About us

The Hijli Co-operative Development Society Ltd. is a registered Co-operative Society as per the provisions of West Bengal Co-operative Societies Act and Rules. The idea of forming this residential Society in this part of undivided Medinipur was conceived in the pre-independence era by a few eminent visionary namely, Sri Jiban Ranjan Nag and Sri Birendra Ghosh. The idea took a concrete shape when a Committee under the leadership of Sri Sailesh Chandra Chowdhury, BCS, Land Acquisition Officer, West Bengal and Sri Ramesh Chandra Dutta passed a resolution in this regard on 22^nd May 1947. To start the activities, an area of 140.21 acres of land was purchased from Zamindar Sri Ramcharan Chowdhury in the Sonamukhi Mouza.

It was registered on 19^th September 1947 under the Bengal Co-operative Societies Act, 1940 and a 12 member Board of Directors was appointed for managing the affairs of the Society under the Chairmanship of Sri Sailesh Chandra Chowdhury. Sri Satish Chandra Mitra was the Vice-Chairman and Sri Ramesh Chandra Dutta was the first Secretary. Sri Ratan Chand Ghosh, Sri Prafulla Kumar Mitra, Sri Phanindra Kumar Roy Chowdhury, Sri Lalmohan Mukhopadhyay, Sri Subodh Chandra Roy, Sri Sarbari Bhusan Chowdhury, Sri Jiban Ranjan Nag, Sri Birendra Kumar Ghosh and Ram Charan Chowdhury were the other members of the first Board of Directors.

The map of the Society was prepared in 1948 with the help of Sri Anil Bandhu Ganguly, ICS, Joint Director, Co-operative Department, West Bengal, Mr. Pozar, Chief Engineer, Mr. J.A. Parkas, Chief Valuer of Calcutta Improvement Trust, Sri Kalipada Maity, Assistant & Clerk of Society, and Sri Adhar Mahata, Surveyor.

The first AGM of the Society was held on 25/12/1949 with 303 members. In order to meet the growing demand of members, an additional 40.80 acres of land was procured from Sri Annada Sankar Paul, Zaminder of Ghagra & Talbagicha area. Later 4.81 acres was land was brought from Govt. of West Bengal taking the total area of Hijli Co-operative Development Society to 189.82 acres spread across the Sonamukhi and Ghagra Mouzas under Kharagpur-I Block and Ghagra Panchayat of Paschim Medinipur district.

Presently the Bengalee dominated Society in the backdrop of serene lush green Hijli forest range has more than 1500 members. With a Govt. rural hospital, schools, bank, post office, own market complex, parks, sports grounds, library, community hall, guest house and even a crematorium within its area, it resembles a mini township with a 10,000 strong population.

Being located adjacent to the premier institute of IIT Kharagpur and close to Kharagpur Railway establishment, other defence/police unts, a large number of its residents are either serving or retired members of IIT, railway, banks, post office, college/school teachers, doctors, defence services, artists, celebrities and literary personalities.

For administrative purpose, the Society is currently divided into six electoral zones (A, B, C, D, E, and F) with each zone representing at least 200 members. 52-delegates from these six zones are first elected by the members through a direct election process conducted by the Assistant Registrar of Co-operative Societies (ARCS), Paschim Medinipur range. The delegates in turn elect the 12-member Board of Directors (BoD) for a 5-year term. The BoD of Society manages all member centric developmental activities as per the provisions of West Bengal Co-operative Societies Act and Rules, framed from time to time and its bye-laws approved in the AGM and vetted by the ARCS, Paschim Medinipur.

A number of sub-Committees are formed to assist the Board of Directors to effectively discharge its duties and responsibilities. All basic amenities like supply of potable water, maintenance of roads, drains, cleanliness and conservancy, sports infrastructure, community hall, guest house, market complex, and crematorium are largely maintained with its own resources. Additional support from the Govt. of West Bengal through Kharagpur Municipality and Ghagra Gopali No. 5 Anchal Panchayat helps to augment the basic infrastructure.