Sona Chura is a village and a

Gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bod ...

Nandigram I Nandigram I is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Haldia subdivision of Purba Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Historical background The people of Nandigram, along with others in ...

CD Block in

Purba Medinipur district Purba Medinipur (English: ''East Medinipur'', alternative spelling ''Midnapore'') district is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the southernmost district of Medinipur division – one of the five administrative d ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

History

Nandigram movement

Sona Chura was one of the six gram panchayats mentioned in the notification issued for land acquisition of a proposed

chemical hub In India, Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIRs), originally known as Mega-Chemical Industrial Estates (MCIES) or chemical hubs, are special economic zones intended to facilitate production of petroleum and petrochemical ...

in 2006. Protests led by

Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee ('Committee against Land Evictions') was an organisation in West Bengal, India, formed to oppose the set-up of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the rural area of Nandigram. It formed an important role in resisting ...

snowballed into a major movement and repression followed. Amongst the other affected areas were: Bhangabera, Saudkhali, Maheshpur, Gokulnagar and Adhikaripara. The location of the proposed chemical hub was later shifted to

Nayachar Nayachar is an island in the Hooghly River, off Haldia in Purba Medinipur in the Indian state of West Bengal. The island inhabited by few fishermen, has shot into the larger public view as the proposed site of the major chemical hub initiat ...

and the proposal was finally scrapped.

Geography

Location

Sona Chura is located at .

Martyrs Memorial

Nandigram Andolan Sahid Smarane is a 130 ft tower that stands as a memorial to those who lost their lives at Sona Chura in 2007. It was built by Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee in 2014. There are pictures of 21 people who died, 14 of them died on 14 March 2007 when police fired upon a procession headed for

Nandigram Nandigram is a census town in the Nandigram I Community Development Block of the Haldia subdivision in the Purba Medinipur district of the Indian state of West Bengal. In 2007, the West Bengal government allowed the Salim Group to set up a che ...

from Sona Chura, 15 km away. Another 10 people disappeared from Tekhali.

Bhangabera Bridge

The Bhangabera Bridge, across the Talpati canal, near Sona Chura (3.3 km away), is located at . Talpati is a drainage canal which allows river waters to come inwards at times of tides and floods and helps in irrigation. Talpati canal served as a ‘boundary’ between

and

Khejuri II Khejuri II is a Community Development Block that forms an administrative division in Contai subdivision of Purba Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Khijri Khijri (or Khejuri) today is a small village about 125 kilom ...

CD Blocks. When the two CD Blocks were under control of two opposing forces – Khejuri under CPI (M) and Nandigram under Trinamool Congress, Bhangabera Bridge formed a sort of a check point with flags of the two political parties fluttering on either side.

Urbanisation

79.19% of the population of Haldia subdivision live in the rural areas. Only 20.81% of the population live in the urban areas, and that is the highest proportion of urban population amongst the four subdivisions in Purba Medinipur district. Note: The map above presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Demographics

As per the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

Sona Chura had a total population of 5,736. There were 2,974 (52%) males and 2,762 (48%) females. Population below 6 years was 736. The number of literates were 4,239 (84.78% of the population above 6 years.

References

Villages in Purba Medinipur district {{PurbaMedinipur-geo-stub