Barasat

Barasat is a city and municipality of North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, India, the headquarters of the Barasat Sadar subdivision and part of the area covered by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. The English Wikipedia article records that a commander of the zamindar Pratapaditya, Sankar Chakraborty, established himself here in 1600 and that Hazarat Ekdil Shah, a social reformer whose tomb at Kazipara is a pilgrimage site, moved to the town in 1700. Under the British Raj East India Company officials made it a weekend retreat, Warren Hastings built a villa here, and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee served as its first Indian deputy magistrate. The 2011 census counted 278,435 residents, the average elevation is 11 metres, and the climate is tropical, dry in winter and humid in summer.