Atlas of Kolkata

Kolkata, the gateway not only to eastern India, but also to eastern Asia, is the capital city of the state of West Bengal. It is a city of contrasts. It is described as the city of palaces as well as city of shanties, city of joy and city of nightnare. The city possesses symbolic cantilever Haora Bridge and ultra modern Vidyasagar Setu, under ground metro rail and heritage tramway. The traffic moves fastest along the Eastern Bye Pass whereas hand drawn rickshaws negotiate along narrow but very busy lanes and bye lanes of Barabazar area. Once the city was the capital of the British India. It is a lively city, and a centre of commerce, art and culture. Moreover, Kolkata is most populous city of entire India. We have heard so much about Calcutta, now Kolkata, through book, novels, films and descriptions. How this city is portrayed in the form of maps will definitely be interesting to some of the Kolkata lovers and visitors. On the other hand, it will also be amazing to see how political, cultural and social institutions important some times in the history of the city have compromised or adjusted on the landscape. The objective is to provide a different but realistic perspective of this great city. With this background, Kolkata is always in the priority list of NATMO publication. The city has been mapped by the Organisation in various formats and scales. The urban land use of the Municipal Corporation of Kolkata, showing all 141 wards has been mapped at a scale of 1:25,000. The other map represents the Kolkata Metropolitan District as a whole. Moreover, the `Atlas of the City of Culcutta and its Environs’ depicts the evolution of the city in phases. NATMO’s latest contribution for the City of Kolkata is large format atlas in a book form in which an attempt has been made to incorporate the city’s landmarks in detail including the land use pattern, communication network, available infrastructural facilities and also amenities. The scale of these maps is 1 : 5,000, thus there is enough scope for detail depiction of information. Apart from maps, the book contains exhaustive index regarding street names and important landmarks within the city of Kolkata. The basic mapping task for this particular project was completed at a scale of 1:4,000, but for convenience of reproduction, the output scale has been preferred as 1:5,000. The base maps were prepared by interpreting large format aerial photographs. High resolution satellite imagery are also consulted as and when required. Exhaustive fieldwork has been carried out to incorporate current information.