Champdani

Champdani is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is under Bhadreswar police station in Chandannagore subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). This town is famous for six factories, viz. the GIS Cotton Mill, Dalhousie Jute Mill, North Brook jute Mill, Angus jute Mill, Champdany Garbage Refinary Ltd, Lagan Engineering, and Braithwate Ltd (Ministry of Railways).

Champdani is located at It has an average elevation of 12 metres (39 feet). Champdani is bounded by the Hooghly River in the east, farming area in the west (like Singur area), Bhadreswar in the north and Baidyabati in the south.

In Chandannagore subdivision 58.52% of the population is rural and the urban population is 41.48%. Chandannagore subdivision has 1 municipal corporation, 3 municipalities and 7 census towns. The single municipal corporation is Chandernagore Municipal Corporation. The municipalities are Tarakeswar Municipality, Bhadreswar Municipality and Champdany Municipality. Of the three CD Blocks in Chandannagore subdivision, Tarakeswar CD Block is wholly rural, Haripal CD Block is predominantly rural with just 1 census town and Singur CD Block is slightly less rural with 6 census towns. Polba Dadpur and Dhaniakhali CD Blocks of Chinsurah subdivision (included in the map alongside) are wholly rural. The municipal areas are industrialised. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

As of the 2011 census of India, Champdani had a population of 110,983. Males constitute 53.42% of the population and females 46.57%. Champdani has an average literacy rate of 82.39%, higher than the national average of 74%; with male literacy of 88% and female literacy of 75.91%. 10.45% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Jute mills drew in a large labour force from the neighbouring states of Bihar and Orissa, as well as eastern Uttar Pradesh, quite often forming an overwhelming majority of the population in the area. The proportion of migrants in the population was 80% in Bhadreswar. According to a study carried out by Vidyasagar University, "Most of these industrial units were located in riverine towns. A few of these were old towns inhabited previously by middle class Bengali 'babus' while others were new towns grown out of agricultural lands Agriculture in Bengal was more remunerative than work in the jute mills but what the jute mills paid was enough to attract labour from Bihar, Orissa, U. P. first and then from C. P. or even Madras There was little or no interconnection or social and cultural contact between local Bengali population and the mill hands. Both lived in their own worlds."

The following Municipalities and Census Towns in Hooghly district were part of Kolkata Urban Agglomeration in 2011 census: Bansberia (M), Hugli Chinsurah (M), Bara Khejuria (Out Growth), Shankhanagar (CT), Amodghata (CT), Chak Bansberia (CT), Naldanga (CT), Kodalia (CT), Kulihanda (CT), Simla (CT), Dharmapur (CT), Bhadreswar (M), Champdani (M), Chandannagar (M Corp.), Baidyabati (M), Serampore (M), Rishra (M), Rishra (CT), Bamunari (CT), Dakshin Rajyadharpur (CT), Nabagram Colony (CT), Konnagar (M), Uttarpara Kotrung (M), Raghunathpur (PS Dankuni) (CT), Kanaipur (CT) and Keota (CT).

There are few Banks and financial houses that serve the people living in Champdani and nearby areas. While State Bank of India is the busiest of all, other banks like Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Axis Bank also have their presence here.

Almost 70% of the population consists of Hindus. Being a place with six huge factories, people from various parts of the country also came and got settled here. While the majority of migrants are from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh & also Bengali families, a decent number of people can be found from other parts of the country too. People are very hospitable and live in peace and harmony. As a majority of the city population belongs to the Hindu faith, Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, Durga Puja, Diwali/Kalipuja, and Chhat Puja are the most visible of all festivals. Other festivals include Saraswati Puja, Dol Yatra/Holi, Rakhi & Muslim faith, Eid al Adha, Eid al Fitr, Muharram, and Rabi ul Awal.