Belgachia

Belgachia
Belgachia
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta)
	Belgachia Pareshnath Jain Mandir
	Belgachia Location in Kolkata Belgachia Belgachia (West Bengal)
	Coordinates: 22°36′N 88°23′E / 22.600°N 88.383°E
Country	India
State	West Bengal
City	Kolkata
District	Kolkata
Metro Station	Belgachia
Municipal Corporation	Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KMC wards	3, 5
Population
• Total	For population see linked KMC ward pages
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	700037
Area code	+91 33
Lok Sabha constituency	Kolkata Uttar
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Kashipur Belgachhia

Belgachia is an area of North Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

History

The East India Company obtained from the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement. Of these 5 lay across the Hooghly in what is now Howrah district. The remaining 33 villages were on the Calcutta side. After the fall of Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, it purchased these villages in 1758 from Mir Jafar and reorganised them. These villages were known en-bloc as Dihi Panchannagram and Belgachia was one of them. It was considered to be a suburb beyond the limits of the Maratha Ditch.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Transport

Khudiram Bose Road (part of Jessore Road) passes through Belgachia. It is connected to Tala, Paikpara and Northern Avenue via Manmatha Dutta Road-Tara Shankar Sarani and JK Mitra Road-Raja Manindra Road. Many buses ply along these roads. There is also Belgachia CTC (WBTC) Depot on Khudiram Bose Road.^[4]

Belgachia is connected to Shyambazar via Belgachia Rail Overbridge. Earlier there was a tram service up to Belgachia, but now tram tracks are removed and tram service is shut down since 2019, due to the excessive pressure on the Belgachia Rail Overbridge.^[5]

Kolkata railway station is located here, which is one of the 5 major railway hub stations of Kolkata Metropolitan Area.

Belgachia metro station is the nearest metro station of Kolkata Metro.

Jain Temple

Shree Digambar Jain Pareswanath Temple is considered one of the most sacred Jain temple of worship in Kolkata.^[6] This temple was built in 1914 and belongs to Diagambar sect of Jainism. This Nagar style temple, with ornamental pillars and sculptures copied from the old Jain temples and caves, casts its shadow in the adjoining tank. The temple is surrounded by four gardens. An 81 feet high Manastambha (Pillar of Pride) with white marble is one of the major attraction of this temple. This temple is dedicated to Parshvanatha, the twenty-third tirthakar of Jainism. The temple also has a dharamshala equipped with modern facilities.^[7]^[8]

Healthcare

R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital near Belgachia is one of the five government medical colleges and hospitals in Kolkata. The medical college is affiliated with the West Bengal University of Health Sciences and offers undergraduate and post graduate courses.^[9] The hospital has 1,200 beds.^[10] With the broad vision of taking medical education beyond the limited sphere of the colonial rulers, Dr. Radha Gobinda Kar and other eminent personalities of the period established the Calcutta School of Medicine in 1886. It had its own building in 1902. It was amalgamated, in 1904, with the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which was founded in 1895. Belgachia Medical College, was formally inaugurated in 1916 by Lord Carmichael, the first governor of Bengal, after annulment of the Partition of Bengal (1905). In 1919, the University of Calcutta granted it affiliation for the MB course. As Lord Carmichael played a leading role in the development, the college was named after him. In 1948, the college was renamed after its founder and in 1958, it was taken over by the Government of West Bengal.^[11]^[12] In 2017, R. G. Kar Medical College was ranked 11th among medical colleges in India by India Today.^[13]

References

^ "District Census Handbook Kolkata, Census of India 2011, Series 20, Part XII A" (PDF). Pages 6-10: The History. Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
^ Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, first published 1909/reprint 1980, pages 103-4 and 221, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
^ Nair, P.Thankappan, The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, pp. 14-15, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition.
^ Google maps
^ "Belgachia Bridge". 24 October 2019.
^ Shah, Natubhai (2004) [First published in 1998], Jainism: The World of Conquerors, vol. 1, Motilal Banarsidass, p. 84, ISBN 81-208-1938-1
^ "Paraswanath Temple – Digambar | Kolkata City Tours".
^ "Shree digambar Jain Parasvanath Temple Belgachia Kolkata". Archived from the original on 16 July 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
^ "R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital". RGKMC. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
^ "Health Statistics -> Hospital" (PDF). District:Kolkata. Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 September 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
^ Chakrabarti, D. K.; Mukherjee, R.; Bandyopadhyay, S. K.; Nath, S.; Mukherjee, S. K. (2011). "The Indian Journal of Surgery, 2011". R.G. Kar Medical College, A Premiere Institute of India by Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, Ramanuj Mukherjee, Samik Kumar Bandyopadhyay, Sasanka Nath, and Saibal Kumar Mukherjee. 73 (5). Springer: 390–393. doi:10.1007/s12262-011-0327-1. PMC 3208697. PMID 23024555.
^ "Carmichael, Lord". Banglapedia. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
^ "Directory of Best Colleges, 2017: Medical". India Today. Retrieved 11 April 2018.