New Town Rajarhat-New Town | |
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.jpg) New Town skyline  Apartment high-rises in New Town  Rajarhat City Centre 2  DLF IT Park | |
  New Town Location in Kolkata, West Bengal, India Show map of West Bengal New Town New Town (India) Show map of India New Town New Town (Asia) Show map of Asia.svg) New Town New Town (Earth) Show map of Earth | |
| Coordinates:22°35′22″N88°28′29″E / 22.5894°N 88.4748°E /22.5894; 88.4748 | |
| Country |  India |
| State | West Bengal |
| Division | Presidency |
| District | North 24 Parganas |
| Established | November 2008 |
| Government | |
| • Type | Statutory Development Board |
| • Body | New Town Kolkata Development Authority,West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) |
| Area | |
• Total | 93.3 km2 (36.0 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 9 m (30 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 400,000−500,000 |
| • Density | 1,218/km2 (3,150/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Bengali,English |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 700135, 700136, 700156, 700157, 700160, 700161 |
| Telephone code | +91 33 |
| Vehicle registration | WB07, WB08, WB25, WB26 |
| Lok Sabha constituency | Barasat |
| Vidhan Sabha constituency | Rajarhat-New Town |
| Website | |
New Town (a.k.a.Rajarhat-New Town) is aplannedSatellite city ofKolkata in theIndianstate ofWest Bengal. It is administered by NKDA (New Town Kolkata Development Authority).[4] New Town is declared as a "Solar City" and "Smart Green City" byGovernment of India.[5]
HIDCO plans developing infrastructure like - roads, drains, sewerage line, water supply lines, major embellishment works and executed constructions like - buildings, projects, parks, museum, subways, over-bridges in New Town.[6] An information technology and residential hub is developed at New Town. New Town was enabled with 10.5 km of Wi-Fi Zone along the Major Arterial Road (part ofBiswa Bangla Sarani) from Haldiram, nearKolkata Airport to Salt Lake Sector V, which also make it India's first Wi-Fi road connectivity. The stretch has already been declared as a green corridor.[7]
The area mainly consisted of huge acres of cultivable lands and water bodies, which was acquired and developed in a planned manner. The process of investing in residential and industrial facilities and infrastructural development of the area was mainly started under the leadership of the thenChief Minister of West Bengal,Jyoti Basu in the late 1990s.[8] The master plan envisions a township which is at least three times bigger than the neighbouring plannedSalt Lake City.
New Town was declared as aSolar City by the formerUPA-leadGovernment of India[5] and later this city was declared asSmart Green City byNDA-lead Government of India with the help ofGovernment of West Bengal following a proposal submitted byMamata Banerjee (Chief Minister of West Bengal)[9][10] but later withdrawn from the Smart Cities Mission after theAITC-governed Bengal government decided to withdraw all cities of West Bengal from the competition.[11] It has rejected₹1,000 crore to be given for development of the city as smart city.[12]
Most of New Town is inNorth 24 Parganas district. It was declared as a part of theKolkata Metropolitan Area in August 2016 byGovernor of West Bengal.[13]
New Town has a proposed area of 93.9 km2 in which 30.8 km2 is used for township and 60.354 km2 area is under planning. The township of New Town is divided into Action Area I, II, III and a Central Business District.[14] The erstwhile planning area of HIDCO also included Action Area - IV (still not started). The Central Business District (CBD) is located between Action Area - I & II. HIDCO installed the geographic information system (GIS) to integrate the database on the number of house owners, property tax, mutation, building construction etc. in New Town.[15]
New Town has emerged as the second IT hub of Kolkata afterSalt Lake.Growing number of tech parks makes New Town a preferred destination for IT and ITes in East India. Several Information Technology majors are operational likeEricsson, Accenture, Capgemini, Tech Mahindra, ITC Infotech, Mindtree, Adani Labs,British Telecom,TCS,Wipro,Infosys,CognizantTraditional Packers & Logistics New Town etc.[18] New Town also housesBengal Silicon Valley Tech Hub.
