page_title: Geography of Kolkata
section_title: Urban structure
hierarchical_section_title: Geography of Kolkata / City geography / Urban structure
caption_attribution_description: English: Photographed in Kolkata.
context_page_description: Kolkata is located in the eastern part of India. It has spread linearly along the banks of Hooghly River. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has an area of 205 square kilometres. The city is near sea level, with the average elevation being 17 feet. The whole area is in the Ganges Delta starts within 100 km south to the city. Most of the city was originally marshy wetlands, remnants of which can still be found especially towards the eastern parts of the city.
context_section_description: The Kolkata metropolitan area is spread over 1,886.67 km² (728.45 sq mi) and comprises 4 municipal corporations (Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation and Chandernagore Municipal Corporation), 37 local municipalities (Bally Municipality is merged with Howrah Municipal Corporation and Rajarhat-Gopalpur Municipality is merged with Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, so total number of municipalities becomes 37 from 39) and 24 panchayat samitis.
   The urban agglomeration encompassed 72 cities and 527 towns and villages, as of 2006. Suburban areas in the Kolkata metropolitan area incorporate parts of the following districts: Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly and Nadia. Kolkata, which is under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), has an area of 205 km² (79 sq mi). The east–west dimension of the city is comparatively narrow, stretching from the Hooghly River in the west to roughly the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass in the east—a span of 9–10 km (5.6–6.2 mi). The north–south distance is greater, and its axis is used to section the city into North, Central and South Kolkata. East Kolkata is also a section.
caption: Vidyasagar Setu over the Hooghly River at dusk
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