| Gitaldaha | |
| Settlement Type: | Village |
| Pushpin Map: | India West Bengal#India |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in West Bengal##Location in India |
| Coordinates: | 26.032°N 89.484°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | West Bengal |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | Cooch Behar |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Population Total: | 2058 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone1: | IST |
| Utc Offset1: | +5:30 |
| Postal Code Type: | PIN |
| Postal Code: | 736135 |
| Area Code Type: | Telephone/STD code |
| Area Code: | 03582 |
| Registration Plate: | WB |
| Blank1 Name Sec1: | Lok Sabha constituency |
| Blank1 Info Sec1: | Cooch Behar |
| Blank2 Name Sec1: | Vidhan Sabha constituency |
| Blank2 Info Sec1: | Sitai |
Gitaldaha is a village and a gram panchayat in the Dinhata I CD block in the Dinhata subdivision of the Cooch Behar district in the state of West Bengal, India.
Gitaldaha is located at 26.032°N 89.484°W.
Gitaldaha I and Gitaldaha II are gram panchayats in Dinhata I CD block.[1]
The map alongside shows the eastern part of the district. In Tufanganj subdivision 6.97% of the population lives in the urban areas and 93.02% lives in the rural areas. In Dinhata subdivision 5.98% of the population lives in the urban areas and 94.02% lives in the urban areas.[2] The entire district forms the flat alluvial flood plains of mighty rivers.[3]
Note: The map alongside presents some of the notable locations in the subdivisions. All places marked in the map are linked in the larger full screen map.
As per the 2011 Census of India, Gitaldaha had a total population of 3,917. There were 2,058 (53%) males and 1,859 (47%) females. There were 492 persons in the age range of 0 to 6 years. The total number of literate people in Gitaldaha was 2,563 (74.83% of the population over 6 years).[4]
New Gitaldaha railway station is on the broad gauge Alipurduar-Bamanhat branch line. Local trains link the area to larger stations at Cooch Behar and Alipurduar from where trains are available for places all over the country.[5]
The area was agog with railway activity in the 19th-20th century. The Assam Behar State Railway linked Parbatipur to Katihar, with a metre gauge line in 1889. in the early 1900s, the Eastern Bengal Railway extended railways to Lalmonirhat, Gitaldaha (via Mogalhat), Bamanhat, Golokganj and other places, thereby connecting Assam to Katihar, in Bihar, via North Bengal. In 1901 Cooch Behar State Railway built the narrow gauge line from Gitaldaha to Jayanti, near the Bhutan border. Shortly thereafter, the line was upgraded to meter gauge.[6] [7]
The Lalmonirhat-Mogalhat-Gitaldaha route was functional when India and Pakistan agreed in 1955 for resumption of railway traffic between the two countries, and it included movement of cross traffic via Mogalhat through the Eastern Bengal Railway.[8] A portion of the bridge across the Dharla River at was washed away by floods in 1988.[9] [10]
The conversion of the long Alipurduar-Bamanhat branch line to broad gauge in 2007, and its subsequent recommissioning, had a station at New Gitaldaha.[11]