INFORMATION ABOUT HALDIA

Haldia Development Authority ceaselessly work towards development of tourism by which, within a short time, Haldia region will become one of the most preferred tourist destination in West Bengal. Haldia and its surroundings places like Tamluk, Mahishadal, Geonkhali, Maynagarh etc. have great tourism potential. Scenic beauty of rivers in Haldia and Geonkhali, old palaces and temples of Mahishadal or age old Tamralipta Palace, Bargabhima Temple and land of great martyr of Kshudiram Bose, Matangini Hazra etc. all are here for different category of tourists. One night and two days time is enough to cover most of the important plac-es in this circuit. You will not face any trouble for accommodation and transportation. Roads connectivity and condition is upto the mark for your hassle free movements. Haldia - Mahishadal - Tamluk is an unexplored tourist circuit - waiting for your visit.

HALDIA TOURISM

The Places of Interest and Sight Seeing



• Smriti Soudha : When you moving from Mechada to Haldia, at Nimtouri, on the left side you will see four storied yellow colour building named Smriti Soudha which is collection of photographs, paintings, statues etc. of freedom movement era. A huge library consists with rare books is here. This Smiti Saudha was inaugurated in 1986 by Sri Binoy Chaudhury, MIC, Govt. of West Bengal



• Mahishadal Rajbari :Janardan Upadhyay (Garg) of Uttar Prades, came to Bengal for business purpose in sixteenth century AD and he bought a huge estate here. Annual income of the estate was nearly 7 (seven) lakh rupees at that point of time. There are two palaces in the Mahishadal Raj estate. Old palace was built around 1840 AD. Famous Goplajew Temple is situated in the courtyard of this palace. Presently no one resides in this palace but heritage ambience of the site is worth looking into. The new palace was built in the year 1937 and present the family members are residing here. The ground floor rooms have a good collection of stuffed bodies of animals and painting, furniture etc. These can be seen on request.



• Rakshit Bari :Just beside the famous Bargabhima Temple the Rakshit bari of Tamluk is another temple for Indian Freedom fighting movements. The first martyr of the freedom fighting movement Kshudiram Bosu used to come here for body building, playing stick and to take part in meetings of freedom fighters. Kshudiram got inspiration, knowledge power to fight against British from here. This gymnasium was started by Surendar nath Rakshit. Other famous freedom fighters who are associated with Rakshit Bari are Jadugopal and Dhanagopal Mukhopadhya, Purba Chandra Sen, Ali Samser, Banarasi Adhikari, Ganesh Das etc. Rakshit Bari, Bargabhima Temple and Hamiltan School all are within few yards so one can see all three within short time



• Matanginis Statue :The statue of Matangini Hazra erected near the Tamluk Jail is one of the greatest place in the history of Indian freedom fighting movement. In 1942, when Mahatma Gandhi called for non cooperation movement, Matangini devoted herself in that movement. When, she along with group of activists proceeded to Tamluk jail, police fired on them and Matangini died on the spot carrying National flag of India. In memory of that incident the statue was erected in the same spot where Matangini took her last breath in 1942.



• Hamilton School :The Tamluk Hamilton School is the second oldest institution in district of Medinipur. In 1852, this school was founded by Mr. Robert Charles Hamilton, who was a salt merchant but Mr. Hamilton was a philanthropist, and so his name can be compared with Mr. David Hare, an immortal name in educational history of Bengal. This school produced a lot of jewels, including Ajoy Kr. Mukherjee ex-chief minister of West Bengal, Sushil Kr. Dhara, Biswanath Mukherjee, Srish Ch. Bose, Dr. Jadugopal Mukherjee etc. But this school is famous due to the Kshudiram Bose, perhaps the first martyr, who sacrificed his life to free the nation from the hands of British rule. He was a student of this school from 1900 to 1903.



• Moynagarh :Moynagarh has been a beautiful landscape from its begining. The natural beauty and ecological balance are still charming. Dipped in the lush green with placid water all around this picturistique environment is very much like an attractive dreamland and more enchanting in the moonlit night. Moynagarh is the right example of religious fraternity, the Hindu temples (vaisnavas, saivas, shaktas), the Buddhist shrines (Holy place of lord Dharma), Mazhar -sharif of the Muslim saint (sufi Manikpir), the mausoleum of the Mahanta (sripat Gopiballavpur) are reverberated with solemn hymns of prays of thousand devotees of different religious faiths. All these exist side by side. Moynagarh has been carrying on a long tradition of cosmpolitan communal harmony and it had been the mixture of Utkal and Bangal culture.



• Gopaljew Temple :Situated inside the estateof Mahishadal this temple was built by Rani Janaki in the year 1778 main deity of this huge tall temple is lord Krishna or Gopalji, Temple built in Nabaratna type of architecture. In the compound there are two Shiva temple, Jagannath temple and a Natmandir, two nahabatkhana in two side of entrance gate gives a majestic look to the temple complex. Rathajatra is the main festival here.



• Ramjew Temple :This temple also founded by Rani Janaki Devi, there were two rama, two sita, one lakshamn and hanuman idol in the temple which are stolen in 1967. Presently idol made by brass, installed here. Main temple is approx 90 ft., tall. Except ramjew temple, there are, lord shiva temple, and panchanada temple. Behind this temple you can see huge 'Dubey Palace' which is known as Dewan House.



