Raichak

Raichak রায়চক
Town
Raichak Location in West Bengal, India
Coordinates:
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	South 24 Parganas
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Website	s24pgs.gov.in

Raichak is a small town in South 24 Parganas district of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the bank of the Hooghly river, some 50 km south of Kolkata. It is about 15 km from Diamond Harbour.

History

The Dutch had built a fort at Raichak, which is on a river bend, in the 18th century. Following the withdrawal of the Dutch from India, the fort was left to ruin. The place became important with the development of Haldia. Raichak acts as a link between Haldia and Calcutta.

Economy

Tourism

The fort gradually fell into ruins and was converted to a lively 5-star hotel, Raichak on Ganges, formerly Radisson Fort.

The hotel has a scenic view of the river. Those who are more adventurous can make also use the Raichak jetty or the nearby Nurpur jetty and take a ferry across the river to go to Kukrahati in East Midnapore district or Gadiara in Howrah district.

Proposed bridge

The proposal for a bridge across the Hooghly River from Raichak to Kukrahati, which will connect Haldia to Kolkata, has been hanging fire for many years. In earlier years, it was thought that the 2 km long cable bridge costing over Rs. 3,000 crore would be built with Malaysian support. Thereafter, the Japanese came into the photograph. Subsequently, the Japanese were replaced by the Indonesian Salim Group.

The construction of the Eastern Link Highway, linking Barasat with Raichak, which would be 100 km long and 100 m wide and spread over 2,500 acres (10 km²), is also on the anvil. The road will ultimately terminate at Nandigram. The projects would be implemented by New Kolkata International Development Private Ltd, a special purpose company that has been promoted by the Salim Group, the Universal Success Group and Unitech.

External links

Raichak travel guide from Wikivoyage