Howrah

India / Bangla / Bankra /
 city, municipality, railway terminus, taluka headquarter, district headquarter
Tehsil Howrah Sadar, District Howrah, Bengal, Bharat.

Howrah district have an industrial city, a municipal corporation in the Howrah city, West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the district, and also the headquarters of Howrah Sadar subdivision of the district. Located on the west bank of the Hooghly River, it is a twin city of Kolkata. It is West Bengal's second largest city in terms of both area and population. The two cities are connected by the Howrah Bridge (also known as Rabindra Setu), the Vidyasagar Setu (also known as the second Hooghly Bridge), Vivekananda Setu (Bally Bridge), its adjacent new Nibedita Setu and ferry services between various jetties in the two cities.

Howrah Station serves as a terminal for two railway zones of India: the Eastern Railway and the South Eastern Railway. There railway junction at Santragachhi and another terminal at Shalimar Station — parts of the South Eastern Railway zone. Two national highways—NH 2 and NH 6—are connected to Vidyasagar Setu via Kona Expressway. One endpoint of the Grand Trunk Road is at the Indian Botanical Gardens here, where the Great Banyan tree stands. Bengal Engineering College, now upgraded to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur (an Institute of national importance), was taken over by the Government of India in 2014. History of Howrah dates back to 500 years. Venetian explorer Ceasare de Federici, who travelled to India during 1565–79, mentioned a place called Buttor in his journal circa 1578.[3] As per his description, this was the place up to which large ships could navigate (in the Hooghly River) and so it is presumed that there was the dock here for loading and unloading goods for those ships.[3] This place is identifiable with the modern day neighbourhood Bator or Bantra of Howrah.[3] Bator was also mentioned in the Bengali poetry Manasamangal written by Bipradas Piplai in 1495.[4]

In 1713, the Bengal Council of British East India Company, on the accession of the Emperor Farrukhsiyar, grand son of Aurangzeb, to the throne of Delhi, sent a deputation to him with a petition for a settlement of five villages on west bank of Hooghly river along with thirty-three villages on the east bank.[5] The list of villages appeared in the Consultation Book of the Council dated 4 May 1714. The five villages on the west bank on Hooghly river were: 'Salica' (Salkia), 'Harirah' (Howrah), 'Cassundeah' (Kasundia), 'Ramkrishnopoor' (Ramkrishnapur), and 'Battar' (Bator): all identifiable with localities of modern day Howrah city.[6] The deputation was successful except for these five villages.[6] By 1728, most of the present day Howrah district was part of either of the two zamindaris: Burdwan or Muhammad Aminpur.[6] After Battle of Plassey, as per the treaty signed with the Nawab of Bengal Mir Qasim on 11 October 1760, Howrah district (then part of Burdwan) came under control of East India Company.[7] In 1787, the Hooghly district was formed, and till 1819, the whole of the present day Howrah district was added to it.[8] The Howrah district was separated from the Hooghly district in 1843.[9]

With the establishment of the Howrah Railway Terminus in 1854, the most important phase of industrial development started in this region. Flour mills were established in 1855, followed by Jute mills and around 1870s, there were five mills near Howrah station.[10] The Howrah–Shalimar Railway Section and the Shalimar Terminus were constructed in 1883.

By 1914 almost every major city in India was served by the Railways and the increased demand for its rolling stocks and repair works resulted in the establishment of railway workshop in Howrah. The light engineering industry grew up after 1914.[11] This industrial boom continued throughout the second world war and brought with it rapid urbanisation phase in unplanned manner creating slums near the industrial establishments.

Today, Howrah is famous for Howrah Station and Howrah Bridge. Howrah, the second largest city in West Bengal,is an industrial city. It is also the name of the Administrative District which includes the city and its surroundings.
It is on the west bank of the Hooghly River, and is also known as Kolkata's twin city. The two cities are linked by the famous Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu),the Vidyasagar Setu (the second Howrah Bridge) and the Vivekananda Setu.
The city also contains Howrah Rly.Station, a major broad gauge train terminus serving Kolkata as well as Howrah.

The Howrah District is bordered by the Hooghly River to the east, on the north by the Hooghly district (Arambagh and Shrirampur sub-divisions), and to the south by Midnapore East district (Tamluk sub-division)and on the west, bordered by the Ghatal sub-division of Midnapore West district, and partly by the Arambagh sub-division of Hooghly district to the north-west, and the Tamluk sub-division of Midnapore East to the south-west.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howrah_district
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   22°35'30"N   88°17'8"E

Comments

  • we r proud for howrah.and thanks for inmormation
  • ancient place in east.most historical venue.
  • thank u we r very much proud of howrah
  • WE ARE PROUD FOR HOWRAH-BRIDGE
  • i am proud of howrah its an more than 500 years old city (but all who r related with the city plz try to keep it clean)
  • what can i say...................nothing.
  • I love Howrah, because I born & brought up in Howrah.
  • Howrah corporation peoples take money from the promoters to do illegal construction. Howrah Salkia, Pilkhana chowrasta area's are full of illegal construction. If you do not pay bribe to the HMC peoples and staffs your building roof will be get hammered and break. For this you have to pay fine and also under bench money to get OK. Please see how it sounds. Ones the building gets break due to illegal again after some months the promoters or landlord get it done and showing their money power to the local peoples. The local peoples suffer both the ways. Once on breaking and again after re-construction. So is this the money to get it approval to make the illegal to legal. The HMC is running after the money not by the peoples who will suffer from the sunshine and fresh air. Once the construction is done without plan approval the HMC should not give approval to do Re-construction. This is the fault of the landlord or the promoter. They should be punished.
  • i luv howrah...........
  • Its an old city. Kolkata's twin sister. But its sad to say its in pathetic condition. No major development done in the last 25 yrs. Inspite of being in a strategically important place the HMC did nothing to improve the city. The only hope is the Metro coming up by 2015.
  • i luv 2 live in howrah
  • Howrah is a very busy and beautiful place and I love this place.
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