Kulti

Kulti কুল্টি (کلٹی)
Neighbourhood in Asansol
Kulti Location in West Bengal, India
Coordinates: 23°44′N 86°51′E / 23.73°N 86.85°ECoordinates: 23°44′N 86°51′E / 23.73°N 86.85°E
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Bardhaman
Elevation	114 m (374 ft)
Population (2001)
• Total	290,057
Demonym(s)	Asansolians / Asansolites/ Asansolbashi
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English, Urdu
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Lok Sabha constituency	Asansol
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Kulti
Website	bardhaman.gov.in

Kulti (কুল্টি) is the Western neighbourhood in Asansol, Barddhaman district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Geography

Kulti is located at latitude 23°43'60N and longitude 86°50'60E at an elevation of 114 meters. Asansol is composed of undulating latterite soil. This area lies between two mighty rivers – the Damodar and the Ajay. They flow almost parallel to each other in the region – the average distance between the two rivers is around 30 km. For ages the area was heavily forested and infested with plunderers and marauders. The discovery of coal led to industrialisation of the area and most of the forests have been cleared.^[1] At the western fringe of the area the Barakar River forms the boundary with Jharkhand.

History

Kulti railway station at Asansol

IISCO Plant

Earlier a small village, Kulti has grown around the IISCO plant for more than a century. The plant has many historical achievements to its credit:

India’s first blast furnace was built way back in 1870, when even in the industrially developed countries there were few blast furnaces. That open top blast furnace used coal instead of charcoal for the first time, thereby introducing modern metallurgy to India. The furnace was in operation from 1875 till the fifties when it was dismantled, as the plant at Burnpur was expanded.

Steel was made for the first time in India in 1904, in open hearth furnaces. The furnace lost out to the cheap steel dumped into the country from England. Steel making withered away and Kulti remained an iron making plant with numerous foundries producing a wide range of intricate castings. Large castings and large diameter cast iron pipes produced at Kulti for more than century are still being used at many places throughout the country. Technological obsolescence and vast changes in the process of steelmaking forced the closure of the foundries.

Spun pipes were produced for the first time in India by the centrifugal casting process in 1945. Even when other plants came up, Kulti continued to have a national market share of 50-70%. While technological obsolescence ate away its roots, unfair market practices finally forced it to down its shutters. This plant was forcibly closed by connivance of Factory Unions, Politicians and Private Sector Steel Manufacturers. In 2003, the plant was closed down with voluntary retirement to most of the workers.

In 2010 the Public Sector Undertaking of Ministry of Railways namely RITES Limited signed a joint venture agreement with the Public Sector Undertaking of Ministry of Steel namely Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) for setting up a Wagon Manufacturing Factory in Joint Venture at Kulti in the premises of IISCO.

Administration

As per orders of the Delimitation Commission, 282 Kulti assembly constituency covers Kulti municipality. Kulti assembly segment is part of Asansol (Lok Sabha constituency).Ujjal Chatterjee of Trinamool Congress won the Kulti assembly seat in 2006. Maniklal Acharya of Forward Bloc had won the seat in 2001. Prior to that the seat was won by Maniklal Acharjee of Forward Bloc in 1996 and 1991, Tuhin Samanta of Congress in 1987, Madhu Banerjee of Forward Bloc in 1982 and 1977.Ramdas Banerjee of Congress won in 1972 and 1971, Dr. Taraknath Chakrabarti of Samyukta Socialist Party won in 1969, Dr. Jai Narayan Sharma of Congress in 1967 and 1962, Benarasi Prasad Jha of PSP in 1957. In 1952, independent India’s first election, Kulti was a twin member constituency and those elected were Jai Narayan Sharma and Baidyanath Mondal, both of Congress.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,^[2] Kulti had a population of 290,057. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Kulti has an average literacy rate of 62%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 70%, and female literacy is 52%. In Kulti, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.According to the census, 19% of the population in Kulti is Muslim, 70% Hindu. Other minorities such as Christian,Sikhs, Buddhist and Jain constitute the rest of the city's population

Nearby places

• Churulia - Where the poet - Kazi Nazrul Islam was born. He is considered the national poet of Bangladesh.The village is about 31 km from Kulti, and contains a museum with his works and a memorial.
• Searsol - This village is famous for Durga Puja and Ratha Yatra, which is more than 200 years old. It about 28 km from Kulti.
• Santiniketan - Visva-Bharati, founded by Rabindranath Tagore and now a central university and an institution of national importance, is located here. It is about 104 km from Kulti.
• Durgapur - An industrial city 54 km to the east of Kulti and home to the Durgapur Steel Plant
• Bishnupur - The terracotta temple town and home to major art and craft is about 114 km from Kulti. The Bankura horse, symbol of Indian handicrafts is produced at Panchmura, near Vishnupur. It is also the home of the Baluchari sari, initially woven with Ramayana and Mahabharata motifs but now modernised.
• Kalyaneshwari temple - The temple of the Lady of Fulfilment, about 7 km from Kulti has been a place of pilgrimage, particularly for barren women, for about five centuries. It is in Maithon
• Jaydev Kenduli - A village on the banks of the Ajay river, about 94 km from Kulti. It is dedicated to the Sanskrit poet Jayadeva, and on Makar Sankranti hosts a mela with Bauls (religious singers with a detached philosophy and spontaneity of their own).
• Bakreshwar - hot spring and temple is about 85 km from Kulti.
• Joychandi Pahar - Picnic spot and centre for rock climbing training is about 15 km from Kulti.
• Maithon Dam- A beautiful place some 12 km from Kulti. Maithon Dam and Maithon Hydro Electric Power Station are among the notable places to visit
• Panchet Dam - 35 km. A beautiful picnic spot.
• Gunjan Echological Park, Asansol - 14 km from Kulti. A social welfare project of Asansol Police located on G.T. Road at Nigha under Jamuria P.S. It was earlier an abandoned O.C.P. of Eastern Coalfields Limited and was a den of criminals and illegally-mined-coal racketeers. Somen Mitra, IPS, the then Addl S P of Asansol took the initiative to get that area under control of the Asansol police. Nearly 300 acres (1.2 km2) of land with waterbody is now an attraction for the citizens of Asansol, with a mini-zoo and a children's park. During winter, the lake supports hundreds of migratory birds. An anglers' club also exists at the Ecological Park. Asansol police is in a process to develop the area in association with ECL, SAIL-ISP and ADDA.

See also

• IISCO * SAIL * BCCL* ECL

References

• History of The Indian Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. by Dr. N.R.Srinivasan

Notes

1. Chattopadhyay, Akkori, Bardhaman Jelar Itihas O Lok Sanskriti (History and Folk lore of Bardhaman District.), (Bengali), Vol I, pp 14-15, Radical Impression. ISBN 81-85459-36-3
2. "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. Retrieved 2008-11-01.