Purulia

Administration

District Administration : Purulia

DISTRICT MAGISTRATE & DISTRICT COLLECTOR

Shri Alokesh Prasad Roy, WBCS(EXE.) District Magistrate & District Collector, Purulia District Phone: 03252-222302(O), 03252-222301(R), Fax: 03252-222490

District Magistrate is the head of the District Administration. He is also the District Collector and also Executive Officer of Zilla Parishad. He is assisted by Addl. District Magistrate(General), Addl. District Magistrate(Development), Addl. Executive Officer, Addl. District Magistrate & D.L. & L.R.O, S.D.O(Sadar East), S.D.O.(Sadar West), S.D.O.(Raghunathpur), B.D.O.s of 20 Blocks and by other Officers.

>Administrative Units

There are three Sub-divisions under Purulia District namely:

I. PURULIA SADAR EAST

Blocks under this Sub-division are:- 1)BUNDWAN, 2)HURA, 3)MANBAZAR-I, 4)MANBAZAR-II, 5)PUNCHA, 6)PURULIA-I, 7)PURULIA-II,

II. PURULIA SADAR WEST

Blocks under this Sub-division are:- 1)ARSHA, 2)BAGHMUNDI, 3)BALARAMPUR, 4)BARABAZAR, 5)JHALDA-I, 6)JHALDA-II, 7)JOYPUR

III. RAGHUNATHPUR

Blocks under this Sub-division are:- 1)KASHIPUR, 2)NETURIA, 3)PARA, 4)RAGHUNATHPUR-I, 5)RAGHUNATHPUR-II, 6)SANTURI

Geography

Purulia is located at 23.33°N 86.37°E / 23.33; 86.37. It has an average elevation of 228 metres (748 feet). Summers are hot and dry with temperatures ranging from lows of 23 °C to highs above 48 °C. The temperature reached the highest level in the country on June 18, 2005 at 51.1 °C. Winters are dry and cool with daily temperatures ranging from 5 °C to 20 °C. Most of the rainfall occurs during the wet monsoons.

It has many major rivers such as the Damodar, Subernarekha, Kangsabati, and Kumari, along with many dams including Kangsabati dam, Panchet dam, Maithon dam, Murguma dam, and Baghmundi dam. It has a varied landscape consisting of plains, plateaus and hills. Most of the major land forms can be found here.

Purulia soil is red and it is said that the soil has the most iron in it compared to other soil in India.The portion of the Ajodha range located in Purulia is the starting point of the Chottanagpur plateau.

Police stations

Purulia (Town) police station has jurisdiction over Purulia municipality and parts of Purulia I and Purulia II CD Blocks. The area covered is 13.9 km² and the population covered is 151,210.

Purulia (Muffasil) police station has jurisdiction over parts of Purulia I and Purulia II CD Blocks. The area covered is 434.57 km² and the population covered is 235,853.

Purulia Sadar Women police station was opened in 2014 at Bhatbandh, As of 2016, it is covering the jurisdiction of Purulia (T) PS, Purulia (M) PS, Kotshila PS, Arsha PS, Jhalda PS and Joypur PS.

Demographics

In 2011, Puruliya had population of 2,927,965 of which male and female were 1,497,656 and 1,430,309 respectively. There was change of 15.43 percent in the population compared to population as per 2001. In the previous census of India 2001, Purulia District recorded increase of 14.02 percent to its population compared to 1991.

The initial provisional data suggest a density of 468 in 2011 compared to 405 of 2001. Total area under Purulia district is of about 6,259 km².

Average literacy rate of Purulia in 2011 were 65.38% compared to 55.57% of 2001. If things are looked at gender wise, male and female literacy were 78.85% and 51.29% respectively, compared to 73.72% and 36.50% in 2001. Total literate in Purulia District were 1,656,940 of which male and female were 1,021,455 and 635,485 respectively. In 2001, Purulia District had 1,182,284 in its total region.

With regards to the sex ratio in Purulia, it stood at 955 per 1000 male compared to 2001 census figure of 954. The average national sex ratio in India is 940 as per latest reports of Census 2011 Directorate.

History

Pre Historic Times Tagged as one of the oldest known districts known in West Bengal. According to the Jaina Bhagavati-Sutra, the place existed as early as 5th century and was one of the 16 Mahajanapadas of its time. It is believed that Purulia was a part of the country known as Vajra-bhumi, in ancient times. Pre-Independence Era British East-India Company formed the Regulation XVIIII in 1805, a Jungle Mahals district, comprising 23 parganas and mahals - including the present Purulia, was formed. However, years later, in 1833, the Jungle Mahals district was ruled out and a new district, by the name of Manbhum, was constituted, with headquarters at Manbazar.

