Dhaniakhali Development Block, worldwide famous for “Dhaniakhali Handloom Sarees” is one of the largest Block in West Bengal. The total area of this Block is 265.36 Sq Km. As per Census 2011, its population is 3,20,534 out of which 1,60,789 male and 1,59,745 Female. Total number of voter is 249364 out of which 125849 male and 123515 female. This Block consists of 18 (Eighteen) Gram Panchayats and 264 (Two Hundred and Sixty Four) villages.
The Dhanikhali Block falls within the Sadar Sub-Division of the Hooghly District. It is surrounded by Polba-Dadpur and Pandua Block of Sadar Sub-Division, Haripal Nd Tarakeswar Block of Chandannagar Sub-Division and Jamalpur Block of Bardhaman District. The River Damodar flows along the western fringe of the Block boundering with the Pursurah Block of Arambagh Sub-Division.
The Dhaniakhali Block is well connected with Kolkata through railways and national Highway. The Distance of the Block Headquarter i.e. the office of the Block Development officer form Kolkata is 72 km. There are 6(six) railway stations within the block area on Howrah-Bardhaman chord line. A street of 14 km of NH-2 passes through this Block area. Two major district roads connecting Chinsurah, the District Headquarter and Dasghara passes through this block. Another important road in the district connecting Tarakeswar and Bardhaman also passes through this block.
The main occupation of the people of this Block is cultivation. This Block is famous for cultivation of paddy and potato. The whole Block area is well irrigated by Irrigation canals of DVC. A large number of potato cold storages are situated within this Block. Fishery is another growing occupation at this Block.
But, as mentioned earlier, Dhaniakhali Block is World Wide famous for its Handloom sarees. This is the age-old traditional profession of a large number of people. The name ‘Dhaniakhali’ had been derived from the traditional designing of this saree. At the beginning, the saree was designed by ‘Dhanya’ i,e paddy. The ‘Khali’ i.e.the base of the saree was designed and weaved ‘Dhanya’ so the saree was famous for ‘Dhanyakhali’ i,e the saree the base of which was weaved by paddy. From that the name of Block ‘Dhaniakhali’ had been derived. At present thousands of weavers are engaged in this traditional occupation.
The population of religious minority is 16% of the total population. Majority of the Hindu population is the worshippers of Godess Kali. A large number of Kali temples are there. Among them the Bameswari Kali and Kesabpur Kali. The famous Tarakeswar Temple of Land Shiva is only 23 km from Dhaniakhali. The communal harmony and peaceful co-existance of people of difficult religious faith is the Key of peace persists in this Block.
-: Transportation :-
(a) Railway:-Dhaniakhali Stn. On the Howrah-Bardhaman chord line was inaugurated in December 2003. It is 49 Km from Howrah Station and is part of the Kolkata Suburban Railway system.
(b) Roadway:- There are two main bus stoppage i.e. Madan Mohantala and Cinematala bus stop. Daily road transportation occurred through 17 no. bus route which connects Dhaniakhali with Chinsurah-Tarakeswar-Haripal. It also connects with National Highway No. 2 (NH-2) at Maheswarpur, 8 Km from Dhaniakhali.
The main two junctions of the block are Dasghara More & Khanpur More by which the block connected with Barddhaman District.
