Belda

For the village in Poland, see Bełda.

Belda
—  town  —
Belda Location of Belda in West Bengal and India
Coordinates	22°05′N 87°21′E / 22.08°N 87.35°E / 22.08; 87.35Coordinates: 22°05′N 87°21′E / 22.08°N 87.35°E / 22.08; 87.35
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District(s)	Paschim Medinipur
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 42 metres (138 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 721424 • Telephone • +03229 • Vehicle • WB
Website	paschimmedinipur.gov.in/

Belda (Bengali: বেলদা) , a small town in West Bengal, India located approximately 40 km (24.85 mi) south of Kharagpur town, and belongs to the Paschim Medinipur district. The NH 60 of the famous Golden Quadrilateral, familiar as O. T. Road before has connected this town to the rest part of India. It also connects its south-west rural region with State highway no. 4. Belda is also well connected by railroad and also known as the gateway to Orissa. Thus, Belda plays an important role in connecting eastern India with southern India. Due to its easy access from different parts, it is a good business center.

Belda railway station is under the administrative control of the South Eastern Railway. The station is located about 70 km (43.50 mi) from Digha and is on the Baleswar (Balasore)-Kharagpur rail route. The main train connections include East Coast Express and Sri Jagannath Express. Computerized reservation facility is available now. The major railhead close to the station is Kharagpur Junction Railway Station.

Geography

Belda is located at 22°05′N 87°21′E / 22.08°N 87.35°E / 22.08; 87.35. It has an average elevation of 12 metres (42 feet). The gram panchayats Belda–I and Belda–II are located in the Narayangarh community development block in the Kharagpur subdivision of the Paschim Medinipur district.^[1] Belda is the headquarters of the Narayangarh CD block.^[2]

Cultures and Festivals

Durgapuja of Ekata Club, Belda, 2005

Belda celebrates most of the common Bengali festivals. Most important festival is Durga Puja, which attracts thousands of people. Kali puja is another popular one. Other festivals includes Saraswati puja, Basanti puja. Dassera and Diwali are popular among the Gujrati communities living in this town. Satyanarayan Mandir is one of the mandir where Navratri is celebrated with a bright,elegant and traditional dance style called Garba. It attracts Gujaratis from places far as it is still conducted in traditional form and is still pure in devotion of Maa Ambe.

Almost all type of religious people stay at Belda. And because of these reason, not only all Bengali festivals,the other religious festivals also happens at Belda grandly like Muharram,Eid,Mahavir Jayanti etc.

Getting to Belda

From Kolkata

• By train: From Howrah, it is 154 km from Howrah via Kharagpur and Mecheda. From Kharagpur several passenger trains are available to reach Belda.
• By bus: It is hard to get buses directly from Kolkata or Howrah, but after arriving at Kharagpur railway station by train several buses are available.
• Now daily local train also available from Belda to Howrah starting from Belda around 6:40 AM,

now the name of the station is changed as 'Belda Station'.

From Kharagpur or Midnapore

• Take a bus to Belda from Khargapur or Midnapore. From Kharagpur it takes about 50 min.

Mainly two Bus stands -

• Keshyari More
• Main Bus Stand

Long distance trains from Belda

• Dhauli Express (Howrah-Bhubaneshwar)
• East Coast Express (Howrah-Hyderabad)
• Jagannath Express (Howrah-Puri)
• Baripada Shalimar Intercity Express( though not long distant train)

Local Trains

• Howrah Bhadrak Bagha Jatin Fast Passenger
• HWH-Puri Passenger
• Kharagpur Bhadrak Local
• Kharagpur Jajpur Passenger
• Kharagpur Bhubaneswar Fast Passenger
• Belda Howrah Local

Schools

• Belda Gangadhar Academy[1]
• Belda Prabhati Balika Vidyapith
• Belda himansu sekhar prathamik vidhalay
• Belda English Medium School
• Belda School Life & Light

College

• Belda College [http://www.beldacollege.org/]: It is affiliated to Vidyasagar University and it provides graduation on many of major subjects.

Computer Training Institute

• Belda Youth Computer Training Centre: This compter training institute is an joint initiative of Directorate of Youth Services, Govt. of west bengal since 2002.

References

1. ^ "Directory of District, Sub division, Panchayat Samiti/ Block and Gram Panchayats in West Bengal, March 2008". West Bengal. National Informatics Centre, India. 2008-03-19. http://wbdemo5.nic.in/writereaddata/Directoryof_District_Block_GPs(RevisedMarch-2008).doc. Retrieved 2008-12-27. 
2. ^ "Contact details of Block Development Officers". Paschim Medinipur district. Panchayats and Rural Development Department, Government of West Bengal. http://wbdemo5.nic.in/html/asp/bdo_contact.asp?cd=ED. Retrieved 2008-12-27. 

External links

• Website on Medinipur

• [2]