Uluberia

Uluberia is a city and a municipal area of Howrah district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Uluberia subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). This city is famous for its industrial belts.

History
In 1873 the present Uluberia subdivision was constituted in the name of “Mahishrekha” which was subsequently renamed as Uluberia in 1882. William Carry, the famous Baptist visited Uluberia several times during late 19th century. During 1930s, Civil disobedience movement, there was huge uprising in Shyampur police station. After becoming congress president Subhas Chandra Bose gave speech in Gorur Hat of Uluberia in 1938.

Geography
Uluberia is located at 22.47°N, 88.11°W. It has an average elevation of 1 m. It is situated on the banks of the river Hooghly. The main road passing through the heart of the city is Orissa trunk road and is also well connected by National Highway 16. This is an unplanned city hence waterlogging is very common during heavy rainfall. One of the other problems is erosion of the Hooghly River and encroachment of land.

Civic Administration
The Uluberia Municipality was formed in 22 September 1982 with an area of 33.72sqkm and 28 wards, now it has expanded to 34.10sqkm and 32 wards.

Demographics
As of 2011 India census, As per provisional reports of Census India, population of Uluberia in 2011 is 222,240; of which male and female are 113,923 and 108,317 respectively. Although Uluberia city has population of 222,240; its urban / metropolitan population is 14,035,959 of which 7,251,908 are males and 6,784,051 are females, with a sex Ratio of 951 and average literacy of 80.54%. The Percentage of population of children have increased from 6% in 2001 to 11.8% in 2011 and child sex ratio is 956.

With the partition of India in 1947 came a significant number of refugees from East Pakistan, who mainly settled in Kolkata and its outlying areas, forming colonies on the banks of the Hooghly River, including near Uluberia on the west bank.

Religion in Uluberia
The population of Uluberia is divided between Hinduism and Islam, each comprising approximately 49.83% of the population. Additionally, there are smaller religious communities such as Christianity at 0.11%, Buddhism and Sikhism at 0.03% each, with other religions collectively making up 0.3% of the population.

Economy
Uluberia is an industrial town.It was a major jute processing town during the colonial and post Independence era but slowly the jute industry declined and now there is no big jute mill in Uluberia. In 2006 the Salim Group of Indonesia planned to invest $250 million in a motorcycle factory.

Industrial Park
There exist about 70 industrial units in Uluberia Industrial Park.The Industrial Park is providing lease holding to various industrial units and institutions for setting up their plants with Building Plan approved by the WBIIDC itself. There exist two large water bodies inside the campus are breathing spaces for the zone. Some of the prominent industrial units are: 1) Ceratizit India Private Limited. 2) Saj Industries Pvt (Biskfarm). 3) Sintex Industries Ltd. 4) Goel Alloy & Steel Pvt. Ltd.

Healthcare
The healthcare of Uluberia is mainly dominated by the small private hospitals other than that, there are a number of government hospitals in the city like the Uluberia hospital, E.S.I Hospital, Uluberia Sub-divisional hospital. Few popular private hospitals are Sebarata Hospital and Sanjiban Hospital.

Education
Before LPG reforms the education sector was mainly dominated by the public institutions but now many private schools have been built. The oldest college in Uluberia is the Uluberia College (founded in 1948) and other colleges are Om Dayal Group of Institutions, Bharat Technology, Calcutta institute of technology, Calcutta Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology and allied health sciences and Panchla Maha Vidyalaya. There is ESI Hospital at Nimdighi in Uluberia. A new Medical College named "Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Government Medical College and Hospital" has been established and started since 2022. An International Herbarium with Acronym "UBIH" (Uluberia Botanical Institute Herbarium) has been affiliated by NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN and enlisted in "Index Herbariorum". It is under the supervision of the most renowned Environmental Research Centre "Uluberia Botanical Institute", The Registered N.G.O. since 2004.

Transport
This city has National Highway 16, South Eastern Railway zone and Cuttack Road pass through it. The Hooghly River surrounds the south part of this town. There is also ferry service from Uluberia to Budge Budge and other towns of Howrah and South 24 Parganas. The town is served by Uluberia railway station. The rapid growth of this city in past few decades have caused bottlenecks in the traffic flow of the city, the station Road, the Odisha trunk and the road connecting Uluberia court and Uluberia Kalibari is highly congested in the peak hours.