Sonatala is a

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

in the English Bazar

CD block In India, a Community development block (CD block) or simply Block is a sub-division of Tehsil, administratively earmarked for planning and development. The area is administered by a Block Development Officer (BDO), supported by several technic ...

in the

Malda Sadar subdivision Malda Sadar subdivision is an administrative subdivision of the Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Malda Sadar subdivision covers both the Barind Tract and the Diara, two of the three physiographic subregions of the dis ...

Malda district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. It lies 347 km (215 miles) north of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this district. ...

in the state of

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 ...

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 ...

Geography

Location

Sonatala is located at .

Area overview

The area shown in the adjoining map is the physiographic sub-region known as the ''diara''. It "is a relatively well drained flat land formed by the

fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...

deposition of newer

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

." The most note-worthy feature is the Farakka Barrage across the Ganges. The area is a part of the

, which is an overwhelmingly rural region, but the area shown in the map has pockets of

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly t ...

with 17 census towns, concentrated mostly in the

Kaliachak I Kaliachak I is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Malda Sadar subdivision of Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Gauda and Pandua Gauda was once the "capital of the ancient bhukti or pol ...

CD block. The bank of the

Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

between Bhutni and

Panchanandapur Panchanandapur (also known as Pagla Ghat) is the largest village in the eastern side of Ganga River in the Kaliachak II CD block in the Malda Sadar subdivision of Malda district in the state of West Bengal, India. History Panchanandapur is loc ...

(both the places are marked on the map), is the area worst hit by left bank erosion, a major problem in the Malda area. The ruins of Gauda, capital of several empires, is located in this area. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the area. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Demographics

According to 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 ...

, Sonatala had a total population of 10,589, of which 5,309 (50%) were males and 5,280 (50%) were females. Population in the age range 0–6 years was 1,450. The total number of literate persons in Sonatala was 5,585 (61.11% of the population over 6 years).

Infrastructure

According to the ''District Census Handbook, Maldah'', 2011, Sonatala covered an area of 3.6791 km². The protected water-supply involved river infiltration gallery, tap water from treated sources, hand pump. It had 1,329 domestic electric connections. Among the medical facilities it had 1 dispensary/ health centre, 1 family welfare centre, 3 medicine shops. Among the educational facilities, it had 6 primary schools, other school facilities at Niamatpur 1.5 km away, the nearest general degree college at Malda 12 km away. It had 2 non-formal education centres (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan). Among the social, cultural and recreational facilities it had 1 public library, 1 reading room. It produced

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

, mango pickle. It had branch offices of 1 nationalised bank, 1 agricultural credit society.

References

{{Malda District Cities and towns in Malda district