Rishra

Rishra
Industrial Township
Sky line of Rishra
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Hoogly
Elevation	16 m (52 ft)
Population  (2010)
• Total	513,259
Languages
• Official	Bengali English Hindi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	712248, 712249, 712250
Telephone code	(033) 2672
Lok Sabha constituency	Sreerampur
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Sreerampur

Rishra is a Tier Two Industrial Town and has a municipality in Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.

Geography

River Hooghly surrounds the eastern part of Rishra, Delhi Highway on the west, and it is positioned between Sreerampur (Serampore) on the north and Konnagar on the South. Rishra can be broadly divided into two parts mainly, East Rishra (eastern side of the Rishra Station bound by River Hooghly) and West Rishra (western side of the Rishra Station extended up to Delhi Highway). Rishra Station is located almost in the middle of the town.

Demographics

As of 2010 India census, Rishra has a population of around 513,432. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Rishra has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 69%. In Rishra, 10% of the population is under six years of age. The vast population is a combination of native Bengalies, Gujartis, Biharies, Oriyas and Marwaries.

Culture

Though Hindus are in the majority, Rishra has always been a multicultural, multifaceted township and has been in the news for celebrating almost all religious festivals of all the major ethnic communities with equal enthusiasm. Being an old industrial township with one of the oldest and largest jute mills in India, it has a number of temples and mosques.

Most of the Bengali local people are involve with sports, like football, cricket and swimming. The famous Indian footballers Sudhir Karmaker and Sisir Ghosh were born and performed on the famous football ground "Lenin Ground". The oldest clubs (100 years) are Rishra Club, Arora Club, Rishra Sporting, Rishra Swimming club and Rishra Swijim Club.

Many local social organizations perform various social and religious works. These organizations include Maheshwari Sabha, Marwadi Yuva Manch, Rishra Sevak Sangh, Rishra Jagaran Mandal, Shyam Bhakt Mandal, Shri Satya Sai Seva Samiti, JaiDada Bhakt Mandal, Hanuman Prem Mandal, etc.

Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Id, Christmas, Moharram and almost all religious customs of all the major communities are celebrated with equal zest throughout the year. However amongst the attractions and festivities of Rishra is Jagaddhatri puja the invocation of Goddess Jagadhatri in the month of Oct-Nov is being celebrated largely all over. There is also the annual Rishra Fair that is held each year in the month of January and held with much fanfare. Diwali and Holi are two major festivals celebrated with great spirit by all the respective cast.

The population is a complete combination of Bengalis, Oriyas, Biharis, Gujarati, Marwadis and few others. Sometimes it is jocularly commented that if you visit Rishra you will be able to see all the classes and communities of people in India, perhaps the main reason for the vibrancy of Rishra. Rishra enjoys a vibrant community life and has more linguistic as well as religious diversity than most other towns in West Bengal.

Despite a comparatively peaceful station there has been a sharp rise in crime rate in Rishra. Recently there were several reported cases of broad day light robbery and chain/purse snatching cases. The police has however not been able to apprehend the culprits thus resulted into all round displeasures among citizens of Rishra. The local MLA has been duly notified and has been under constant surveillance by the NGOs asking him to bring law and order in this part namely Rishra Township.

Education

The oldest primary school in Rishra is the Bangla School alias Rishra Prathamik Balak Vidyalaya and the oldest high school is Rishra Uccha Vidyalaya, established by Babu Pramatha Natha Daw and Haridhan Daw in memory of their father Babu Hem Chandra Daw. Rishra has other reputed schools such as Stepping Stone School, St. Mary's School, Gospel Home School, Rishra Vani Bharati, Radhika Town High School, Loreto High School, Vivekananda English Academy, St. Thomas Academy, Rishra Anjuman High School, Rishra Vidhyapith Hindi High school, Mahesh Sri Ramkrishna Ashram Vidyalaya, Rishra Brahmananda Keshab Chandra High School, Saibalini Devi Uccha Balika Vidyalaya, Rishra Girl's High School etc. which are considered as some of the best schools in the district. Rishra has one famous college named Bidhan Chandra College, named after Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy.

Economy

It is one of the major industrial area in Hugli district, having factories like Hastings Jute Mill, Jayashree Textiles, Aditya Birla Insulators (a unit of Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited) ICI, Hindustan Glass Factory, Kusum Oil Products Ltd., Berger Paints, PMC Rubber Chemicals, Shaw Wallace, Hindustan National Glass, Phosphate Fertilisers, Laxmi - Narayan Cotton Mills, Green Water Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Bindrawala Cables, R.S. Ispat, Wellington Jute Mill, Fort William Industries and The Orion Corporation India.

Rishra, as most of the Hooghly district, has shown a sign of a gradual declining of the number of Jute industries in Bengal after the partition of India in 1947. Rishra was home to the first jute mill in India under the British rule (the Hastings Jute Mill).

Many nationalized and private banks have opened their branches in Rishra. To name a few from PSU category: State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, UCO Bank, United Bank of India (two branches), Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India and also Hooghly District Cooperative Bank Limited; the names of existing private sector banks are Axis Bank and ICICI Bank.

Rishra is economically well developed.

Civic affairs

The municipality is now being governed by Trinamool Congress Party leader Adv. Shankar Prasad Shaw who is the present Chairman of the Rishra Municipality. Adv. Shankar Prasad Shaw replaced Dilip Sarkar (former chairman), who was in seat for 35 consecutive years.

There is no direct road communication from the Grand Trunk Road (Rishra) to the Delhi Road (Rishra). Roads have a combination metelled and unmetalled category. Rishra has no multi-speciality hospital with 24 hrs well maintained emergency. Rishra has no disaster management plan that covers incidents like industrial gas leakage or industrial fire. There is no proper land/road space, building ratio for highrise buildings.