Durgapur

Durgapur (/dʊərɡɑːpʊər/ or /-ɡæ-/) is a city in the Burdwan District in the state of West Bengal India. Durgapur is the third largest city in West Bengal in terms of both area (154.20 km² / 59.54 sq. miles) and population (5,66,937) (2011 census & excluding the urban agglomeration). The well-planned city of Durgapur is the second planned city of India after Chandigarh being designed by Joseph Allen Stein and Benjamin Polk. This highly industrialized city has the only operational dry (inland) port in Eastern India. It is also one of the six Municipal Corporations in West Bengal and the headquarter of the Durgapur subdivision consisting of the Durgapur Municipal Corporation and five community development blocs: Durgapur–Faridpur, Galsi–I, Kanksa, Andal and Pandabeswar. The five blocks contain 36 gram panchayats and 30 census towns. Distances from Kolkata: By Road 170 km via NH-2, by Rail 158 km and by Flight 163 km. Durgapur Urban Agglomeration includes: Durgapur (Municipal Corp.), Bamunara (Census Town) and Arrah (Census Town) and ranks 4th (in terms of population) among other urban agglomerations in West Bengal. Durgapur is also one of the three Y (for the purpose of HRA [House Rent Allowance] calculation) class cities in West Bengal.

National Institute of Technology, Durgapur

The National Institute of Technology Durgapur also known as NIT Durgapur or NITD, is a public engineering college located in Durgapur, West Bengal, India. Formerly known as the Regional Engineering College, Durgapur (REC Durgapur), it is among the first 8 Regional Engineering Colleges established in India and was founded in 1960 by the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. Today it is one of the 30 National Institutes of Technology in India and has been recognised as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India under the National Institutes of Technology Act, 2007.

History

In order to serve the growing demand for trained technical manpower, the Government of India started 14 RECs between 1959 and 1965 (NITs located at Allahabad, Bhopal, Calicut, Durgapur, Jamshedpur, Jaipur, Kurukshetra, Nagpur, Rourkela, Srinagar, Surathkal, Surat, Tiruchirappalli, and Warangal).

The National Institute of Technology, Durgapur (formerly Regional Engineering College, Durgapur) was established in 1960 under an Act of the Parliament of India as one of the eight such colleges, as a co-operative venture between the Government of India and the Government of West Bengal aimed to function as a pace setter for engineering education in the country and to foster national integration. It is a fully funded premier Technological Institution of the Government of India and is administered by an autonomous Board of Governors. The college was given autonomy in financial and administrative matters to achieve rapid development.