Cities and towns in West Bengal the eastern region formed East Pakistan—which became Bangladesh in 1971 — and the western part joined India as the state of West Bengal. Scores of refugees from the eastern part came to West Bengal, leading to the start of new urban areas, and contributing to the congestion of already established cities like Kolkata. India census, 375 cities and towns in West Bengal can be classified in the following categories: Now, number of municipalities has been increased to 117 as four new municipalities have been established: Nalhati (2000), Dhupguri (2001), Panskura (2001) and Dalkhola (2003). So, the number of census towns
Geography of West Bengal at places. West Bengal stands third in the country in terms of mineral production. The state contributes about one-fifth to the total production of minerals in the country. Coal constitutes 99% of the minerals extracted in West Bengal; fireclay, china clay, limestone, copper, iron, wolfram, manganese and dolomite are mined in small quantities. There are good possibilities of obtaining mineral oil and natural gas in the areas near the Bay of Bengal, in Purba Medinipur, Sundarbans, South 24 Parganas and North Bengal plains. Research is ongoing in various places to locate natural gas. West Bengal is the third largest state