‘Song of the Road’… A Brief History of the City’s Roads (1700s ~ 1900s): Part One

Pilgrim Road (Chitpur Road) in the 1760s

The construction of roads and their maintenance is an important indicator of urban planning. It also indirectly affects the sanitation in a city. There were practically no roads in the villages that grew into Calcutta, as they were sparsely inhabited. The only pathway was the Pilgrim Road — what is known today as the Chitpur Road — that led to the Kali Temple. The British East India Company as well as the British Government, who took over the administration of the city of Calcutta in 1857, had constructed roads for their ease of movement. Historically, construction of roads in early Calcutta can be traced over three specific periods. They are:

1. Days of the Zamindar (1700~1793);
2. Days of Justices of the Peace (1794~1876); and
3. Municipal Corporation (since 1876)

Roads in Calcutta During Eighteenth Century

Year	Streets	Lanes	By-Lanes
1706	2	0	0
1726	4	8	0
1742	16	46	74
1756	27	52	74
1794	163	520	517

Source: AK Ray: “Short History of Calcutta”; Census Report of India, 1901; Volume VII, Calcutta; ‘Town and Suburbs’; Part I, Calcutta

CR Wilson’s Old Fort William in Bengal reports that the authorities constructed new roads from Fort William to Gobindapur in 1721 for making the place healthier “by the wind’s free passage into the town”. The construction of roads in Calcutta during the days of the Zamindar was primarily carried out by taking contributions from the merchants and local residents. The English Company encouraged voluntary contributions in labour and money for development works of the town. The Company was not authorised by the British Parliament to levy tax on inhabitants of Calcutta for effecting town improvements till 1794. The Circular Road (now called Acharya Prafulla Chandra and Acharya Jagadish Bose Roads) was the result of the voluntary efforts of the citizens of Calcutta.

By 1742, Calcutta had 16 streets and 46 lanes. Few of the roads marked in Orme’s Plan of Calcutta 1742, lying within the Maratha Ditch, had received their present-day names — the ‘Avenue leading to the eastward’ (Bowbazar Street or Bipin Behari Ganguly Street); ‘Road to Dum Dum’, ‘Causeway’ (Manicktollah Road, subsequently renamed as Sookea Street, Baranasi Ghose Street etc); and ‘Road to Kalighat’.

Dalhousie Area (circa 1780)

Captain William Holcombe’s report of 1742, contained references to a ‘Road towards Pennings’ (Chitpur Road up to Baghbazar), and, an ‘Avenue towards the Water Side’ (Nimtala Ghat Street). A number of roads were also repaired by the Zamindars in 1749. The roads included:

1.    “The Road from the Dock Head to the Stable and down to the side of the Park” (Hare Street and road along Dalhousie Square to Vansittart Row);

2.   “The Street from the side and back of Mr Rooper’s House and down to Messrs Noke’s and Lascelles’s House” (Mangoe Lane);

3.   “The Road from Captain Lloyd’s house to the New Bazar, Chandpal Bazar” (Esplanade Row West);

4.   “The Road from New Bridge to Barthola Bazar” (Chitpur Road);

5.    “The Road from the Fort Gate to Mansingh’s Chowki” (Lalbazar~Bowbazar Street);

6.   “The Road from Chowrighee’s Chowki and Gusthulla Bazaar” (Bentinck Street~Chowringhee Road up to Park Street);

7.   “The Street from Margass’s House down to the Powder House” (Council House Street);

8.   “The Street from Purana Gunge to Gobindapur Chowki” (a road that has now merged in the Maidan);

9.   “The Street to the side of the Goal down to Mr Frankland’s Garden” (a road from Tiretta Bazaar to Middleton Row; and

10. “The Street from Omichund’s House to Mir Bahar Chowki” (China Bazaar~ Mir Bahar Ghat Street).

With the recapture of Calcutta from Siraj-ud-Dowlah in 1757, new roads were laid out in the Maidan in the early part of the nineteenth century. Englishmen, who were confined to their settlement at Tank Square, moved out to Chowringhee and the suburbs after 1760. The acquisition of the Zamindari rights of the 24-Parganas in 1757 helped the Company to expand the limits of Calcutta from time to time.

to be continued