Rishra is an Tier Two Industrial Town and has a municipality

Municipality

A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...

 in Hooghly district

Hooghly District

Hooghly district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal in India. It can alternatively be spelt Hoogli or Hugli. The district is named after the Hooghly River.The headquarters of the district are at Chinsura...

 in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of West Bengal

West Bengal

West Bengal is a state in the eastern region of India and is the nation's fourth-most populous. It is also the seventh-most populous sub-national entity in the world, with over 91 million inhabitants. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's GDP...

. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority

Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority

Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority is the statutory planning and development authority for the Kolkata Metropolitan Area in the state of West Bengal, India. The organisation was previously known as Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority and still retains the previous logo...

.

Geography

Rishra is a town surrounded by River Hooghly in the East, Delhi Highway in the West, Shrirampur(Serampore), Sub-Division town in Hooghly District in the North and Konnagar, also in the district Hooghly in the South. Rishra can be divided into two parts mainly which are RishraEast (Eastern side of the Rishra Station bound by River Hooghly) and Rishra west(Western side of the Rishra Station extended upto Delhi High way). Rishra Station is located in the middle of the town.

Demographics

India census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Rishra had a population of 513,432. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Rishra has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 69%. In Rishra, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.The population is a mix of native Bengalees ,Biharies, Oriyas and Marwaries. It can boast of being multicultural, multiethnic in its composition and have learned to cohabit peacefully being an old industrialist township with one of the oldest largest Jute Mills in India. It has equal numbers of temples , mosques, Churches and even Gurdwaras. People of Rishra are sports loving people and nurture young ones to excel in sports. Football is one of the most loved sports in Rishra . It has a special place in the hearts and minds of Rishrians.

Culture

Though Hindus are in the majoroty Rishra always been a multicultural , multifaceted township and had been in the news for celebrating almost all religious festivals of allthe major ethnic communities with equal enthusiasms. Many Social organisations formed by the residing marwadis are doing various social and religious works the organisations includes, Marwadi Yuva Manch, Rishra Sevak Sangh, Rishra Jagaran Mandal, Hanuman Bhakt Mandal, Shyam Bhakt Mandal Shri Satya Sai Seva Samiti Etc..Durga Puja , kALI-Puja,Id, X-Mas , Muharams and almost all religious customs of all the major communities are celebrated through out the year.However lately amongst the attractions and festivities of Rishra is Jagaddhatri puja, the invocation of Goddess Jagadhatri in the month of Oct-Nov is being celebrated largely all over. There is also the annual Rishra Fair that is held each year in the month of January and held with much fanfare. Diwali and Holi are two major fesivals celebrated with great spirit by all the respective caste and communities.
Rishrans enjoy a vibrant community life and has more linguistic as well as religious diversity than most other towns in West Bengal with a healthy mix of Bengalis, Biharis and Marwaris.

Education

It has some good schools like Mahesh Sri Ramkrishna Ashram,Rishra High School (established by Babu Pramathanath Dawand Haridhan Daw in memory of their father Babu Hem Chandra Daw), Righra Girls' School,Rishra Vani Bharati,Vivekananda English Academy,Rishra Vidhyapith Hindi High school (Twelve Branches in Rishra) and which are considered as some of the best schools in the district. Other majors schools are J.N.LORATO, Swatantra Vidyalaya, Stepping Stone School, St. Thomas Academy,St.Johns, St.Marry's, KidZee, Pyari mohan Das, Bidhan Chandra College, Sun Shine and there is only one Urdu medium high school as Rishra Anjuman High School etc.

Rishra has the Highest density of Chartered Accountants in India.

The population is a complete mix of Bengalis, Marwadis, Gujarati, Biharis and few others.It is also home to a lot of Marwadi entrepreneurs who daily commute to Calcutta using the local trains to carry on their activities. Sometimes it is jocularly commented that if you visit Rishra you will be able to see all the classes and communities of people in India, perhaps the main reason for the vibrancy of Rishra.

Economy

It is situated on the bank of river Hooghly. It is a major industrial area having factories like Hastings Jute Mill, Jayashree Textiles,Aditya birla insulators ( A unit of Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited ), ICI, Hindustan Glass, Kusum Oil Products Ltd.,Berger Paints, PMC Rubber chemicals,, Shaw Wallace, Hindustan Glass, Phosphate Fertilisers, Laxmi Cotton Mills,Bhushan Steels,Green Water Technologies Pvt.Ltd, R.S.ISPAT,Hastings Jute Mills,Wellington Jute Mill, Fort William Industries Etc.

Rishra, as most of the Hooghly district, is also a sign of the decline of the Jute industry in Bengal after the partition of India in 1947. Rishra was home to the first jute mill in India under the British rule(the Hastings Jute Mill).

Many nationalised and private banks opened their branches in Rishra, to name a few-

State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Uco Bank, United Bank of India, Hooghly District Cooperative Bank Limited, Punjab National Bank etc.

ATMs - 3+1 Axis Bank, 2 ICICI Bank, SBI, Standered Chartered Bank, HDFC Bank ,United Bank Of India

Shopping : Khadim's, The Mobile Store, Monginis, Samsung Plaza, Vodafone store,Rani Market,Mini Market,BIG BEN etc.

Rishra is economically very well developed.

Civic affairs

The municipality is now being governed by Congress Party leader Adv. Shankar Prasad Shaw who is the present Chairman of the Rishra Municipality.

Adv. Shankar Prasad Shaw became the chairman within just 15 years of his career in politics by replacing CPM leader MR. Dilip Sarkar ,who was in seat for 35 consecutive years.He is also a renowned crime lawyer.
Great problem of Road Communication from G.T Road(Rishra) to Delhi Road(Rishra) through Panchayat Area after crossing Municipal area. Road condition is very narrow and rough. Rishra have no multispeciality Hospital with 24hrs well maintained emergency. Rishra have no DISASTER Management Plan like Industrial Gas leakage, Industrial Fire. There is no proper land/road space, building ratio for highrise building.