Bolpur

Bolpur is a city and a municipality in Birbhum district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bolpur subdivision. Bolpur municipal area includes Santiniketan, Sriniketan and Prantik. The city is known as a Cultural and Educational hub of West Bengal. The city is under the Jurisdiction of Bolpur and Santiniketan Police station. Bolpur is the largest and most populous city in Birbhum district and 28th most populous city in West Bengal. Located on the banks of Ajay River and Kopai (Sal) River, Bolpur has been a major Human settlement. It is 150 km north of Kolkata and is famous for Visva Bharati, the University set up by the Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Bolpur
City
Khoai Road
Khoai Road
Bolpur is located in West Bengal
Bolpur
Bolpur
Location in West Bengal, India
Bolpur is located in India
Bolpur
Bolpur
Bolpur (India)
Coordinates: 23.67°N 87.72°E / 23.67; 87.72
Country India
State West Bengal
DistrictBirbhum
SubdivisionBolpur subdivision
Government
 • TypeMunicipality
 • Body
  • Bolpur Municipality
  • Sriniketan Santiniketan Development Authority (SSDA)
 • ChairpersonParna Ghosh
Area
[1]
 • City33.45 km2 (12.92 sq mi)
 • Metro
[2]
106.28 km2 (41.03 sq mi)
Elevation
58 m (190 ft)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • City112,591
 • Density3,400/km2 (8,700/sq mi)
DemonymBolpurbashi or Santiniketanbashi
Languages
 • OfficialBengali
 • Additional officialEnglish
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
731204 (Bolpur)
731235 (Santiniketan)
731236 (Sriniketan)
Telephone/STD code03463 (Bolpur Telephone Exchange)
ISO 3166 codeIN-WB
Vehicle registrationBolpur RTO
  • WB-47 (commercial vehicles)
  • WB-48 (private vehicles)
Railway Station(s)Bolpur Shantiniketan railway station (BHP)
Prantik railway station (PNE)
Lok Sabha constituencyBolpur
• MPAsit Kumar Mal
Vidhan Sabha constituencyBolpur, Nanoor
• MLAChandranath Singha
Websitebolpur-santiniketan.com
bolpurmunicipality.org
santiniketan.com

Etymology

There is a mythical story that says that Supur was the capital of Raja Surath. He lost his kingdom when he had gone out for conquests, but regained the same with the blessings of goddess Bhavani. In his worship of gratitude, Raja Surath organised the sacrificial slaughtering of one lakh goats. As a result, the name of place where the sacrificial offerings were made became ‘Bolipur’ – with time it became Bolpur.[3]

History

About 150 years ago, Bolpur was a small village under Supur Porgana. Kalikapur a known place of Bolpur was the origin of the typical village in past. There were no rail lines, no developed roads. Paddy land were seen around the village. "Lalmati" (red soil) was found everywhere. Many villages named Sian, Dihipara, Khoskadampur, Paruldanga, Goalpara, Ballavpur, Bandhgara, Surul, Supur, Raipur were the boundary line around Bolpur.

East India company established the first railway line in 1859, when the Sahebganj loopline was extended beyond the river Ajay. Bolpur railway station was established in 1860. Along with this, court, police station, sub registry office, etc., were established in old Bolpur. Then people started residing here. Christian missionaries came; they founded a church that was known as Mission compound. Paddy storage house, stationary shops, grocery shops, garment shops etc. were on the east side near Bolpur railway station. About 19 husking machines were here at that time.

Maharshi Debendranath Tagore established a centre of religious mediation in Bolpur. Rabindranath Tagore established Visva Bharati Viswavidyalaya in 1921. These were the main reasons for the huge extension, development and popularity of Bolpur.

Provincial names proved the upcoming gradual development of Bolpur. Kachharipatti is just beside court house, Trishulapatti is the commercial paddy trading centre. Kalibaroarytala was the service place for Bolpur set up by some initiative people. Netaji made a conference. Here Harisava stood against "Bramhopasana". Every week these two conferences were held in Bolpur. Bijaykrishna Ghoswami, Shivnath Shastri, Shasibhusan Basu and others gave religious advice. Beside this, prayer committee was set up.

Geography
🌍
Bolpur Santiniketan
M: municipal city/ town, CT: census town, R: rural/ urban centre, U: University.
Owing to space constraints in the small map, the actual locations in a larger map may vary slightly

Location

Bolpur is located at 23.67°N 87.72°E / 23.67; 87.72.

Bolpur covered an area of 35.94 km2 (13.88 sq mi).[4]

Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the area. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

In the map of Bolpur-Sriniketan CD block on page 718 of District Census Handbook Birbhum (Part A), while the area covered by Shantiniketan is shown as a part of Bolpur, Sriniketan is shown as a part of Surul, a census town.

