Current Time in Kulti, India

Kulti lies in the western corner of the Indian state of West Bengal, in Paschim Bardhaman district, close to the border with Jharkhand. The Barakar river flows past on its way to join the Damodar, and the surrounding country is a landscape of low rocky hills, scrub forest and coal bearing plateaus. The climate is hot and dry through the spring, humid during the monsoon and pleasantly cool in winter.

Around three hundred thousand people live in the urban area, which since 2015 has been part of the Asansol municipal corporation, one of the largest urban authorities in the state. Kulti forms part of a continuous industrial belt stretching along the Grand Trunk Road, where coal mining, iron and steel, engineering and railways have shaped daily life for more than a century.

Its historical importance is considerable, because Kulti is where the modern Indian iron industry effectively began. In the 1870s the Bengal Iron Works established a blast furnace here, and after early struggles it became the first plant in the country to produce iron on a sustained commercial basis, drawing on the coal of the Raniganj field and ore from the nearby hills. The works later passed to the Indian Iron and Steel Company and for generations supplied castings, pipes and rails to railways and municipalities across India. The company town that grew around the plant, with its bungalows, clubs, schools and hospital, still gives parts of Kulti a distinctive planned character.

Coal has been the other pillar of the local economy. The Raniganj coalfield, worked since the late eighteenth century, is one of the oldest in the country, and collieries surround the town at Dishergarh, Salanpur and Neamatpur. The rise and fall of these industries has brought both prosperity and hardship, and recent decades have seen efforts to diversify into cement, power generation and small manufacturing.

Just across the river at Barakar stand the Begunia temples, a group of stone shrines dating from around the ninth and tenth centuries and counted among the oldest surviving temples in Bengal. Their curved towers and carved doorways attract historians and pilgrims alike. A short drive north lies the Maithon dam, a vast reservoir built as part of the Damodar Valley project, with wooded islands, boating, a bird sanctuary and an underground power station, and it has become the favourite weekend destination for the whole region. The Kalyaneshwari temple nearby draws large numbers of devotees, particularly during Navaratri.

Cultural life follows Bengali traditions, with Durga Puja celebrated on a grand scale, along with Kali Puja, Chhath and the festivals of the many communities from Bihar, Jharkhand and beyond who came here to work.

Kulti sits on the main railway line between Kolkata and Delhi, with frequent trains, and the Grand Trunk Road passes close by, while Asansol a few kilometres away provides colleges, hospitals and a major railway junction.

Kulti holds a special place as the cradle of Indian iron making and as a working town at the heart of Bengal's industrial belt.