Influence of planned urban development in Kolkata’s peri-urban areas: A case of Mahishbathan Gram Panchayat
BMC has a jurisdictional area of around 60.5 Sq. Km., which is 3.2% of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. BMC caters services to 6.33 lakhs population, which 1.27% of KMA population and 0.68% of the state’s population. According to census data and online sources (BMC official website), there are approximately 1.5 lakh households in BMC. The maps shown above, firstly show the 4 municipal corporations within the Kolkata Metropolitan Area boundary, highlighting Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. Along with the 4 municipal corporations, there are also 38 municipalities within the KMA, which have not been highlighted here, as the main focus is towards Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. The second map shows the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation in greater detail, also showing its neighbouring municipalities.
3.2 Historical documentation Administrative history of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation
1958 to 1965 - Salt Lake, also named as Bidhannagar, after then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, who visioned a planned satellite town to relieve Kolkata’s population pressure. The idea of finding an outlet for this increasing population through a new city by reclaiming the marsh and watery wastes in the east of Kolkata was hovering round the minds of the policy makers from a long time. After India’s independence in 1947, a Master Plan Technical Committee was formed to reclaim the region of Salt Lake in Eastern Kolkata. At last the idea of filling of these watery areas by sand and silt procured by dredging from the bed of the river Hooghly was conceived by Dr B C Roy. Thus, the work of reclamation was allotted to a Yugoslav Firm after floating global tenders. This project of Reclamation and Development of about 6 sq. miles of these watery wastes was inaugurated by Dr B C Roy on 16th April 1962 for the people of Kolkata. In this way, Salt Lake was developed as a township between 1958 and 1965, which is planned by a Yugoslavian planner Dobrivoje Toskovic (Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority, 2009-2010).
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