Asansol
Description
Asansol City is in Bardhaman District in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the second-largest city in West Bengal after Kolkata and the 39th largest urban agglomeration in India. According to a 2010 report released by the International Institute for Environment and Development, a UK-based policy research non-governmental body, Asansol was ranked 11th among Indian cities. and 42nd in the world in its list of 100 fastest-growing cities.
Asansol is classed as a Y-category city for calculation of HRA (House Rent Allowance) for public servants, making it a Tier-II city.
Geography
Asansol is a cosmopolitan city located in Bardhaman district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the lower Chota Nagpur Plateau, which occupies most of Jharkhand, between the Damodar and Ajay rivers. Another river, the Barakar, joins the Damodar near Dishergarh. A small rivulet, Nunia, flows past Asansol.
While Dhanbad district in Jharkhand lies on the western side, Durgapur subdivision of Bardhaman district lies on the eastern side. To the south, across the Damodar river are the Purulia and Bankura districts. To the north are Dumka and Birbhum districts. Dhanbad district is a major coal mining area and has close links with Asansol; both lie in the Damodar valley.
Transport
Road
The Grand Trunk Road (National Highway 2) runs across the subdivision and National Highway 60 connects Asansol with Odisha. NH2 has been broadened as part of the Golden Quadrilateral project and now allows two-lane traffic in both directions. A highway bypass avoids the areas of Ushagram, Murgasol, Asansol Bazar, Chelidanga, BNR, Gopalpur, Neamatpur, Kulti and Barakar.
The South Bengal State Transport Corporation operates daily bus services to Kolkata and numerous other destinations, such as Malda, Siliguri, Midnapur, Bankura, Siuri, Purulia, Burdwan, Kalna, Habra, Barackpore, Digha, Bolpur, Kirnahar and Berhampore. There are also many private bus operators working local and inter-state routes. The North Bengal State Transport Corporation also runs services to and from the city.
Railway
From its earliest days, Asansol has been the hub of railway transport in the region. The Asansol Railway Division is currently a part of the Eastern Railway Zone. The city serves as the headquarters of the eponymous division and spans a distance of 493 kilometres (306 mi), spread across West Bengal and Jharkhand. It includes important stations such as Andal, Raniganj and Durgapur.
The railway track from Kolkata to Delhi passes through the subdivision and bifurcates into the main line and the grand chord line at Sitarampur railway junction, a little to the west of Asansol railway junction. Another railway track links Asansol with Adra and then to Jamshedpur via Purulia and Kharagpur via Bankura. A branch line connects Andal with Sainthia on the Sahibganj Loop.
Almost all the trains linking Kolkata with north India also connect with Asansol. As a result, Asansol enjoys superb connectivity with cities like New Delhi, Jammu, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Dehradun, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Gwalior, Bhopal, Indore , Patna, Ranchi and Dhanbad on the one hand and commands a fairly good traffic movement towards the western cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Surat and southern cities like Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatnam, Vijaywada, Chennai, Bangalore and Trivandrum. It is also connected with Guwahati in the north-east region.
Air
Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport at Andal is the nearest domestic airport. It commenced operations in May 2015 and is roughly 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Asansol's City Bus Terminus. The nearest international airport is Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport at Dum Dum in Kolkata.
There is also a private aerodrome located at Burnpur.