Fintech hub is developed in New Town byHIDCO with many national and international firms likePNB,HDFC Bank,Axis Bank andSBI showing interest in the project with their investment in different stages of implementation.[19]
Many luxurious hotels likeFairfield by Marriott,Novotel,Ibis,Taj Hotels,Westin Hotels & Resorts,The Park Hotels,Holiday Inn,Wyndham Hotels & Resorts,Lemon Tree Hotels, Ozen Mansion Kolkata etc. have also come up in the area.[citation needed]
Biswa Bangla Sarani connects Action Area I and II. It also connects New Town to theNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The New Town Road and Gitanjali Road also serves as major connectors between Action Area III and Action Area II. The main mode of road transportation includes AC or non-AC government and private buses, taxi and other popular Indian transports likeauto rickshaw and e-rickshaws. As of 2015, around 300 buses on 25 different bus routes, either passes through or originates from New Town.[20]
WBTC Bus
As of April 2018, the residential population of New Town is estimated to be more than 1 million with 0.5 million additional floating population.[27][better source needed]
The New Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has been constituted under The New Town Kolkata Development Authority Act, 2007 (The West Bengal Act XXX of 2007) for rendering various civic services and amenities within New Town, Kolkata and it has come into effect since November, 2008. It is a transitional arrangement in the way of creation of an Urban Local Body (ULB). The administration is headed by a chairman, exercising authority over a member secretary and chief executive officer, who in turn oversee various specific committees, set up to implement various duties.[13][28]
Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) plans and executes development projects in New Town, Kolkata.
As of 2015, New Town gets 200 litre per capita per day (lcpd) of treated water every day with potable water that is sourced from the Hooghly River.[20] Water treatment plants with computerised monitoring and control system are in place. 100% of the garbage is collected by sanitary workers through door to door collection. As of 2015, more than 70% of the solid waste management vehicles and street sweeping vehicles have been fitted with GPS devices for effective monitoring.[20] All the garbage is compacted at compacting stations before disposing of it in dumping grounds.
Electricity is supplied and managed by New Town Electric Supply Company Limited (NTESCL).[20] Fire services are handled by theWest Bengal Fire Service, a state agency. TheBidhannagar Police Commissionerate looks after the law and order in the city.
State-ownedBharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), as well as private enterprises, among themVodafone,Bharti Airtel,Idea Cellular andReliance Jio, are the leading telephone and cell phone service providers in the city.[29]: 25–26 : 179 Kolkata being the first city in India to have cell phone and4G connectivity, theGSM andCDMA cellular coverage is extensive in New Town.[30][31]
Although the NKDA had been tasked with carrying out civic functions within Newtown, the township continued to fall under the jurisdiction of the "Jyangra-Hatiara no II block" Panchayat for the purpose of polls to the rural local self-governing body. In early February 2023, the then Urban Development Minister, Firhad Hakim, had said that New Town cannot remain under a panchayat, while acknowledging that parts of the township had been included within a panchayat area as a result of "some error". He also promised that the "error" would be rectified before theupcoming panchayat polls.[32]
Despite prior assurances of exclusion from Panchayat jurisdiction, the Panchayat polls were being held in Newtown. This led to discontent amongst a section of residents of Newtown as they felt that they were wrongfully being "labelled" as "villagers".[33] The Newtown Forum demanded that the township be taken out of the jurisdiction of panchayats. The Forum, in this end, launched a campaign to boycott the polls - they put up hoardings and banners, blocked a few roads and even collected signatures of 12,000 voters in support of the cause.[34][35]
Some of the educational and training institutes that are setting up their campuses in New Town:
For the children, to study up to the 12th standard, New Town also houses many schools:
AIFF National Center of Excellence is a "state of art" football complex which includes India's first ever roof top pitch. The sports complex is spread across 15 Acres and built with an investment of ₹200 crores.[39]
Cricket Association of Bengal is building an international cricket stadium in New Town. In 2022, CAB bought a 14 Acres plot with ₹30 Crore.[40][41]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Kolkata/East travel guide from WikivoyageCities, towns, locations and neighbourhoods inNorth 24 Parganas district,Presidency division | |||||||||
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| Kolkata Municipal Corporation |
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| Kolkata Urban Agglomeration Outside KMC |
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