Police station

Bolpur police station has jurisdiction over Bolpur Sriniketan community development block.[5][6]

Climate

The climate of Shantiniketan is moderately warm, with summer temperatures at around 35-42 °C (maximum) and winter at 6-15 °C (minimum). Summer is felt for three months, March, April and May. December, January and February are the winter months. June, July, August and September see heavy rainfall, these four months are known as monsoon (rainy season) with dry humid. Shantiniketan saw its highest temperature rising 47.0 °C, on 10 June 1966. The lowest temperature ever recorded is 5.0 °C, on 15 January 2003 (see the weather box below). The annual average temperature is 26.2 °C. About 1480mm of rain falls per year, with 76 days seeing the rain. The area is classified as an "Aw" (tropical savanna climate) under the Köppen Climate Classification.

Climate data for Santiniketan (Sriniketan) (1981–2010, extremes 1961–2012)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 33.0
(91.4)		 37.0
(98.6)		 42.0
(107.6)		 45.9
(114.6)		 46.6
(115.9)		 47.0
(116.6)		 41.6
(106.9)		 36.8
(98.2)		 39.1
(102.4)		 37.1
(98.8)		 34.2
(93.6)		 30.7
(87.3)		 47.0
(116.6)
Mean maximum °C (°F) 28.7
(83.7)		 32.8
(91.0)		 38.2
(100.8)		 41.3
(106.3)		 41.7
(107.1)		 40.2
(104.4)		 36.2
(97.2)		 34.9
(94.8)		 35.1
(95.2)		 34.3
(93.7)		 32.1
(89.8)		 29.1
(84.4)		 42.3
(108.1)
Average high °C (°F) 24.7
(76.5)		 28.2
(82.8)		 33.4
(92.1)		 36.6
(97.9)		 36.7
(98.1)		 34.9
(94.8)		 32.9
(91.2)		 32.5
(90.5)		 32.4
(90.3)		 31.6
(88.9)		 29.5
(85.1)		 26.1
(79.0)		 31.6
(88.9)
Average low °C (°F) 11.6
(52.9)		 14.7
(58.5)		 19.3
(66.7)		 23.3
(73.9)		 25.0
(77.0)		 26.0
(78.8)		 26.0
(78.8)		 26.0
(78.8)		 25.3
(77.5)		 22.5
(72.5)		 17.3
(63.1)		 13.0
(55.4)		 20.8
(69.4)
Mean minimum °C (°F) 7.8
(46.0)		 10.5
(50.9)		 14.6
(58.3)		 19.0
(66.2)		 20.8
(69.4)		 22.7
(72.9)		 23.9
(75.0)		 23.8
(74.8)		 23.1
(73.6)		 18.5
(65.3)		 13.0
(55.4)		 9.4
(48.9)		 7.7
(45.9)
Record low °C (°F) 5.0
(41.0)		 6.0
(42.8)		 11.2
(52.2)		 14.6
(58.3)		 18.1
(64.6)		 18.7
(65.7)		 20.0
(68.0)		 22.4
(72.3)		 17.7
(63.9)		 15.6
(60.1)		 9.7
(49.5)		 6.1
(43.0)		 5.0
(41.0)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 11.6
(0.46)		 25.1
(0.99)		 33.2
(1.31)		 52.0
(2.05)		 113.8
(4.48)		 229.7
(9.04)		 343.2
(13.51)		 296.7
(11.68)		 267.5
(10.53)		 87.7
(3.45)		 10.5
(0.41)		 9.0
(0.35)		 1,479.9
(58.26)
Average rainy days 1.2 1.9 2.4 3.5 6.3 11.6 15.7 15.1 11.9 4.7 0.9 0.5 75.6
Average relative humidity (%) (at 08:30 IST) 76 68 61 66 73 80 85 86 86 81 75 75 76
Source: India Meteorological Department[7][8]

Demography
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1941 13,856—    
1951 14,802+6.8%
1961 23,355+57.8%
1971 29,696+27.2%
1981 38,436+29.4%
1991 52,760+37.3%
2001 65,693+24.5%
2011 80,210+22.1%
Source: District Census Handbook Birbhum, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A

As per the 2011 Census of India, Bolpur had a total population of 80,210, of which 40,468 (50%) were males and 39,742 (50%) were females. Population in the age range of 0–6 years was 6,852. The total number of literates in Bolpur was 63,656 (86.77% of the population 7 years and over).[9]

Religion

According to Census of India 2011, Hinduism is the predominant religion in Bolpur, followed by 89.77% of the population. It is followed by Islam with 9.68% adherents. Other religions like Christianity, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism are followed by less than 1% of the population.[10]

Religions in Bolpur[10]
Religion Percent
Hindu
 
 89.77%
Muslim
 
 9.68%
Others
 
 0.55%

Civic administration

Bolpur municipality is divided into 22 wards. Until 2010, the Indian National Congress was in power in it. In the 2010 municipal elections, the municipality faced a hung verdict. Later, the Trinamool Congress with nine councillors, formed the board by taking the support of eight Congress councillors. This board officially ended its term on 2020, but due to COVID-19 pandemic, municipal election is on hold for this municipality. An Interim Administrative board is on charge of Bolpur municipality, Parna Ghosh is the current Chairperson of the municipal board.[11] Former Loksabha Speaker Late Somnath Chatterjee had been an elected parliamentarian from 1985 till 2009 from Bolpur constituency. He was preceded by Late Saradish Roy another veteran parliamentarian from Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Transport

Railways

Bolpur Shantiniketan railway station (BHP) is the major railway station under Howrah Division of Eastern Railway (ER). The station is well connected to the major cities, specially state capital Kolkata. Apart from West Bengal, the station connected to cities of other states like Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Another railway station in the city is Prantik railway station (PNE) which is the next station of Bolpur Shantiniketan. Some local passenger and express trains give a stop in this station.

