Baguiati


Baguiati is a locality in Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is close to Kolkata and also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.

Location

Baguiati lies off the Kazi Nazrul Islam Sarani, popularly known as VIP Road, in the north-eastern periphery of Kolkata. It is developing into an important commercial and trade center. Lake Town, Dum Dum Park, Krishnapur, Teghoria, Kaikhali, New Town and Salt Lake cities are the nearby areas of Baguiati.

History

This place is said to be named after Bagui's, surname of the native and popular residents of this place. During 1950 the Martin Burn company put-up a rail line from Patipukur to Taki via Belgachia Milk Colony-Dum Dum Park-Rajarhat-Khariberia-Basirhat. During that time they wanted to acquire a piece of land for station and pond and approached the Bagui family. The family agreed to give the land on condition that the station be named in recognition of their contribution. The land wanted to be acquired is called "Ati", which is a special Bengali word for 'high land'; not suitable for agriculture, mainly used for farming. Thus the station built for a narrow gauge rail line on the "ati" in the land of Baguis is named as "Baguiati". The rail stopped functioning after a few years. But till date the "Rail Pukur" is there beyond the PWD building at Baguiati crossing. The First Bagui came and settled at Baguiati was "Sahoy Ram Bagui" along with his two son, at least 200 years before, near to 1770. Few members of Bagui family proclaim that, the present area of Baguiati was part of Sundarban Delta, as they have heard from their Great-grand-father. This claim, was partly supported by the fact that the entire adjoining area was mostly wetland till early 1910, like present area of Lake Town, Salt Lake. Further the entire North-East Suburban Kolkata was well connected to Bidyadhari River flowing from Haroa towards Malancha. There are more than 100 families having family name "Bagui", mainly staying at Baguipara and Narayantala East.

Infrastructure

A good number of small enterprises exist in this region. These enterprises primarily deal with the import and export of small articles of jute, electronics, watch manufacturing, polyware manufacturing, medical equipment supplies etc. The township is provided with a number of educational institutes, hotels and health care institutes. It also has a dedicated police station under the jurisdiction of the Bidhannagar City Police. The region forms one of the many residential places in the city. The population level has been constantly increasing, as has been observed in the rest of the city. This area is highly congested now. The flyover from Dum Dum Park to Raghunathpur above VIP Road, which was opened in March 2015, help to keep the traffic congestion away from Baguiati. Subways have been constructed at Kestopur, Baguiati and Joramandir to prevent accidents due to road crossing and they are fully functional now. Nearby malls include Big Bazaar, Baazar Kolkata etc.

Transport

is the artery of the area. Baguiati Main Road starts from VIP Road. Another important road - Rajarhat Main Road also starts from VIP Road. Many buses ply along these three roads.
Bidhannagar Road railway station is the nearest railway station of Baguiati.

Education

Schools in Baguiati includes Chittaranjan Colony Hindu Vidyapith, Calcutta Public School and National English School, Kolkata.