Konnagar

Konnagar is a city and a municipality in Hooghly District in the state of West Bengal, India. There are 20 wards in the Konnagar Municipal Area. It is under Uttarpara police station in Serampore subdivision. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. Konnagar is under the Serampur Loksabha Kendra and Uttarpara Bidhansava Kendra.

History

It was a small town that grew to be a town in the 19th century. Shib Chandra Deb, the renowned Derozian sasasas 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.