Manbhum was extremely large in size and constituted of Bankura and Burdwan (in the present West Bengal), apart from Dhanbad, Dhalbhum, Saraikela and Kharswan (in the present Jharkhand and Orissa). In the year 1838, the district headquarters was shifted from Manbazar to Purulia (as it is known today). With this, Purulia was withdrawn from regular administration and placed under an officer called Principal Assistant (better known as Deputy Commissioner today) to the agent of the Governor-General for South-Western Frontier.

Post-Independence Era It was in 1956, nine years after India received its independence, that the district of Manbhum was partitioned and the states of West Bengal and Bihar were formed, under the States Reorganization Act and Transfer of Territories Act. In November 1956, Purulia was formed as one of the districts in West Bengal. Located at the westernmost side of the state, Purulia boasts of a tropical location. It acts as a funnel, transferring tropical monsoon current from the Bay of Bengal to the subtropical parts of northwest India. Purulia also acts as a gateway to reach the industrial belts of West Bengal and the hinterlands in Orissa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Purulia entered the news in December 1995, when a Latvian aircraft dropped a consignment of arms in its vicinity. Several days later, when the plane re-entered Indian airspace, it was intercepted by a Mig21 of the Indian Air Force, and its crew were captured. It was believed that the arms were intended for the Hindu sect Anand Marg ("Happy Path"), but proof of this could not be established. The crew of the aircraft consisted of five Latvian citizens and Peter Bleach, a British citizen. They were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Following the intervention of Russian authorities, the Latvian crew (ethnic Russians) were pardoned and released in 2000.

The Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith is a residential school for boys with the calm environment of the ancient gurukul system which was the ideology of Swami Vivekananda. Sainik School is on Ranchi Road. GRK DAV is a residential school based on the ideologies of Arya Samaj, founded by Swami Dayananda. The Assembly of God Church School has a morning batch (Bhatbhandh) and a day batch (Ranchi Road). The oldest of the schools is Purulia Zilla which was established in 1853.

In Hindu religious belief, it is thought that when Lord Rama was coming back after 14 years of exile, he took rest in Ayodhya hills. To fulfill Sita's thirst Lord Rama made a pond by hitting his arrow in the hills. It is believed that the pond exists today, and is called Sitakund.

The Australian architect William Hardy Wilson named his own home after Purulia. A heritage-listed home, Purulia was a major influence on the design of homes in Sydney.

Festivals

The major festivals are Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Manasa Puja, Saraswati Puja & Makar Parab. The whole city is decorated during Diwali.

Tribe Saontal's major festival is Bandna or Bandana (it is called as "Saharai parab" by the Santals) which is celebrated in the Bengali month of "Kartik" or "Poush". In this festival they play music, dance together and eat meat-based special dishes like "Manser Pitha". They also take local liquor as a part of their culture named "Hadia". The Saharai parab is celebrated during four days, like (a) Umm (1st day) (b) Daka (2nd day) (c) Khuntau (3rd day) and (d) Jale (4th day).

'Bhadu' is another festival started by Panchakot Raj of Kashipur after the death of a king's daughter named Bhadrabati and nowadays it is enjoyed by the local mass.

Karma is a tribe festival in Purulia where tribal people worship the tree whose local name is 'Karam'. Poila Baisakh (The first day of Bengali new year) is also observed in Purulia by the local people with religious culture and Chhou dance.

Tourism Festival (Porjoton Utsab) in Raghunathpur Joychandi Pahar is the most popular festival in Purulia District during the last week of December.

Transport

Totos(E-Rickshaw) are available throughout the urban area under proper fare structure maintained by Municipality. Taxi, Maxi and Cars are added options to prefer for.

Purulia railway station is on the Asansol–Tatanagar–Kharagpur line.

Most of the long distance trains stop at the railway station like Purushottam Express, Samarsata Express, Purulia-Villupuram Express, Guwahati-Chennai Express, Porbandar-Santragachi Express, etc. Purulia is one of the most important transport location. Major cities near Purulia are Ranchi, Bokaro Steel City, Dhanbad, Asansol, Burnpur, Kharagpur, Jamshedpur, Chakradharpur, Kolkata etc. There is a link railway to Kolkata via Asansol, Adra and Jamshedpur. The station is a three way junction and is about 2 km from the township-center. Purulia Express, Rupashi Bangla and Lalmati Express are among those trains that run between Purulia and Howrah via Adra/Tatanagar-Kharagpur.

Purulia is connected to various parts of West Bengal as well as Jharkhand through long distance bus services run by both Government and private operators.

Media

Purulia has an All India Radio Relay station known as Akashvani Purulia. It broadcasts on 101.1 MHz FM frequency presently.

University

Colleges

Schools

Notable personalities

Purulia arms drop

On December 18, 1995, a mysterious weapon consignment was dropped from the sky over Joypur Jhalda area under Purulia district of West Bengal. The consignment was discovered the next morning. The reasons are still not known.