Kidderpore (original) (raw)

Neighbourhood in Kolkata in West Bengal, India

Kidderpore
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta)
Karl Marx Sarani and D.H Road Junction, KhidirpurKarl Marx Sarani and D.H Road Junction, Khidirpur
Kidderpore is located in KolkataKidderporeKidderpore
Coordinates: 22°32′11″N 88°19′00″E / 22.536323°N 88.316654°E / 22.536323; 88.316654[1]
Country India
State West Bengal
City Kolkata
District Kolkata
Municipal Corporation Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KMC wards 76, 77, 78, 79, 80
Elevation 30 ft (9 m)
Time zone UTC+5:30 (IST)
Area code +91 33
Lok Sabha constituency Kolkata Dakshin
Vidhan Sabha constituency Kolkata Port and Bhabanipur

Khidirpur or Kidderpore is a neighbourhood of South Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal.[2]

Kidderpore Bridge

St Stephens Cemetery of Kidderpore

Most plausibly, the name is a corruption of Khidrpur or Khizarpur, Khizr/Khidr being the guardian saint of the seas to the fishing communities of Bengal. Another theory points out that the port probably got its name from James Kyd, a 19th-century engineer who designed and supervised the building of the lock gate that connects the nearby port to the Hooghly River.

Painting of Kidderpore House by Kathleen Blechynden, Calcutta, Past & Present.

Mosque at Khidderpore, photographed by Francis Frith.

Even after the British had set up their settlements in Kalikata, Sutanuti and Gobindapur, many independent zamindars survived till 1757. They held large landed properties in Gobindapur and elsewhere. When the Gobindapur area was cleared for the construction of the new Fort William, they had to be given alternative land elsewhere: Debs in Shobhabazar, the Thakurs in Pathuriaghata and Jorasanko, and the Ghosals in Bhukailas (Kidderpore). Gokul Ghoshal, the founder of the Bhukailas zemindar family, who was dewan of Harry Verest, left Gobindapur and built a palatial rajbati in Kidderpore and named it Bhukailas.[3][4]

Clock Tower of Kidderpore Dock

In earlier days, thanas (police stations) also looked after the civic needs of the people. The earliest list of thanas in old Kolkata was prepared in 1785 and in 1888. These thanas were regrouped under 25 Police Section Houses. The 25 wards created under the Calcutta Municipal Act of 1889, precisely matched these divisions. In this area there were two Police Section Houses – at Watgunge and Ekbalpur.[5][Note 1]

Writing in 1909, H.E.A. Cotton mentions, "Kidderpore, which lies to the west of Alipore, is extensively populated principally by natives."[6]

Kidderpore market

In the early years of British rule, Kolkata port was a river anchorage where sailing ships would load and unload in mid-stream. The shore-based Calcutta jetties, with cranes and sheds, came into operation in 1869. In 1884, Kidderpore was selected as the site for the wet docks of the Port of Kolkata, and it was ready in 1892. King George (later renamed Netaji Subhas) Dock was added in 1928. Haldia Dock System is part of Kolkata port. Its first unit, Haldia oil jetty, was commissioned in 1969. Kolkata port was the premier port of India till the early 1950s. In 1950–51, out of the total traffic of 19.3 MT at all the major ports of the country, Kolkata handled 7.6 MT. In 1988–89, Kolkata handled 14.22 MT against 142 MT of all ports taken together. Calcutta Jetties were closed down in 1965–66. Garden Reach jetties have also been closed down. The total labour force of the port declined from 42,946 in 1967 to 25,761 in 1990.[7] A red-light district has grown up near the port.[8]

Bhukailash Rajbati Estate in Kidderpore

In the field of Indian literature, this part of Kolkata produced three noted poets: Rongolal Bandhopadhyay, Hemchandra Bandopadhyay, and Michael Madhushudan Dutta.Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873) was born at Sagordari in Jessore District (now in Bangladesh), and came to Kolkata at the age of 7. After studying initially at Kidderpore School, he joined Hindu College in 1933. However, after converting to Christianity, his relations with his father was strained.[9]

It has been listed as a notorious market since 2019 by the USTR for selling counterfeit electronics, cosmetics, apparel, and pirated media.[10]

Kidderpore, located in the central-west part of the city, is bounded by the Alipore in the east, Mominpur in the south, Hastings in the north, Garden Reach in the south-west and also the Hooghly River in the west.

Kidderpore Bridge is one of the few bridges in Kolkata that has trams plying across it. The Kidderpore Tram Depot connects locations like Kalighat, Tollygunge and Ballygunge etc. The main Kidderpore intersection is connected with northern, southern and central Kolkata by various private and state bus services. Kidderpore can also be accessed by the Kolkata Circular Railway, which has a station in the locality.

The Kolkata Metro Line 3 will pass through Khidderpore and will have an underground station of the same name.[_citation needed_] It will connect Joka with Esplanade.

Notable educational institutions

[edit]

  1. ^ For full list of Police Section Houses, see Dihi Panchannagram
  1. ^ Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Kidderpore
  2. ^ Gupta, Jayanta (7 July 2019). "With first vessel from TN, Kidderpore Dock starts operating as coastal shipping hub". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
  3. ^ Nair, P.Thankappan, The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, p. 11, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition.
  4. ^ Patree, Purnendu, Purano Kolkatar Kathachitra, (a book on History of Calcutta), (in Bengali), first published 1979, 1995 edition, p. 397, Dey’s Publishing, ISBN 81-7079-751-9.
  5. ^ Nair, P.Thankappan, The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta, in Calcutta, the Living City, Vol. I, pp. 15-20, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, 1995 edition.
  6. ^ Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, first published 1909/reprint 1980, page 224, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
  7. ^ Ray, Animesh, "The Calcutta Port", in "Calcutta, The Living City" Vol II, Edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Pages 123-127, First published 1990, 2005 edition, ISBN 0-19-563697-X
  8. ^ YOUTH PARTNERSHIP PROJECT SOUTH ASIA (YPP-SA) (July 2010). "VULNERABILITY OF CHILDREN LIVING IN THE RED LIGHT AREAS OF KOLKATA, INDIA" (PDF). End Child Prostitution and Trafficking. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  9. ^ Sengupta, Subodh Chandra and Bose, Anjali (editors), (1976/1998), Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary) Vol I, (in Bengali), p. 393, ISBN 81-85626-65-0
  10. ^ "2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy" (PDF). Office of the United States Trade Representative. 17 February 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  11. ^ https://school.banglarshiksha.gov.in/ws/website/index/19170108119

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kidderpore.

Kolkata/South travel guide from Wikivoyage