Durgapur, with a total population 5,66,500, is the third largest urban conglomeration of West Bengal. Located on the banks of the River Damodar, the city falls under the Paschim Bardhaman district. The literacy rate is 86 percent and the native and most widely spoken language is Bengali. Durgapur is by far the most industrialized city in eastern India and is the second planned city of India after Chandigarh, designed in 1952 by the modernist American architect Joseph Allen Stein along with Benjamin Polk. The coal bearing area of the Raniganj coalfields lies just beyond Durgapur and the area was deeply forested till recently. Some streaks of the original Sal and eucalyptus forests can still be seen. Durgapur Steel Plant was the first to be commissioned in 1960, and Durgapur has the only operational dry / inland port in Eastern India. Durgapur falls under the Paschim Bardhaman District of West Bengal. As per the 2011census, the total population of the Paschim Bardhaman district is 7.7 million, the literacy rate is 76 percent, and 38 percent of the population is part of the workforce. This includes 45 percent employed in the agriculture sector, 4 percent in the household industry and 51 percent in services and industry. The Curzon Gate memorial is the most prominent landmark of the Burdwan town.
