journal of New Technology and Research. 3 (5): 263292. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  6. ^ Chakraborti, Suman (13 February 2014). "New Town to get three subways, an overbridge". Times of India. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  7. ^ Chakraborti, Suman (18 June 2014). "Wi-Fi connectivity: 10.5km Wi-Fi zone in Rajarhat New Town | Kolkata News". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
  8. ^ "New Town Kolkata". HIDCO Bhawan. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  9. ^ Chakraborti, Suman (6 July 2014). "West Bengal seeks 'smart green city' tag for New Town | Kolkata News". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 6 July 2014.
  10. ^ "Rajarhat New Town to become Smart City". Smart City - Elets Technomedia. 11 May 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  11. ^ Ghosal, Aniruddha (19 August 2016). "West Bengal: Mamata dumps Centre's Smart City project, to develop cities on its own". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  12. ^ Ghosal, Aniruddha (21 December 2016). "Green City Mission: Rs 50 lakh each for all 125 municipalities in West Bengal". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 11 July 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  13. ^ a b "KMA notification" (PDF). Urban Development Department, Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "HIDCO Overview". Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  16. ^ "Merlin Group announces the launch of A Mega Sports Township in Kolkata". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  17. ^ "HDFC, Ambuja in 72-acre realty deal".
  18. ^ "Kolkata's Sector V, New Town on overdrive, add 20,000 IT jobs in last 6 months". The Times of India. 15 January 2023.
  19. ^ "HIDCO to come up with 'vertical city' in Fintech hub". 8 September 2019. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  20. ^ "E-Auction in New Town's Action Area II sees stellar response". Millennium Post. 4 April 2018. Archived from the original on 15 November 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2019.
  21. ^ "Background". New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA). Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  22. ^ a b c d "Smart City Proposal" (PDF). NKDAMAR. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  23. ^ "Annual report 2010–11" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  24. ^ "Kolkata connects India to 4G era". The Times of India. New Delhi. 11 April 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  25. ^ "City of the third revolution — First 4G service to be launched in Calcutta". The Telegraph. Kolkata. 4 April 2012. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  26. ^ Roy, Shubhajoy (4 February 2023). "Firhad Hakim clarifies New Town status". www.telegraphindia.com/. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  27. ^ PTI (3 July 2023). "'Don't want to be labelled villagers': 10,000 people living on Kolkata outskirts to boycott rural polls". National Herald. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  28. ^ PTI (3 July 2023). "'Don't want to be labelled villagers': 10,000 people living on Kolkata outskirts to boycott rural polls". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  29. ^ "Residents' call to boycott vote picks up steam in New Town". The Times of India. 5 July 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  30. ^ "Rail set to take over East-West". The Telegraph. 8 February 2011. Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  31. ^ "Hidco clears route for Garia-airport Metro". The Times of India. 25 September 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
  32. ^ "HIDCO plans Monorail type Light Rail Transit System for New Town and Salt Lake in Kolkata | Metro Rail Today".
  33. ^ "Kolkata: Hi-tech link plan for New Town's Action Area III". The Times of India. 26 February 2020.
  34. ^ "UEM Kolkata: Best Engineering and Management University in Kolkata". Archived from the original on 15 October 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  35. ^ "Best Top Private Amity University Kolkata in West Bengal|Engineering|Colleges|Universities|Institutes|Business|Management". Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  36. ^ Chakraborti, Suman (18 February 2015). "Rajarhat to get education hub". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  37. ^ "AIFF in talks with corporates for building National Centre of Excellence". 20 December 2018.
  38. ^ "CAB bought 14 Acre land in Rajarhat for the new International Stadium". 5 June 2022.
  39. ^ "State to hand overNew Town plot to Sourav for stadium". The Times of India. 5 June 2022.
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