Dankuni

Dankuni
—  town  —
Dankuni Location of Dankuni in West Bengal and India
Coordinates	22°49′N 88°14′E / 22.81°N 88.23°E / 22.81; 88.23Coordinates: 22°49′N 88°14′E / 22.81°N 88.23°E / 22.81; 88.23
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District(s)	Hooghly
Population	249,840 (2011[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)

Dankuni (Bengali: ডানকুনি) is a fast-growing industrial township near Kolkata, India. The town is part of the Hooghly District, in the state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.^[1]

It is well-reachable by road or trains from both Howrah Station and Sealdah Station. Dankuni Junction rail station is 15 km from Howrah Station. The "Heart of Dankuni" is Dankuni Railway Station.

Major Industries like "Mother Diary","Coca Cola", "Dankuni Coal Complex Ltd", "Food Corporation of India" and many other have been established.The city has witnessed great changes and developments in the recent years.It is progressing very fast due to the growing industries and manufacturing units.

Transport

Both NH 2 and NH 6 terminate at Dankuni.^[2]The Palsit–Dankuni section of NH 2 is also referred to as Durgapur Expressway. Other major arteries meeting at Dankuni are Belghoria Expressway connecting to NH 34 and the Dankuni–Memari Delhi Road. Presently, a Locomotive Factory for Railways under construction.

Dankuni is located on the Howrah-Bardhaman Chord line, which was constructed in 1917. The Calcutta Chord to Dankuni over the Willingdon Bridge (renamed Vivekananda Bridge) was opened in 1932.^[3]It is part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system. Already, there is a growing presence of freight and wagon movements around Dankuni Railway Station, which is important as it connects Eastern Railway with South Eastern Railway with a link line. Dankuni, has a fast growing freight yard, where goods traffic is moved, sorted, and packed to deliver at other destinations. In the future, Dankuni will play a significant role because it will be the endpoint of the Ludhiana-Dankuni leg of the Dedicated Freight Corridor that is being built by Indian Railways. Traffic, especially that of freight will continue to grow and will positively impact the railways.

Demographics

In the 2011 census, Dankuni Urban Agglomeration had a population of 249,840, out of which 128,139 were males and 121,701 were females. The 0-6 years population was 22,956. Effective literacy rate for the 7+ population was 85.69 per cent.^[4]

See also: List of cities in West Bengal

Economy

Township project

A new township is being developed at Dankuni. According to the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) the project area is 4,846 acres (19.61 km²) of which 4,069 acres (16.47 km²) is township area and 777 acres (3.14 km²) is earmarked as industrial area. The project area covers 20 mouzas (villages) – 5 full and 15 part, spread across four police stations, namely Dankuni, Chanditala, Singur and Serampore. Important railway stations in the project area are Gobra, Janai Road and Begampur, apart from the important station at Dankuni itself, all on the Howrah-Bardhaman chord. Important road corridors cutting across the project area are Durgapur Expressway (NH2), Delhi Road, Naity Road and Serampore-Siakhala Road.^[5][6] The township is being developed by DLF.^[7] Once the on-going work on the second Vivekananda Setu (across the Hooghly River) and the Belghoria Expressway through Nivedita Bridge is completed Dum Dum airport will be 20-25 minutes from Dankuni.^[8]

References

1. ^ "Base Map of Kolkata Metroploitan area". Kolkata Metroploitan Development Authority. http://www.cmdaonline.com/kma.html. Retrieved 2007-09-03. 
2. ^ "Completed Stretches on NH2 (Delhi-Kolkata)". Status : 31st Aug , 2005. National Highways Authority of India. http://www.nhai.org/completednh2.htm. Retrieved 2009-01-19. 
3. ^ Chaudhuri, Sukanta, The Railway Comes to Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, p. 239, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-563696-3.
4. ^ "Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 1 lakh and above". Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/India2/Table_3_PR_UA_Citiees_1Lakh_and_Above.pdf. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
5. ^ KMDA website
6. ^ Project Map – KMDA
7. ^ Google satellite view
8. ^ The Telegraph 24 April 2006