Anara is a Town in the Para CD block in the Raghunathpur subdivision of the Purulia district,

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, about 14 km from Adra Junction. Anara Railway Station is having 2 platforms for up trains and down trains. Anara has large number of Railway employees mostly Running staff residing in 3 pockets viz. Bungalow side, Old colony and new colony apart from the market area. There is a big railway school and adjacent to it a play ground.

Geography

Area overview

Purulia district forms the lowest step of the

Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau () is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and th ...

. The general scenario is undulating land with scattered hills. Raghunathpur subdivision occupies the northern part of the district. 83.80% of the population of the subdivision lives in rural areas. However, there are pockets of urbanization and 16.20% of the population lives in urban areas. There are 14 census towns in the subdivision. It is presented in the map given alongside. There is a coal mining area around Parbelia and two thermal power plants are there – the 500 MW Santaldih Thermal Power Station and the 1200 MW Raghunathpur Thermal Power Station. The subdivision has a rich heritage of old temples, some of them belonging to the 11th century or earlier. The Banda Deul is a

monument of national importance A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

. The comparatively more recent in historical terms, Panchkot Raj has interesting and intriguing remains in the area. Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivision. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.

Demographics

According to the 2011 Census of India, Anara had a total population of 5,517, of which 2,822 (51%) were males and 2695 (49%) were females. There were 679 persons in the age range of 0–6 years. The total number of literate persons in Anara was 2,964 (61.26& of the population over 6 years).

Transport

Anara is off State Highway 5 running from Rupnarayanpur (in Bardhaman district) to Junput (in Purba Medinipur district). There is a station at Anara on the Adra-Purulia sector of the Asansol-Tatanagar-Kharagpur line of the South Eastern Railway. South Bihar Express and Swarnarekha Express are two major trains that stops here .

Education

Raghunathpur College was established in 1961 at Raghunathpur. Anara South Eastern Railway Colony High School is a Bengali-medium boys only institution established in 1957. It has facilities for teaching from class V to class XII. Anara Girls High School is a Bengali-medium girls only institution established in 1962. It has facilities for teaching from class V to class XII.

Culture

Banda Deul, located nearby, an 11th-century temple, is a

. There are some protected monuments at Para, under the Government of West Bengal.

References

{{Purulia District Villages in Purulia district