Ahmadpur, Birbhum

For disambiguation see AMODPUR(Ahmedpur)

AMEDPUR(Ahmadpur) আহমদপুর (আমোদপুর)
Town
AMEDPUR(Ahmadpur) Location in West Bengal, India
Coordinates: 23°57′N 87°40′E / 23.95°N 87.67°E / 23.95; 87.67Coordinates: 23°57′N 87°40′E / 23.95°N 87.67°E / 23.95; 87.67
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Birbhum
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	731201
Telephone code	91 3463
Lok Sabha constituency	Bolpur
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Labpur
Website	birbhum.nic.in

AMODPUR(Ahmedpur) is a town in the Suri Sadar subdivision of Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Ahmedpur is a village panchayat under Sainthia panchayat of Birbum Zilla Parishad.[1] The town is well known in the area for its sugar mill and as one end of the vintage narrow gauge railway. The office of the Block Development Officer, Sainthia Block is situated here, adjacent to the Ahmedpur railway station. It hosts a growing local business centre, being well connected with Kolkata and other cities of West Bengal via railway.

Geography

Ahmedpur is located in the alluvial plain of the Mayurakshi River. It has hot and dry summers, spread between March and May, followed by the monsoon from June to September. Seventy-eight percent of the rainfall occurs during this period.^[1]

Ahmedpur Sugar Mill

The West Bengal government purchased the assets of the erstwhile National Sugar Mills (in liquidation) through a court sale on 4 June 1973, providing an instrument to the West Bengal Sugar Industries Development Corporation to achieve its objective of promoting and developing sugar industry, and also ensuring protection of employment in the closed mill. After the Corporation took possession of the mill on 1 September 1973, it was renamed “Ahmedpur Sugar Mill”. It went into production in the 1974-75 season. It has a crushing capacity of 600 tonnes per day. It procures sugarcane from the area comprising whole of Birbhum District, part of Bardhaman, Nadia and its captive farms in the district of Murshidabad, covering a distance over 25 km to 130 km from the mill gate. However, the scattered situation at a far off distance from the mill is preventing it from purchase of optimum quantity of sugarcane for crushing by paying exorbitant transport charge. As a result of the peculiar difficulties for downscale plantations of sugarcane in Birbhum district and insufficient source of sugarcane from other zones, the working results of the mill for the above seasons became dismal.^[2] This sugar mill has not been functioning for around 7–10 years.

Business

Ahmedpur is a growing centre for small and home-based business. Good connectivity to Kolkata has aided the area in developing a large market. Good transport facilities have ensured the growth of many small-scale handicraft industries around. Goats, cattle and other animals are also sold in the market of Ahmedpur.

Transport

Ahmedpur is a station on the Bardhaman – Sainthia section of Sahibganj Loop.

The 52 km long narrow gauge (2' 6") Ahmedpur Katwa Railway had attracted attention. Four pairs of trains ran daily in the section. It had remained a single line since its inception. Indian Railways took over the narrow gauge tracks between Katwa and Ahmedpur, and Katwa and Bardhaman from McLoyd and Company in 1966. The railways have identified poor turnout of passengers and their unwillingness to buy tickets as the reasons behind the losses incurred by the narrow gauge section.^[3] The line is not functioning from last few years and the whole Ahmedpur-Katwa stretch is being converted to the broad gauge line currently.

Inhabitants

Rajat Bhusan Dutta, along with Kamada Kinkar Mukherjee(father of President Pranab MUkherjee) who was deported to Andaman Islands for 12 years for his involvement in the Birbhum Conspiracy Case, was born at Ahmedpur in 1908.^[4]

Education

Ahmedpur has government-aided higher-secondary schools for boys and girls, as well as primary co-education schools. The Jai Durga High School is the main school for boys in the region, situated close to the station. Students from the neighbouring villages are often seen admitted to the government schools here. Proximity and good connectivity to Burdwan encourages a good many of students to attend the University of Burdwan. Many college students from here travel to nearby village Labhpur to attend the Labhpur Shambhunath college. Sebananda Roy, Corporate Management Expart belongs from this place. Recently two B.Ed and Basic Training College added to Ahmedpur.

Connectivity

Ahmadpur JN station is the most important & key station of Birbum District. Most people used this railway station, including parts of Burdwan & Murshidabad Dist to go to Kolkata. Most express trains are connected to Howrah/Sealdha/North-East/Bhagalpur/Patna/Delhi/Kolkata stations. Buses go daily to Labhpur and nearby villages through the Ahmedpur-Katwa road.

Apart from the sugar mill there is also one wine processing factory. Both Hindus & Muslims live in this town. Some important places surrounding Ahmedpur are Babu Para, Chowringee Para, Choto Line Para, Islampur, Ishwar Pur, Daspara, Bazar area etc. The holy "Bakreswar" river runs through Juinta village and Kusumjatra village nearby. Tentuldihi Mallick Bari, which is 6–7 km away from Ahmedpur, is famous for its famous Durga puja which has been celebrated for more than 300 years. Many people come to Tentuldihi in October to enjoy this puja.

References