R. T. Nagar

Rabindranath Tagore Nagar or just R. T. Nagar is an area in Bangalore, India. It is situated in the northern part of the city. It is named after Rabindranath Tagore. It is part of the Bangalore North Lok Sabha Constituency and the Hebbal Assembly Constituency. R.T Nagar has two blocks, Block I and Block II.

Originally a tiny layout built by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) in the 1970s and was surrounded by villages like Gangenhalli on the west, the military campus on the east, Matadahalli by south and parts of Hebbal village by north. But close proximity to other high profile areas like Sadashivnagar and Dollar's colony (SanjayNagar) led to rapid development of the RT Nagar. Also setting up of a Head post office on RT Nagar main road provided further impetus to the growth of RT Nagar.

Over the last few years RT Nagar has come to commonly represent many areas like MLA Layout, Gangenhalli (Ganganagar),Dinnur, SultanPalya, Kanakanagar,Manoranpalya and even KavalBysandra simply because these areas fall under the RT Nagar head post office ( with Pin code 560032) jurisdiction. Even today a lot of businesses in these areas actually show "RT Nagar post" as an address line item.

People in RT Nagar

RT Nagar, like many parts of Bangalore is very cosmopolitan. As the name itself suggests, it has a strong Bengali presence in the locality and RT Nagar has its own Durga Puja as well. But the locality also has a strong mix of people from the 4 southern states with Kannadigas forming a major group for obvious reasons .However recently RT Nagar has also been made home by the immigrants from Northern Eastern states with a lot of them also working in the commercial establishments in RT Nagar. Also because of the close proximity to Manyata Technology Park, a lot of IT professionals from north India have settled down in RT Nagar.

A special mention must be made of the MLA Layout. This layout formed by BDA in the 1970s and most sites here were allotted to MLA and MPs of those times who would later become Chief Ministers and Ministers. Today the layout is home to many of the former Chief Ministers and current ministers/MPs/MLA of Karnataka. Some of the prominent faces having a home in RT Nagar are

   R V Deshpande - MLA and Former President, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee
   S R Bommai  - Chief Minister , Karnataka,  August 1988 – April 1989
   Late Gundu Rao - Chief Minister, Karnataka,  1980 to 1983.His Son Dinest Gundu Rao is a sitting MLA
   Dharam Singh - Chief Minister, Karnataka, 2003 to 2006.
   Verappa Moily - Chief Minister , Karnataka, 1992-1994, Union Law Minister till recently, currently Union Corporate Affairs Minister
   D B Chandre Gowda Member of Parliament , Bangalore North Constituency

Additionally the RT Nagar Main Road originally had homes of many of the respected lawyers and judges of Karnataka High Court and Sessions Judges. But commercialization of the road had led to many of these houses being replaced by commercial complexes housing Banks, restaurants and other businesses.

Commercial Hubs

Major commercials hubs for businesses in RT Nagar are the RT Nagar Main Road (80 Ft road), Dinnur Main Road, SultanPalya Main Road and Ganganagar 5th Main (with a sizable number of Marwari shops). Most of the commercial activities of the area are centered around the 80 Ft Main road.

Educational institutions

R.T.Nagar has many schools and Pre-university Colleges, affiliated to CBSE/ISCE and the Karnataka State Board. Institutions include Modern Public English School, Florence Public School, Mac Nay Doon's English School, Adarsha Vidyalaya School, Presidency School, Navodaya Vidyaniketana, St. Michael's School, Vijaya Bharati Public School, St. George's School, Mamatha School, Sri Vani School, Newton Public School, Adarsha Polytechnic, R.T. Nagar Public School, Mona Education Society, Sidhartha School and College. Kuppuaraju English school, Sumangali Seva Ashram, Hebbal Government School, R.T Nagar Government High School, Bright Kid Montessorie, Kamala Girls High School, Matha school, etc.

Hotels and Restaurant

RT Nagar has an eclectic mix of old style darshinis, new theme based restaurants and cuisine specific restaurants and eating out joints. Additionally the area boasts of coffee shops and chat joints for hanging out and chilling with friends/family

External links

• RTnagaronline.com
• Durga Puja in RT Nagar