Asansol, Industrial metropolis in West Bengal, India
Asansol is a large city in the Asansol Sadar subdivision of West Bengal, stretching along the Damodar River and encompassing several industrial quarters with factories, residential blocks, and wide railway yards. The city spreads across flat terrain, threaded by side roads leading to coal pits and steel mills, while main streets are lined with shops, temples, and market stalls.
The settlement grew in the late nineteenth century around coal deposits and received its municipal status at the start of the twentieth century. The expansion of the railway and the opening of steel mills rapidly transformed the place into a hub for heavy industry and freight traffic.
The name comes from a local goddess called Asan, whose worship still appears today in several small shrines around the city edges. In the morning, workers and families pause briefly at these sacred spots to leave flowers on their way to factories or markets.
The main railway station sits centrally and connects the city to Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata through regular trains on the Howrah-Delhi main line. Auto rickshaws and buses run through the streets, with early morning hours offering less traffic and clearer air.
The city sits above an underground network of coal tunnels that run beneath residential areas and rail lines, occasionally causing slight subsidence in the ground. Local people know certain street sections that have been repaired over the years and often avoid older paths that cross former mining fields.
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