Kestopur (officially, Krishnapur) is a neighborhood of Kolkata in North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is under Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).[1]

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Kestopur
Neighbourhood of Kolkata
Krishnapur
Kestopur bus stop
Kestopur Location in Kolkata
Coordinates: 22.5955°N 88.4357°E / 22.5955; 88.4357
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	North 24 Parganas
Region	Kolkata metropolitan area
City	Kolkata
Metro Station	Karunamoyee
Mouza No.	17
Government
• Type	Municipal Corporation
• Body	Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	700059, 700101, 700102
Telephone code	+91 33
Vehicle registration	WB
BMC wards	22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Lok Sabha constituency	Dum Dum
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Rajarhat Gopalpur
Website	north24parganas.nic.in

Kestopur lies on Kazi Nazrul Islam Sarani, more commonly known as VIP Road, which connects the area with Dumdum/Kolkata Airport. The community is made up of people of various religions from different states. Kestopur has over the years become an area of great prominence because of its proximity to areas like Salt Lake and New Town. VIP Road-Kestopur crossing was one of the busiest of the Kazi Nazrul Islam Sarani. However the construction of a flyover along with subway at the crossing (the subway was opened on 24 June 2014 and the flyover on 8 March 2015) helps in decongesting the traffic at the junction and nearby areas.[2]

Education

• St. Francis Academy
• The Assembly Of God Church School
• Krishnapur JNMC High School
• Neli Sengupta Bhavan & Deshapriya Balika Bidya Mandir
• Vaishno devi academy

Transport

VIP Road passes along the west boundary of Kestopur. Many buses ply through 'Kestopur More' on VIP Road. The only bus (Private bus) which enters into Kestopur is 12C/2 (Aquatica-Howrah Station), which runs along Thakdari Road (Krishnapur Main Road).^{[citation needed]}

On the eastern side of VIP Road, Kestopur Main Road serves as an important connector for New Town, Narkelbagan and Saltlake Sector V. On the eastern side, Prafullakanan road serves heavily populated areas of Dumdum park, Shyamnagar, which terminates at Jessore Road.

Finally, after a delay of 15 long years, the Salt Lake - Kestopur gap was bridged. On 25 September 2022, the much-awaited Salt Lake - Kestopur Bridge was inaugurated alleviating the inconvenience of the people by reducing the distance between Salt Lake and Kestopur to a mere 36 meters. Previously, residents of Kestopur had to enter Salt Lake through either of the two ways, Lake Town Bailey Bridge or Newtown and both of them were time-consuming lengthy routes. The bridge has been opened between AK Block of Salt Lake and Samarpally of Kestopur. This new facility is especially aiding motorists moving towards the airport as the travel time has got substantially cut down. The 36-metre-long bridge has two lanes along with footpaths on both sides to facilitate vehicles from Salt Lake to enter VIP Road and vice versa without having to move all the way towards Ultadanga or Chinar Park. Residents living in the Sector II area of Salt Lake as well as those commuting from Baguiati and the airport will benefit from this new development. Previously, all airport-bound vehicles from Salt Lake's Sector I and Sector II areas had to move towards Ultadanga and then take the VIP Road to move towards the airport.[3]

History

The Rajrajeswari Mandir located in Barowaritala, Kestopur is over 350 years old. Every year in April, the tremendously popular Mela is held.

Time-honorned Emmanuel Church - The history of Emmanuel Church is an interesting one. Though founded in 1829 by a LMS Missionary Rev. Gogerly. the decision to have a church built was taken up way back in 1806 at the vestry of Union Chapel (Lenin Sarani). In the same year -1806 some Portuguese merchants, having almost escaped from the jaws of death due to heavy wind while sailing through in the river Vidyadhari, came to Kestopur. Upon entering the Kestopur canal they, with the help of local people, chose an elevated land to stay in safety. As there was no place of worship for them, they built a small cottage church to express their gratitude to the Providence and for worship. Subsequently a generous Hindu landlord by the name of Kalachand Mondal came forward and donated some land for the construction of the church building. Thus this historical church in Kestopur Mission Bazaar, Kolkata had a humble beginning. The credit goes to Portuguese merchants who put up the cottage for worship first.

Police station

• Newtown PS [4]
• Bidhannagar PS[4]
• Baguiati PS[4]

References