Gaighata

Gaighata (গাইঘাটা) is a town with a police station, a community development block, and an assembly constituency in Bangaon subdivision of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The area in a rural setting is facing the problem of arsenic contamination of groundwater.

Geography

Gaighata is located at . It has an average elevation of 6 metres (20 feet).

Transport

Gaighata is on NH 35 from Barasat to Bangaon and the Bangladesh border. A privately operated express bus (No. 250) from Esplanade to Bangaon goes via Gaighata. Gaighata now has good connectivity with all surrounding villages by means of autorikshas and trekars. One can easilly reach Ranaghat and Basirha by bus.

Demographics

In the 2001 census, Gaighata community development block had a population of 300,418 out of which 154,217 were males and 146,201 were females.

Administration

Gaighata is an intermediate panchayat (local self government) under 24 Parganas North Zilla Parishad. Village panchayats under Gaighata intermediate panchayat are – Chandpara, Dharampur I & II, Duma, Fulsara, Ichapur I & II, Jaeswar I & II, Jhaudanga, Ramnagar, Shimulpur and Sutia.

Politics

Jyotipriya Mallick of AITC won the Gaighata assembly seat in 2006 and 2001 defeating Manmatha Roy of CPI(M) on both occasions. In 1996, Manmatha Roy of CPI(M) defeated Prabir Banerjee of INC. In 1991, Prabir Banejee of INC defeated Kanti Biswas of CPI (M). Kanti Biswas of CPI (M) defeated Radha Prasad Biswas of INC in 1987, Mira Mitra of INC in 1982, and Radha Prasad Biswas of INC in 1977.

Gaighata is part of Barasat (Lok Sabha constituency).

Healthcare

Gaighata is one of the areas where groundwater is affected by arsenic contamination. According to the findings of the Arsenic Dushan Protirodh Committee (ADPC), a national-level NGO which aims to spread awareness of arsenic and prevent arsenic poisoning through water, found at least 70 tube-wells were reportedly supplying water highly contaminated with arsenic. The ADPC tested water from wells across Gaighata block in North 24-Parganas as well as urine samples of 100 school children.

The possibility of a low cost river water treatment plant utilizing water from Yamuna-Ichhamati at Gighata has been considered. However, this is not considered feasible because the river is highly polluted, costs would considerably increased because of installation of chemical treatment plant to remove pollutants, and the volume of water in the river in summer season is not sufficient. Project Well, a NGO, is implementing a self-supporting community-based mitigation program in Gaighata to provide arsenic safe water by constructing 20 modified conventional dugwells along with education on water related health effects to change behaviour.