Local Bodies in Kolkata

To achieve the objective of satisfying the administrative needs of the citizens, the civic administration of the city of Kolkata  is divided into four broad categories namely:

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC)

The main objective of Kolkata Municipal Corporation is to provide efficient, effective, equitable, citizen responsive, financially sustainable, transparent and quality service to its citizens.

The vision of KMC is stated below:

• Providing of efficient and effective service to the citizens in a professional, economical, timely, useful and helpful manner.
• Equitable, assuring service to all its citizens including the vulnerable and deprived groups in a fair, just and reasonable manner.
• Citizen responsive service by developing a sense of involvement and participation in all its stakeholders by pro-actively addressing their concerns and providing complete  satisfaction of the people.
• Become financially sustainable, reducing the KMC’s dependence on state funds by optimizing and efficiently managing its revenues, and
• Providing an accountable and transparent civic administration for the benefit of external stakeholders as well as internal employees
  

Kolkata Police Administration

The present organizational structure of Kolkata police goes to the British period when the city was known as Calcutta. However, evidences prove that the police department also prevailed during the Mughal rule. 

The Watch and Ward functions were entrusted to a "Kotwal" or town prefect who had 45 peons under him, armed with traditional weapons like staves and spears to deal with the miscreants.

The mission of present Kolkata Police Department is mentioned below:

• Obedience to the Constitution of India
• Upholding dignity of the citizens.
• Compassion & Fairness in approach.
• Upholding personal and institutional integrity
• Enforce the rule of law impartially and honestly so as to provide a secure environment to all sections of society, especially, the vulnerable and under privileged, including women, children, senior citizens and minorities and maintain ethnic and communal harmony keeping in mind the democratic and secular ideals of the constitution;
• Follow a people friendly approach.
• Upgrade professional skills and human resources in general, to enable the police force to prevent crime and maintain public order.
• Enable the department to move towards the goal of bringing peace and progress with the support of the citizens in order to emerge as a true public service department.
  

Kolkata District

The history behind the name of Kolkata is rooted back to ancient times when it was called as Kalikata founded by the merger of three villages namely Kalikata, Sutanuti and Govindapur before the arrival of the British.  Spoken as "Kolkata" or "Kolikata" in Bengali, the official name was changed from "Calcutta" to "Kolkata" in 2001, reflecting the Bengali way of speaking.

The city of Kolkata comes under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation and covers an area of 185 sq. kms. However the geographic boundary of Kolkata Metropolitan Area covers the total area of 1750 sq. kms comprising the 157 postal area in 2006.  

The metropolitan area lies under the control of 38 local municipalities. The boundaries of urban area is expanded to 72 cities and 527 towns and villages. The suburban area comprises of districts from North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia.

The north and south boundaries are divided into North, Central and South Kolkata respectively. The area of north Kolkata almost comprises the oldest part of the city designed by the architects of 19th century. 

South Kolkata can be considered as the modern Kolkata as it developed and came into existence after India’s Independence and has developed the well infrastructured colonies such as Ballygunge, Alipore and New Alipore.  

Kolkata Metropolitan Area

The Kolkata Metropolitan Area basically involves the area covered under urban boundaries.  Kolkata Metropolitan Area comprises of :

1. Three Municipal Corporations namely Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation and Chandanagar Municipal Corporation.
2. Municipal areas of 38 municipalities.
3. 72 cities
4. 527 towns and villages.