Garden Reach

Garden Reach is a neighbourhood of Kolkata city in West Bengal, India. It is situated in the south-western part of Kolkata near the bank of the Hooghly River.^[5] It is located to the north-east of Maheshtala, the west of Kidderpore and the north of Taratala and Behala. Localities within Garden Reach include Metiabruz, BNR Colony, Bartala, Bandhabartala, Badartala and Rajabagan.

Garden Reach
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta)
Baba and Mai statue at Suriname Ghat, Garden Reach
Garden Reach Location in Kolkata
Coordinates: 22°32′20″N 88°17′31″E / 22.539°N 88.292°E / 22.539; 88.292
Country	India
State	West Bengal
City	Kolkata
District	Kolkata^[1]^[2]^[3]
Kolkata Suburban Railway	Santoshpur railway station
Municipal Corporation	Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KMC wards	80, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141^[4]
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
Area code	+91 33
Lok Sabha constituency	Kolkata Dakshin and Diamond Harbour
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Kolkata Port and Metiaburuz

History

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in exile

 

Gate of Sibtainbad Imambara, Metiabruz, Kolkata

 

Grave of Wajid Ali Shah at Sibtainbad Imambara, Metiabruz, Kolkata

 

Headquarters of South Eastern Railway

 

Headquarters of South Eastern Railway

 

BNR House, residence of the GM of SER

This area is connected to the history of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, fifth King of Oudh, who after being ousted by the East India Company, made Garden Reach his refuge. Accompanied by his close relatives, musicians, cooks and animals from his menagerie, he came ashore at Bichali Ghat near Metiabruz on 13 May 1856. A year later when the Indian Rebellion of 1857 spread to Lucknow and the rebelling sepoys installed one of his sons to the throne of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah was imprisoned in Fort William by the East India Company along with his Prime Minister, due to the fear that he could become a rallying figure for the rebellion. H.E.A. Cotton wrote that "on Panic Sunday (June 14, 1857), there was wide spread apprehension among the white inhabitants of Kolkata because he had one, two, three thousand (no one knew) armed men under him".^[6] After his release from Fort William, he was "allotted" a building called BNR House, in Garden Reach-BNR Colony area, now a part of headquarters of South-Eastern Railway, Kolkata.^[7]

Heartbroken after leaving Lucknow, he tried to carve out a miniature of Lucknow in Metiabruz. In his exile in Metiabruz, he tried to keep the sweet memories of his Lucknow era alive by recreating the musical environments of his Kaisarbagh Baradari. The king spent his life lavishly out of his income of 12 lakhs (i.e., 1.2 million) rupees per annum and a "second Lucknow" arose in this area.^[6] The Imambaras he created stands at the centre of Matiaburj.

Surinaam Ghat

Owned by the Port Trust of India this Ghat is situated at the eastern bank of Hooghly river near Kolkata Port. It is named after the South American Caribbean country Suriname commemorating the indentured migration of Indian workers from this ghat to that country. A total of 64 sailing ships carried 34,300 workers to the country from 1873 to 1917.^[8] Suriname ghat is also popularly known as Balu Ghat.

In the Honour of Indian indentured workers who had migrated to Suriname, an aluminium statue of a plainly-dressed couple carrying a potli which symbolizes the first Indian man and woman to set foot on Suriname was set up as a memorial. It was unveiled by Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 7 October 2015. The statue is a replica of the Baba and Mai monument in Paramaribo, Suriname's capital and is gifted by the government of Suriname.^[8][9]

Economy

Industry

Some of the major industries in the Garden Reach area are:^{[citation needed]}

• Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers - the premier warship building company in India^{[citation needed]}, under the administrative control of Ministry of Defence.^[10][11]
• ITC Ltd., Garden Reach, the Kolkata-based largest cigarette manufacturer in India, which has diversified into Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), hotels etc.^[12][11]
• Paharpur Cooling Towers Ltd., Garden Reach, pioneers and leader in cooling towers.^[13][11]
• General Electricals Co. Ltd., Paharpur, Kolkata.^[11]
• Hindustan Unilever, Garden Reach, consumer goods company.^[11]
• Britania Biscuit Co. Ltd., Hide Road, Kolkata.^[11]
• Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd., Hide Road, Kolkata.^[11]
• Videocon Glass and Appliances Factory
• CESC Limited
• Danieli
• A bottling plant unit of Indian Oil Corporation.
• Hindustan Petroleum
• Ready-made Garments Manufacturer

