1.5 Katha Plot (Hatisala)

Rajarhat is one of the most fertile areas of West Bengal and perhaps India. Leaving aside some region used for habitation, most, if not all. Leaving aside some region used for habitation, most, if not all, of the land had been producing three to four crops an year. This and was irrigated by the Keshtopur, Bagjola and three other canals adjacent to them.
People farming this land used to get more then adequate water from these canals and did not require the aid of government irrigation canals. Nor did they have to bother overly about fertilizing their land and thus could produce their crops with relative ease. In these lands they used to grow Aman, Aush different kinds of Ravi and Khariff crops. Besides these, various kinds of seasonal crops along with many types of vegetables, fruits and flowers too were grown by the farmers here. So profuse was their production that even after satisfying the demands of the local markets they cloud satisfy 20 to 25% of the demands of Kolkata and its suburbs. Apart from this, during the monsoon  months the poor of this region used to overflow their banks during the rains.

The farmers from this area also had a rather valuable contribution to meeting Kolkata’s demand for milk, which they supplied from their herds of cows and buffaloes. These animals were nurtured on the green grass on the banks of the many canals and grassy fields adjacent to the bherries. Farmers raised their cows almost free of cost, feasting them on nature’s bounties.

The majority of the population was Hindus and Muslims and a very small fraction belonged to the Christian faith. They had been peacefully coexisting for many decades, takings part in each other’s religious and cultural festivities quite spontaneously. Communal unrest in different parts of India and West Bengal never had much of an effect in the communal amity between the people here.