HIDCO plans developing infrastructure like - roads, drains, sewerage line, water supply lines, major embellishment works and executed constructions like - buildings, projects, parks, museum, subways, over-bridges in New Town.[6] An information technology and residential hub is developed at New Town. New Town was enabled with 10.5 km of Wi-Fi Zone along the Major Arterial Road (part of Biswa Bangla Sarani) from Haldiram, near Kolkata Airport to Salt Lake Sector V, which also make it India's first Wi-Fi road connectivity. The stretch has already been declared as a green corridor.[7]
History
The area mainly consisted of huge acres of cultivable lands and water bodies, which was acquired and developed in a planned manner. The process of investing in residential and industrial facilities and infrastructural development of the area was mainly started under the leadership of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu in the late 1990s.[8] The master plan envisions a township which is at least three times bigger than the neighbouring planned Salt Lake City.
Newtown Skyline October 2024Red Munia (male) at New Town marshland
Planning
New Town has a proposed area of 93.9 km2 in which 30.8 km2 is used for township and 60.354 km2 area is under planning. The township of New Town is divided into Action Area I, II, III and a Central Business District.[14] The erstwhile planning area of HIDCO also included Action Area - IV (still not started). The Central Business District (CBD) is located between Action Area - I & II. HIDCO installed the geographic information system (GIS) to integrate the database on the number of house owners, property tax, mutation, building construction etc. in New Town.[15]
Launched by Ambuja Neotia group and HDFC group in 2023, it is a 72 acre township with an investment of ₹550 Crores. The township will have Nursing College, Hospital, Para medical College, IT/ITes space, Residential Towers, Villas and Club house with 25% reserved for economically weaker sections.[17]
Fintech hub is developed in New Town by HIDCO with many national and international firms like PNB, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and SBI showing interest in the project with their investment in different stages of implementation.[19]
As of April 2018, the residential population of New Town is estimated to be more than 1 million with 0.5 million additional floating population.[20][better source needed]
Civic administration
Authority
The New Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) has been constituted under The New Town Kolkata Development Authority Act, 2007 (The West Bengal Act XXX of 2007) for rendering various civic services and amenities within New Town, Kolkata and it has come into effect since November, 2008. It is a transitional arrangement in the way of creation of an Urban Local Body (ULB). The administration is headed by a chairman, exercising authority over a member secretary and chief executive officer, who in turn oversee various specific committees, set up to implement various duties.[13][21]
Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) plans and executes development projects in New Town, Kolkata.
Utility services
As of 2015, New Town gets 200 litre per capita per day (lcpd) of treated water every day with potable water that is sourced from the Hooghly River.[22] Water treatment plants with computerised monitoring and control system are in place. 100% of the garbage is collected by sanitary workers through door to door collection. As of 2015, more than 70% of the solid waste management vehicles and street sweeping vehicles have been fitted with GPS devices for effective monitoring.[22] All the garbage is compacted at compacting stations before disposing of it in dumping grounds.
Electricity is supplied and managed by New Town Electric Supply Company Limited (NTESCL).[22] Fire services are handled by the West Bengal Fire Service, a state agency. The Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate looks after the law and order in the city.
Although the NKDA had been tasked with carrying out civic functions within Newtown, the township continued to fall under the jurisdiction of the "Jyangra-Hatiara no II block" Panchayat for the purpose of polls to the rural local self-governing body. In early February 2023, the then Urban Development Minister, Firhad Hakim, had said that New Town cannot remain under a panchayat, while acknowledging that parts of the township had been included within a panchayat area as a result of "some error". He also promised that the "error" would be rectified before the upcoming panchayat polls.[26]
Despite prior assurances of exclusion from Panchayat jurisdiction, the Panchayat polls were being held in Newtown. This led to discontent amongst a section of residents of Newtown as they felt that they were wrongfully being "labelled" as "villagers".[27] The Newtown Forum demanded that the township be taken out of the jurisdiction of panchayats. The Forum, in this end, launched a campaign to boycott the polls - they put up hoardings and banners, blocked a few roads and even collected signatures of 12,000 voters in support of the cause.[28][29]
A Light Rail Transit System (LRTS) is planned to connect Action Area III to the Biswa Bangla Gate. The estimated cost of the project is around ₹4500 Crores.[32][33]
Biswa Bangla Sarani connects Action Area I and II. It also connects New Town to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. The New Town Road and Gitanjali Road also serves as major connectors between Action Area III and Action Area II. The main mode of road transportation includes air conditioned or non-AC government and private buses, taxi and other popular Indian transports like auto rickshaw and e-rickshaws. As of 2015, around 300 buses on 25 different bus routes, either passes through or originates from New Town.[22]
Education
Colleges and universities
Some of the educational and training institutes that are setting up their campuses in New Town:
AIFF National Center of Excellence is a "state of art" football complex which includes India's first ever roof top pitch. The sports complex is spread across 15 Acres and built with an investment of ₹200 crores.[37]
^ ab"KMA notification"(PDF). Urban Development Department, Government of West Bengal. Archived from the original(PDF) on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"Background". New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA). Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^ abcd"Smart City Proposal"(PDF). NKDAMAR. Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. p. 7. Archived(PDF) from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
^Chakraborti, Suman (18 February 2015). "Rajarhat to get education hub". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
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