Durgapur is located in the district of Burdwan, in the state of West Bengal, India. It is a well planned industrial city on the banks of river Damodar. It was founded in the late fifties by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. It is about 175 Kms away from the international airport Kolkata, capital city of West Bengal. Durgapur lies on the main railway line connecting Kolkata and New Delhi and is extremely well connected to both these cities.
Durgapur houses a large number of manufacturing industries which includes Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP), Alloy Steel Plant (ASP), Alstom, Graphite India Ltd, Durgapur Project Ltd. (DPL), Durgapur Thermal Power Corporation, Philips Carbon Black Ltd. (PCBL), Export Promotion Industrial Park, etc.
It is also having software technology park of India consisting of various software firms like Pinnacle InfoTech Solutions. The DPL and DTPS are the main power suppliers of Durgapur City. The City hardly has any power cuts round the year which certifies the development of Durgapur. It has an ambient environment conducive for studies and is the reason for attracting a large number of outstation students. The city is well connected by Indian Railways (Eastern Railway) with direct route to New Delhi and India’s some of the most important cities. Many luxury buses also ply regularly through Durgapur and Kolkata. The National Highway (NH#2) passes through Durgapur.
The well built, well lit roads add to the strong infrastructure of Durgapur. At the present day, Durgapur city is evolving as one of the major attractions (after Kolkata) in West Bengal, not only because of its excellent infrastructure, but availability of all modern entertainment and health avenues, like shopping malls, multiplexes, five star hotels, specialty hospitals, etc.
The nearest airport Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport was inaugurated on 19th September 2013 and is domestic airport located at Andal near Durgapur. The airport is 15 KMs from the city of Durgapur and 25 KMs from Asansol. The hinterland of the airport comprises Burdwan, Bankura, Bishnupur, Purulia, Suri, Bolpur, Shantiniketan, Rampurhat in South Bengal and Dhanbad and Bokaro in Jharkhand. Set up in collaboration with Changi International Airport, Singapore the airport has been built over 650 acres at a cost of Rs 600 crore. At present the flights from the airport connects with Kolkata and New Delhi.
The airport is India’s first operational private Greenfield airport. The development of the airport was a long standing need for the people of the Asansol-Durgapur region which shall immensely benefit the industrial belt of this region.
