Geography of Kolkata

Kolkata is located in the eastern part of India at coord|22.82|N|88.20|E|. It has spread linearly along the banks of the Hooghly River. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has an area of 185 square kilometres. The city is near sea level, with the average elevation being 17 feet. [ [http://www.calcuttaweb.com/geography.shtml Calcuttaweb site] ] The whole area is in the Ganges Delta and is monotonously plain. The Bay of Bengal coastline is about 60 miles to the south. The Sundarbans National Park starts within 100 km south to the city. Most of the city was originally marshy wetlands, remnants of which can still be found especially towards the eastern parts of the city where the remaining wetlands have been converted to fish farming centres. Human habitation has led to the establishment of mature trees and shrubs. The original marshland has been changed to a primarily moist deciduous habitat that gets flourished under the high rainfall and sunny humid climate. [ [http://www.kolkatabirds.com/bwkolcal.htm Kolkatabirds site] ] Like the most of the Indo-Gangetic plain, the predominant soil type is alluvial soil.

The city geography

The city proper today can be roughly divided into two sections along Mother Teresa Sarani (Park Street). North of Park Street is the more congested part of the city. South of Park Street is the slightly better planned section of the city.The old Kolkata Business District (CBD) is the seat of the West Bengal Government and houses other state government offices as well. The newer CBD is around the south of Park Street, Camac Street (Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) and AJC Bose Road. Several high-rise office blocks including some of Kolkata's tallest commercial buildings - like the Chatterjee International Centre, Tata Centre, Everest House, Industry House, CGO Building - are located here.The Maidan is a large field situated between the river Ganges and Jawaharlal Nehru Road (earlier called Chowringhee Road). It is said to be the "Lungs of Calcutta". The meadow also houses Victoria Memorial, Eden Gardens, and several other sports clubs. In an effort to relieve congestion in the main city, many government offices have shifted to high-rise office buildings lining Bidhan Nagar's Central Park area.

The residential buildings are mainly lowrise and are older colonial buildings and numerous new four storey apartment blocks. Ten to twelve storey apartment blocks have come up in large numbers in south Kolkata. The city has relaxed its rules on highrise construction recently and twenty storey buildings are becoming more common. The tallest residential towers of eastern India - the four thirty-five-storey towers of South City are under construction on Prince Anwar Shah Road. Huge construction activity along the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass is changing the face of the city. Luxury hotels, convention centres, speciality hospitals, condominium complexes, malls and multiplexes are coming up at a rapid pace. The city's expansion in the eastern side is spearheaded by the construction of a huge new city called New Town adjacent to the well planned Bidhan Nagar. Located in Rajarhat, it is one of the largest planned urban developments in India. The neglected western side of the urban agglomeration has got a boost recently with the signing of an agreement with an Indonesian company to build the West Kolkata International Township. Another huge new township is in the proposal state in Dankuni. Slums and dilapidated structures exist in many pockets of the city proper and house over 25% of the city's population (Census 2001). Slum redevelopment schemes have helped improve living conditions to a slight extent but there is huge scope for improvement in this area. Efforts to shift slum dwellers to newer developments have often met with resistance and failure because many of the slums are in prime areas of the city and the slum dwellers who are integrated in the social structure of the neighbourhood do not want to shift. The new metro city is characterised by popular shopping malls, restaurants, coffee shops and entertainment complexes such as the City Centre, Nandan, Tantra, Barista, Sourav's Pavilion and Science City.

Climate

Kolkata has a subtropical climate, with summer monsoons. The annual mean temperature is 26.8 °C (80 °F); monthly mean temperatures range from 19 °C to 30 °C (67 °F to 86 °F) and maximum temperatures can often exceed 40 °C (104 °F) during May-June. Winter tends to last from Mid-November to early-February, with the lowest temperatures hovering in the 12 °C - 14 °C range during December and January. The highest recorded temperature is 43 °C (111 °F) and the lowest is 5 °C (41 °F). [ [http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weatherall.php3?s=090824&refer=&units=metric Weatherbase entry for Kolkata] ]

Monsoon is the most notable phenomenon in the climate of the city. Maximum rainfall occurs during the monsoon in August (306 mm) and the average annual total is 1,582 mm. Early morning mists and evening smog occur often due to temperature inversions. Summer is dominated by strong southwesterly monsoon winds. The city's total duration of sunshine is 2,528 hours per annum, with the maximum insolation occurring in March. [ [http://www.ess.co.at/GAIA/CASES/IND/CAL/CALmain.html#clim GAIA article] ] Often during early summer, spells of thunderstorm and heavy rains lashes the city, bringing some relief from the heat and intolerable humidity. These thunderstorms are locally known as "Kalbaishakhi" (Nor-wester).

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