Haroa is a community development block that forms an administrative division in Basirhat subdivision of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal.

[1] Haroa CD Block is part of the North Bidyadhari Plain, one of the three physiographic regions in the district located in the lower Ganges Delta.

[5] The Sundarbans is a flat lowland susceptible to tidal waves along the 260 km shoreline of the Bay of Bengal.

The area is prone to natural calamities such as cyclones, thunderstorms with occasional hail and floods.

[6] In May 2009, the district was hit by high speed cyclone named Aila and subsequent rainfall which continued for two days.

[6] Six CD Blocks of North 24 Parganas are included in the Sundabans area – Hingalganj, Hasnabad, Sandeskhali I and II, Minakhan and Haora.

[7] As per 2011 Census of India Haroa CD Block had a total population of 214,401, all of which were rural.

[9] Large villages in Haroa CD Block (2011 census figures in brackets): Haripur (6,315), Kharupala (6,003), Mazampur (5,556), Shankarpur (4,364), Kamarganti (9,555), Laugachhi (4,540), Ranigachhi (5,947), Khas Balandar (9,046), Atghara (5,096), Kalikapur (4,378), Gobaria Abad (4,468), Dhantala (4,567), Gopalpur (10,864) and Jampur (4,863).

[8] North 24 Parganas district is densely populated, mainly because of the influx of refugees from East Pakistan (later Bangladesh).

[23] 33.73% of households in Haroa CD Block lived below poverty line in 2001, against an average of 29.28% in North 24 Parganas district.

[25] In more than 30 percent of the villages in North 24 Parganas, agriculture or household industry is no longer the major source of livelihood for the main workers there.

It includes factory, mining, plantation, transport and office workers, those engaged in business and commerce, teachers, entertainment artistes and so on.

86 villages (95.56%) have telephones (including landlines, public call offices and mobile phones).

[28] The North 24 Parganas district Human Development Report opines that in spite of agricultural productivity in North 24 Parganas district being rather impressive 81.84% of rural population suffered from shortage of food.

With a high urbanisation of 54.3% in 2001, the land use pattern in the district is changing quite fast and the area under cultivation is declining.

In 2010-11, persons engaged in agriculture in Haroa CD Block could be classified as follows: bargadars 8,370 (13.29%), patta (document) holders 19,120 (30.37%), small farmers (possessing land between 1 and 2 hectares) 1,715 (2.72%), marginal farmers (possessing land up to 1 hectare) 14,715 (23.37%) and agricultural labourers 19,045 (30.25%).

[31] Haroa CD Block had no fertiliser depot, no seed store and no fair price shop in 2010-11.

Haroa CD Block had 374 institutions for special and non-formal education with 17,096 students.