Bolpur

About 150 years ago, Bolpur was a small village under Supur Porgana. Kalikapur a known place of Bolpur was the origin of the typical village in past. There were no rail lines, no developed roads. Paddy land were seen around the village. "Lalmati" (red soil) was found everywhere. Many villages named Sian, Dihipara, Khoskadampur, Paruldanga, Goalpara, Ballavpur, Bandhgara, Surul, Supur, Raipur were the boundary line around Bolpur. East India company established the first railway line in 1859, when the Sahebganj loopline was extended beyond the river Ajay. Bolpur railway station was established in 1860. Along with this, court, police station, sub registry office, etc., were established in old Bolpur. Then people started residing here. Christian missionaries came; they founded a church that was known as Mission compound. Paddy storage house, stationary shops, grocery shops, garment shops etc. were on the east side near Bolpur railway station. About 19 husking machines were here at that time. Maharshi Debendranath Tagore established a centre of religious mediation in Bolpur. Rabindranath Tagore established Visva Bharati Viswavidyalaya in 1921. These were the main reasons for the huge extension, development and popularity of Bolpur. Provincial names proved the upcoming gradual development of Bolpur. Kachharipatti is just beside court house, Trishulapatti is the commercial paddy trading centre. Kalibaroarytala was the service place for Bolpur set up by some initiative people. Netaji made a conference. Here Harisava stood against "Bramhopasana". Every week these two conferences were held in Bolpur. Bijaykrishna Ghoswami, Shivnath Shastri, Shasibhusan Basu and others gave religious advice. Beside this, prayer committee was set up.

Bolpur is located at
Bolpur covered an area of
Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the area. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map. In the map of Bolpur Sriniketan CD block on page 718 of District Census Handbook Birbhum (Part A), while the area covered by Shantiniketan is shown as a part of Bolpur, Sriniketan is shown as a part of Surul, a census town.

Bolpur police station has jurisdiction over Bolpur Sriniketan community development block.

The climate of Shantiniketan is moderately warm, with summer temperatures at around 35 42 °C (maximum) and winter at 7 15 °C (minimum). Summer is felt for three months, March, April and May. December, January and February are the winter months. June, July, August and September see heavy rainfall, these four months are known as monsoon (rainy season) with dry humid. Shantiniketan saw its highest temperature rising 47.0 °C, on 10 June 1966. The lowest temperature ever recorded is 4.9 °C, on 9 January 2013 (see the weather box below). The annual average temperature is 26.2 °C. About 1480mm of rain falls per year, with 76 days seeing the rain. The area is classified as an "Aw" (tropical savanna climate) under the Köppen Climate Classification.

As per the 2011 Census of India, Bolpur had a total population of 80,210, of which 40,468 (50%) were males and 39,742 (50%) were females. Population in the age range of 0–6 years was 6,852. The total number of literates in Bolpur was 63,656 (86.77% of the population 7 years and over).

Bolpur Shantiniketan railway station (BHP) is the major railway station under Howrah Division of Eastern Railway (ER). The station is well connected to the major cities, specially state capital Kolkata. Apart from West Bengal, the station connected to cities of other states like Guwahati, Dibrugarh, Agartala, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Another railway station in the city is Prantik railway station (PNE) which is the next station of Bolpur Shantiniketan. Some local passenger and express trains give a stop in this station.

Bolpur is connected to all important cities by roadways. National Highway 114 (old numbering NH 2B) pass through Bolpur. The highway runs from NH 14 (old numbering NH 60) at Mallarpur to NH 19 (old numbering NH 2) at Burdwan. This highway connects Bolpur with Burdwan (60 km) and Kolkata (160 km). SH 14 or Morgram Panagarh highway passes through 15 km away from Bolpur at Illambazar, and junction with NH 19 at Panagarh (40 km). This route connects Bolpur with Durgapur (54 km), Asansol (97 km), Maithon (120 km) and Dhanbad (160 km). Bolpur Suri road connects Bolpur with district headquarter Suri (35 km) and the road cross NH 14 at Suri. After crossing, the road goes towards Massanjore (70 km), Dumka (98 km), Deoghar (165 km). Distance from Bolpur to Berhampore via Nanoor is 100 km, and Katwa via Nutanhat is 54 km. Bolpur is connected through WBTC, SBSTC and private bus services. Private cab services are also available.

Bolpur has no airport of its own. The nearest airport from Bolpur is Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport located 70 km away in Andal, Durgapur. The nearest international airport is Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport (CCU) located 160 km away in Dum Dum (Kolkata).

Bengal Institute of Technology & Management (B. I. T. M Santiniketan)
Santiniketan Institute of Polytechnic (S. I. P Bolpur)

Bolpur Subdivisional Hospital has 125 beds. Bolpur Block Primary Health Centre at Bolpur, serving Bolpur Sriniketan community development block, has 60 beds.