• Tamluk Rajbari :Welcome to the doorstep of silent witness of 2500 years of History, culture, Heritage and ups and downs of Tamluk - Tamluk Rajbari (Palace). Believed to be built in the 5th century BC by the Mayuradha dynasty. Mythology says the king was present in the sayambar sabha (Marriage Ceremoni) of draupadi of Mahabharata. Though the palace is in bad shape but still you can accept its impressiveness. This palace had vital role during independent era. Mahatma Ghandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose came here to lead the movement against British.



• Bargabhima Temple :The Bhargabhima Temple of Tamluk has the old icon of the Hindu Goddes 'Tara' which is believed to be another face of Goddes Kali, Mythology says that Devi Bargabhima was creator of Tamralipta, once a great port of ancient India. This Temple was built by Maharajas of Mayur dynasty in 5th Century B.C. Built up of three folds walls, the 60 ft. tall main temple is believed be sculpted by God Viswakarma. Some historian was also opined that it was earlier a Bouddha Bihar at the place of the Temple.



• Natshal (Mahisadal) :Mahisadal Natshal is a place for natural beauty, serenity calmness and place of mind. In the year 1917. Swami Premananda, one of the direct disciple of Sri Sri Ramkrishna Paramhansa Dev, started Ramkrishna movement here. Ramkrishna Mission Temples foundation stone was laid by Srimad Swami Shyama Nandji in the year 1927 At present beautiful saffron colour Temple surrounded by picturistic Ashram take us to Tapaban's of ancient India. Natshal at the bank of river Rupnarayan is also well known because from here various items was found which are older than Harappan Civilisation.



• Kukrahati :Kukrahati is the gateway to the port city, Haldia. Situated at the side of the famous hooghly river, kukrahati is the easiest and the most comfortable and least time con-suming access point for Haldia from Kolkata. Ferry services operated by Haldia Municipality from Roychak is at a regular interval of 30 mins. and takes only 15 mins. to reach Kukrahati. If you are lucky, you might come across the sight of big ships waiting or crossing through the river front. The beautiful river, embarrassing the dip blue sky, will steal away your heart as you will approach the ferry ghat. Bus services of Haldia Municipality and private operators are operating from Kukrahati ferry ghat for Haldia. Private taxi services are also available . The friendly, warm and fun-loving people of Kukrahati will always be there to help you if you face any trouble.



• Balughata River Side :Balughata - A quite, calm and serene riverine beach on long stretched Haldi river-bank created by mother nature. The sea breeze from the Bay of Bengal plays eternally on the waterfront rippling the surface of the backwaters. The ripples of the flowing river changes its color with the changing shades of the sun. The red sun-rising and sun-setting sky and silver white sky during noon gives a clear reflection on the water and beautify the reviring. While sitting by the river-side in evening, you will find flocks of birds returning to their nests at the backdrop of a radiant hue of the setting sun. One can enjoy the gift of nature with link-minded companion may it be a human soul, or Rabindranath, or a bunch of cassetted songs.



• Geolkhali :Situated at the confluence of the three big rivers namely Damodor, Hooghly and Rupnarayan is Geonkhali - a wonderfull place which is a rare of the rarest places to visit in west Bengal. With water stretching on the three sides, the lush-green Geonkhali is a perfect place for holidays in week-ends which is not far from the maddening crowd of Kolkata. Specially for honeymooners, Geonkhali is an ideal place to visit. You can enjoy the peaceful and serene atmosphere and enjoy the river sight in its full bloom. You can walk along the river bank in the evening and enjoy the cool breeze and the beauty of the silver waves. Haldia Development Authority has opened 'Tribeni Sangam' tourist complex where a tourist can get all the modern facilities starting from A/C, non A/C rooms, cafeteria and conferance room. At the top there is a cafeteria from where the tourists can get the panoramic view of the river while having food. Adjacent to the tourist complex at Geonkhali, the Forest Department is developing a an amusement park. One can also visit Geonkhali Water Treatment Plant with special permission.



• Haldia Dock :Commissioned under the Kolkata Port Trust in 1977, Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) is a comprehensive system of composite cargo handling facilities with particular emphasis on bulk cargo. The port has been a catalyst in emergence of Haldia as the industrial hub of West Bengal and its sustained growth had put Kolkata Port Trust in the 4th rank among major Indian ports in the year 1999-2000. The port now handles annually about 21 million tonnes of traffic, which is almost two times of that a Kolkata Port. This includes 15.89 million tonnes of import and 4.80 tonnes of export. Haldia Port currently has three Oil Jetties with and overall capacity of 16 million tonnes to handle crude POL products. Haldia Dock is not only the main gateway to the industrial hub of Haldia city, but also th the entire state of West Bengal and India as well.



• Nayachar :A stranger can find Nayachar to be muddy island on the Hoogly riverbed over a 40 Sq. Km. The State Government has already recognised the potential and policy initiative has been taken to give the activity a major thrust in the state. It was identified 'Nayachar'; the island near Haldia now renamed for establishing the world's largest prawn production centre. But the fact is that it has now become the most popular destination in the vicinity of this port city. Take a streamer ride or hire boat, within half and hour, you will be in a place of complete serenity. Enjoy the cool outing at Halida. Kolkata Port Trust has built a Guest House to welcome you all at the lonely island. The acquaculture project is to come up at Nayachar, near Haldia which is also to be developed as a tourist centre.

ACCOMODATION/STAY OPTIONS IN HALDIA

• HOTEL EAST COAST
• HOTEL SAGAR


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