Road transport

Transport system of Garden Reach has been improved. Although traffic jam occurs at late night after 11pm. Garden Reach Flyover, which connects Garden Reach with Majherhat, helps in smooth transportation of vehicles. The port area is congested primarily because of the trailers.^[14][15] However, people of Garden Reach are now using this flyover from brook lane in the Garden Reach area to reach Diamond Harbour Road easily. The foundation stone of the flyover was laid on 1 March 2014, after being approved by Central Government. Its estimated project cost is of Rs 313.27 crore.^[16] The project was completed in 2018.^[17]

Hospitals

• Garden Reach Maternity Hospital.
• Garden Reach State General Hospital.
• Unipon Hospital.
• S.E Railway central Hospital
• Metiabruz Super-Speciality Hospital
• Susrut Eye Foundation

Notable people

• Biman Banerjee – Speakers of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly

Educational institutions

Government schools:

• Badartala High School
• Bartala Library School
• Nadial Ucchobidhyalaya
• Metiabruz High School
• Bengali Bazar High School
• Garden Reach Maulana Azad High School
• Maulana Hasrat Mohani Memorial Girls High School
• Garden Reach Mudiali High School
• Garden Reach Mudiali Girl's High School
• Garden Reach Nut Behari Das Boy's High School
• Garden Reach Nut Behari Das Girl's High School
• Kendriya Vidyalaya Garden Reach^[18]
• Arya Parishad Vidyalaya
• Santoshpur Shyama Prasad Vidyalaya For Girls
• Garden Reach Kesoram Cotton Mills High School

Private schools:

• All Saints High School
• St Mathew School
• Dar Al-Arqam International School
• P.A.J's English Day School
• St. Jacob's High School
• The Study Park
• Guru Nanak Modern School
• Mali Sofiuddin Memorial School
• Sir Syed Ahmed Free Primary School (Urdu)
• Little Steps School (Ashoka Hall Group)
• Crescent Public School (English Medium)

Madrasa School

• Badartala High Madrasa

Colleges:

• Harimohan Ghose College
• Matiaburj College
• Panchur College

Police station

The area is served by the Garden Reach police, Metiabruz police, Nadial Police, Rajabagan police, Rabindranagar Police^[19][20]

Crimes

• On 11 February 2013 a police officer, Tapas Choudhury, was shot dead as members of the students' wings of Indian National Congress and Trinamool Congress violently clashed at Harimohan Ghose College while filling the nomination papers for the students' union election. Four students were injured in the violence.^[21][22]
• On 18 March 1984 during a clash between residents, a mob clashed with the police and the police fired several rounds. As a result, a deputy commissioner, Vinod Mehta, and his bodyguard, Mokhtar Ali, were killed by anti-socials.^[23][24]

References

1. "Kolkata South district".
2. "South 24 Parganas".
3. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 May 2013.
4. Kolkata Municipal Corporation censusindia.gov.in
5. Garden Reach 26 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine | Clickindia.com
6. Nabab Wajid Ali Shah 16 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine kolkataonwheels.com
7. "River retreats". The Telegraph. India. 22 March 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
8. New memorial for Indian migrants to Suriname By Shubha Singh The Indian Diaspora 23 Apr 2015
9. In honour of labourers who left for Suriname, a memorial to Baba, Mai indianexpress.com | 8 October 2015
10. "Garden Reach Shipbuildera and Engineers Ltd". GRSE. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
11. "Brief Industrial Profile of Kolkata District" (PDF). Some major large scale industries. Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute, Kolkata. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
12. "ITC's 'sab saath badein' in action". ITC. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
13. "About Paharpur". Paharpur. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
14. Mob torches police bikes after accident timesofindia.com | 4 August 2011
15. telegraphindia.com | 11 September 2013
16. telegraphindia.com | 3 March 2014
17. Congested Garden Reach to have flyover freepressjournal.in | 4 March 2014
18. Official website of Kendriya Vidya Garden Reach
19. "Kolkata Police". Port Division. KP. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
20. . The Telegraph, 1 September 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
21. Cop killed in firing as student wings of Congress, Trinamool clash during Kolkata college election India Today | Kolkata | Soudhriti Bhabani |12 February 2013
22. The Telegraph | 12 February 13
23. telegraphindia.com | SUVRO ROY | 13 February 2013
24. I didn't want Kolkata to forget Vinod's murder: 1984 victim's widow Times of India |Subhro Niyogi,TNN | 14 Feb 2013