Konnagar

Konnagar is a city with a municipality in Hooghly District in the state of West Bengal, India. It is under Uttarpara police station in Srirampore subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.HistoryIt was a small town that grew to be a town in the 19th century. Sib Chandra Deb, the renowned Derozian and Brahmo leader, contributed substantially towards development of Konnagar. A pioneer in women's emancipation, he assisted in the development of schools in the area. The railway station was opened in 1856 and the post office in 1858.In 1931, Tomas Bata, the Czech shoe tycoon, established his first Indian operation at Konnagar. By 1936, the Konnagar plan was phased out. In May 1931, Tomas sold his business interests to his brother Jan Antonin Bata who established Batanagar, Bata's first permanent shoe factory in India. The Bata brand was established on August 24, 1894 in Zlín, Czech Republic. The company first established itself in India in 1931 by renting a building to start an experimental shoe production plant in Konnagar, West Bengal with 75 Czech experts. Though it was under Jan Antonin Bata administration that designed, developed and built the industrial city called Batanagar in 1934. Jan Bata also build factories in Digha near Patna, and elsewhere in India, employing more than 7,000 people. Batanagar, under Jan Bata's ideals became one of the bigger sub-urban towns near Kolkata.The Sens of Konnagar are also very famous for their contribution to the cultural growth in the place. They were the zamindars till late 19th century, but slowly with the British rule coming to an end, the zamindari rules also collapsed. Konnagar has been the home of many notable personalities. It was the ancestral home of the great nationalist and religious leader Sri Aurobindo and noted physicist Sisir Kumar Mitra. Shafiur Rahman one of the martyrs of the language movement in East Pakistan was born in Konnagar.