Roadways

Bolpur is connected to all important cities by roadways. National Highway 114 (old numbering NH 2B) pass through Bolpur. The highway runs from NH 14 (old numbering NH 60) at Mallarpur to NH 19 (old numbering NH 2) at Burdwan. This highway connects Bolpur with Burdwan (60 km) and Kolkata (160 km). SH 14 or Morgram - Panagarh highway passes through 15 km away from Bolpur at Illambazar, and junction with NH 19 at Panagarh (40 km). This route connects Bolpur with Durgapur (54 km), Asansol (97 km), Maithon (120 km) and Dhanbad (160 km). Bolpur-Suri road connects Bolpur with district headquarter Suri (35 km) and the road cross NH 14 at Suri. After crossing, the road goes towards Massanjore (70 km), Dumka (98 km), Deoghar (165 km). Distance from Bolpur to Berhampore via Nanoor is 100 km, and Katwa via Nutanhat is 54 km.

Bolpur is connected through WBTC, SBSTC and private bus services. Private cab services are also available.

Airways

Bolpur has no airport of its own. The nearest airport from Bolpur is Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport located 70 km away in Andal, Durgapur. The nearest international airport is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) located 160 km away in Dum Dum (Kolkata).

Education

Universities

General Colleges

Medical Colleges

Engineering / Management / Polytechnic

Law Colleges

Nursing Colleges
  • Santiniketan Sebaniketan Nursing Institute

Visva Bharati affiliated Schools

Residential Schools

Private Schools

Central Government Schools

State Government High Schools
  • Bolpur High School[14]
  • Bolpur Girls' High School[15]
  • Bandhgora Kalikrishna Vidyapith[16]
  • Srinanda High School[17]
  • Bolpur NNB High School[18]
  • Bolpur Vivekananda Vidyapith[19]
  • Shailabala Girls' High School[20]
  • Bolpur Tarashankar Vidyapith

Healthcare

Bolpur Subdivisional Hospital has 125 beds.[21] Bolpur Block Primary Health Centre at Bolpur, serving Bolpur Sriniketan community development block, has 60 beds.[22]

Wildlife sanctuary

• Ballabhpur Wildlife Sanctuary & Deer Park (Santiniketan)

Notable people
Main article: Notable people associated with Santiniketan

References
  1. "Department of Urban Development & Municipal Affairs / Bolpur Municipality". Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  2. "Sriniketan-Santiniketan Development Authority". sudawb.org. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  3. Ghosh, Binoy, Paschim Banger Sanskriti, (in Bengali), part I, 1976 edition, page 298, Prakash Bhaban, Kolkata
  4. "District Census Handbook Birbhum, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Section II Town Directory, Pages 1025- 1033. Directorate of Census Operations V, West Bengal. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  5. "District Statistical Handbook 2008, Birbhum" (PDF). Table 2.1. Bureau of Applied Economics and Statistics, Government of West Bengal. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  6. "Birbhum Police". Police Stations. West Bengal Police. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  7. "Station: Shantiniketan, Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  8. "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M240. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  9. "2011 Census – Primary Census Abstract Data Tables". West Bengal – District-wise. Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  10. "C-1 Population By Religious Community - Bolpur". census.gov.in. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  11. "বোলপুর পুরসভার প্রশাসক পদে রদবদল, সুশান্তের জায়গায় আনা হল পর্ণাকে". www.anandabazar.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  12. "SIP Profile". Santiniketan Institute of Polytechnic. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  13. "Times School Survey acknowledges the efforts in the education sector in West Bengal, 2021 - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  14. "List of Schools" (PDF). aim.gov.in. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  15. Chakraborty, Snehamoy (9 December 2021). "Bolpur Girls' High School students agitate for exam delay". The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  16. "WBBSE :: Affiliated Schools Birbhum". wbbse.org. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  17. PTI (5 May 2019). "Newly-Married Couple Found Dead On Campus Of Visva-Bharati University". NDTV. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  18. "Education First". school.banglarshiksha.gov.in. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  19. "Education First". school.banglarshiksha.gov.in. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  20. "Education First". school.banglarshiksha.gov.in. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  21. "Health & Family Welfare Department" (PDF). Health Statistics - Hospitals. Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 September 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  22. "Health & Family Welfare Department" (PDF). Health Statistics – Block Primary Health Centres. Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
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