Hooghly Industrial Belt This belt developed around Kolkata as the nucleus. The mouth of River Hooghly presented ideal conditions for development of a port. The Ganga and Brahmaputra linked the belt with rich hinterland. These links were later supplemented and strengthened by rail and road links. The following factors helped in industrialisation of this belt.
(i) Kolkata was the British Indian capital from 1773 to 1912. This ensured continuous British capital investment.
(ii) Tea plantations in close proximity in Assam and Bengal, processing of indigo earlier and jute later coupled with the discovery of coal and iron ore in the Chhotanagpur Plateau region contributed to the industrial development of Hooghly industrial region.
(iii) Cheap labour was easily available from thickly populated and out-migrating states of Bihar, Orissa and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
By 1921, the Hooghly region accounted for two-thirds of the total factory employment in the country. Presently, this region supports a variety of industries which include iron and steel, heavy engineering, rail equipment, transport equipment, chemicals, oil refining, agro-processing, textiles, paper, fertilisers and diverse consumer goods.
The major problems faced by this region, after independence, include the following.
(i) Eighty per cent of the jute hectarage went to Bangladesh, while most of the factories were located on the banks of Hooghly.
(ii) The direct inland link with Assam got brok~n.
(iii) Silting of Kolkata port is a major p~oblem. Farakka barrage is expected to help the situation, while the new Haldia port may ease the pressure to some extent.
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