Rendered jobless, they blamed the situation on the majority community.”” The headquarters of Basirhat I CD Block are located at Basihat. As per the 2011 census, Basirhat Urban Agglomeration had a population of 144,891, out of which 73,491 were males and 71,400 were females. The 0–6 years population was 12,578. Effective literacy rate for the 7+ population was 86.88 percent. Bengali is the principal language spoken in the area. Basirhat College was established in 1947. Affiliated with the West Bengal State University, it offers honours courses in Bengali, English, Sanskrit, philosophy, political science, history, geography, education, accountancy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany, zoology, physiology and economics. It also offers general courses in arts, science and commerce, and a post-graduate course in Bengali. Basirhat District Hospital functions with 300 beds. Basirhat is one of the areas where ground water is affected by arsenic contamination. Basirhat was connected with Barasat by the narrow gauge Barasat Basirhat Railway operated by Martin's Light Railways. It was closed down in 1955 and subsequently converted to broad gauge. The railway tracks in the region have been electrified and there are EMU services between Sealdah and Hasnabad provided by the Kolkata Suburban Railway. Bus services to Kolkata and other places are available.