Chittaranjan

Chittaranjan
—  town  —
Chittaranjan Location of Chittaranjan in West Bengal and India
Coordinates	23°52′N 86°52′E / 23.87°N 86.87°E / 23.87; 86.87Coordinates: 23°52′N 86°52′E / 23.87°N 86.87°E / 23.87; 86.87
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District(s)	Bardhaman
Parliamentary constituency	Asansol
Assembly constituency	Barabani
Population	45,925 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 155 metres (509 ft)
Website	bardhaman.gov.in/

Chittaranjan (Bengali: চিত্তরঞ্জন) is a census town in Asansol subdivision of Burdwan District in the state of West Bengal, India. This is famous for Chittaranjan Locomotive Works, a Indian Government railway factory.

Geography

Chittaranjan is located at 23°52′N 86°52′E / 23.87°N 86.87°E / 23.87; 86.87.^[1] It has an average elevation of 155 metres (508 feet).

The Asansol-Durgapur region is composed of undulating latterite. This area lies between two mighty rivers – the Damodar and the Ajay. They flow almost parallel to each other in the region – the average distance between the two rivers is around 30 km. For ages the area was heavily forested and infested with plunderers and marauders. The discovery of coal led to industrialisation of the area and most of the forests have been cleared.^[2] At the western fringe of the area the Barakar forms the boundary with Jharkhand. There is a small stretch of land border with Jharkhand in the Chittaranjan area.

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[3] Chittaranjan had a population of 45,925. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Chittaranjan has an average literacy rate of 83%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 88% and female literacy of 79%. 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Transport

Chittaranjan is a railway town on the border of the Indian states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. The town is named after the Indian freedom fighter, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. The passenger rail head serving Chittaranjan is located in Mihijam, which is in Jharkhand. The Chittaranjan railway station is in Howrah-Patna-Mughalsarai main line at a distance of 237 km from Howrah. Nearest important railway junction is Asansol, 25 km away. Most of the Patna, Barauni bound express trains coming from Howrah, Sealdah, Ranchi, Kharagpur, Tatanagar, Dhanbad stop here. The GT road or NH-2 passes 20 km south to Chittaranjan. By road it is well connected to Asansol (30 km), Dhanbad(65 km) and Dumka(100 km).Road transports of both Bengal and Jharkhand can be accessed from here. A unique feature of this place is that the railway station is located at Jharkhand state (name of the place- Mihijam, district: Jamtara) whereas the township is in West Bengal.

Chittaranjan Locomotive Works

Main article: Chittaranjan Locomotive Works

Chittaranjan is well known for Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW), which manufactures mainline electric broad gauge locomotives. This factory commenced production in 1950; and up to 1972, it was involved in the production of broad gauge and metre gauge steam locomotives. Production of electric locomotives commenced in 1963. In addition to steam and electric locomotives, CLW also produced narrow gauge (762mm) diesel locomotives of the ZDM class and broad gauge hydraulic shunting locomotives of the WDS4 class. Production of steam locomotives was discontinued in 1972 when the last steam locomotive, titled 'ANTIM SITARA' (The Last Star), was rolled out. Towards the early 90s production of diesel locomotives in CLW was discontinued altogether.

Today Chittaranjan is the largest maker of electric locomotives. Chittaranjan has been awarded a Golden Peacock award by Mr. Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav, Former Raiway Minister for the ISO-14001 certified green city which is generally called Swarg. The present staff strength of CLW is around 13,000 and it is probably the biggest unit of Indian Railways.

Education

Some of the schools offering primary and secondary school education in Chittaranajan are: 1) Chittaranjan High School(English medium)h.s 2) Deshabandhu Vidyalaya - Boys and 3) Deshabandhu Vidyalaya - Girls 4) St. Joseph's Convent 5) Kendriya Vidyalaya. 6) numbers of primary school conducted by railways 7) Chittaranjan College(Deshbandhu Mahavidyalay)

Infrastructure

In a total area of 18.3 km², Chittaranjan has 9,356 residential quarters, 1 hospital, 7 health units, 8 community halls, 22 railway schools and 18 non-railway schools. There is 1 college, 1 club, 1 Kendriya Vidyalaya school, 7 markets and 2 cinema halls. Chittaranjan is the first planned township constructed in post-independence India. The township is divided into 8 areas and has an internal road length of about 193 km. Probably this is the only 100% pollution free and the cleanest Government owned planned township of India. Another rare feature present in this township is its underground sewage system- which ends up at the river Ajay after passing through a treatment plant which prevents any harmful contamination into the river water.

Facilities

Chittaranjan, an ISO-14001 certified township has neatly arranged row-houses, broad and clean roads, lots of greenery and lakes. This township houses over 9300 quarters of various types and sizes for its employees of CLW. All these quarters are neatly grouped under various areas, with each area having its own Primary Health Unit (also known as a Dispensary), marketplace, school, community hall and playground. In addition to a dispensary in every area, CLW also has its own 200 bed Hospital - the Kasturba Hospital. A bird's eye view of a part of Chittaranjan Township can be had from Chittaranjan's own little hill resort - the dimunitive HillTop, located within the town limits. Chittaranjan also has two big playgrounds: The "Oval" ground and the "Srilata" Ground which holds various Sub-divisional tournaments. Chittaranjan has two multi-Sports Stadiums, two Swimming Pools, Basketball Court, Badminton Court, Lawn Tennis Court, many Football Grounds, a Gymnasium and one indoor stadium.

Chittaranjan has two movie theaters, the Ranjan Cinema and the Srilata Cinema. While the former screens mostly Hindi movies, the latter screens Bengali movies and the occasional Hindi movie.

Chittaranjan has many Community Halls where an annual Durga Puja festival is organized and celebrated.

Places of interest

1. Ajay river — One of the famous picnic spot.
2. "Hill Top" situated over a water filter house.
3. Horticulture Garden (near Hill Top).
4. Boating club.
5. Deshabnadhu Loco Park (near GM office)
6. Children's park
7. GM Building
8. Lakes
9. Karnail Singh Park
10. [Maithon Dam] (20 km)
11. Golf club
12. Kangoi Hill

See also

• Chittaranjan Locomotive Works

References

1. ^ Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Chittaranjan
2. ^ Chattopadhyay, Akkori, Bardhaman Jelar Itihas O Lok Sanskriti (History and Folk lore of Bardhaman District.), (Bengali), Vol I, pp 14-15, Radical Impression. ISBN 81-85459-36-3
3. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 

External links

• http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2108/stories/20040423002008400.htm