Beniapukur is a neighbourhood of Central
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
in
Kolkata district
Kolkata district (formerly known as Calcutta district) is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Kolkata.
History
Long before the British came to India, the ''zamindari'' (land lordship) of all lands from Barisha to ...
in the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
. It is adjacent to
Park Circus
Park Circus is a neighbourhood of Central-South Kolkata, in Kolkata district
Kolkata district (formerly known as Calcutta district) is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Kolkata.
History
Long before the B ...
.
Etymology
The name of the neighbourhood is derived from two words, ''benia'' and ''pukur''. Influential ''
benias'' or merchants, particularly ''gandhabaniks'', perfume and spice traders, settled here. They had dug a tank or ''pukur'' in the area.
[Nair, P. Thankappan, ''The Growth and Development of Old Calcutta'', in ''Calcutta, the Living City'', Vol. I, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, pp. 18-19, Oxford University Press, .]
History
The
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
obtained from the
Mughal emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
Farrukhsiyar
Farrukhsiyar or Farrukh Siyar () (20 August 16839 April 1719) was the tenth emperor of the Mughal Empire from 1713 to 1719. He rose to the throne after assassinating his uncle, Emperor Jahandar Shah. Reportedly a handsome man who was easily ...
, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement. Of these 5 lay across the
Hooghly in what is now Howrah district. The remaining 33 villages were on the Calcutta side. After the fall of
Siraj-ud-daulah
Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah ( fa, ; 1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of the East India Company over Beng ...
, the last independent
Nawab of Bengal, it purchased these villages in 1758 from
Mir Jafar and reorganised them. These villages were known en-bloc as ''
Dihi Panchannagram
Dihi Panchannagram was a group of 55 villages which the East India Company purchased in 1758 from Mir Jafar, after the fall of Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, in what is now the city of Kolkata, earlier known as Calcutt ...
'' and Beniapukur was one of them.
The Maratha Ditch was dug in 1742 and it was partly filled up in 1799 to create the Circular Road (now
Acharya Jagaidsh Chandra Bose Road).
Entally, Maniktala, Beliaghata, Ultadanga, Chitpur, Cossipore, parts of Beniapukur, Ballyganj, Watganj and Ekbalpur, and parts of Garden Reach and Tollygunj were added to
Kolkata Municipal Corporation
Kolkata Municipal Corporation (abbreviated KMC; also Calcutta Municipal Corporation) is the local government of the Indian city of Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal. This civic administrative body administers an area of . Its motto, ' ...
in 1888. Garden Reach was later taken out.
In 1888, one of the 25 newly organized police section houses was located in Beniapukur, which is mentioned from the mid-eighteenth century, but the ''thana'' dates from the early 19th century.
Geography
Police district
Beniapukur police station is part of the
South East division
The Queensland Rugby League South East Division (also known as the South East Division) is a rugby league division responsible for the running of rugby league in South-East Queensland. This makes the South East Division responsible for the FOGS C ...
of
Kolkata Police
The Kolkata Police Force (KPF) is one of the two presidency police forces of the Indian state of West Bengal. Kolkata Police has the task of policing the metropolitan area (apart from Bidhannagar and New Town, which are served by the Bidhannaga ...
. It is located at 48A, Gorachand Road, Kolkata-700014.
Karaya Women police station, has jurisdiction over all police districts under the jurisdiction of the South East Division, i.e. Topsia, Beniapukur, Ballygunge, Gariahat, Lake, Karaya, Rabindra Sarobar and Tiljala.
Education
*Pratt Memorial School at Beniapukur is an English-medium girls only school. The school prepares its students for the
Indian School Certificate (ISC) and the
Indian Certificate of Secondary Education
The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private board designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance wi ...
(ICSE) examinations. The school was founded in 1876 in memory of Archdeacon John Henry Pratt primarily for the education of Anglo-Indian and Christian children. It is under the Diocese of Kolkata, the
Church of North India, and is an unaided minority institution.
*
The Frank Anthony Public School, Kolkata
The Frank Anthony Public School in Kolkata, India, is a co-educational school imparting primary, secondary and senior secondary education.
The foundation stone of the school was laid by Anglo-Indian leader, social activist and educationist Fran ...
at Beniapukur is an English-medium co-educational school. The foundation stone of the school was laid by social activist
Frank Anthony in 1965. The school prepares its students for the
Indian School Certificate (ISC) and the
Indian Certificate of Secondary Education
The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private board designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance wi ...
(ICSE) examinations.
Healthcare
![Cnmc](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Cnmc.JPG)
*
Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (Chittaranjan Hospital) at Beniapukur offers MBBS, Post graduate (MD, MS, Diploma) and Post Doctoral (DM, Mch) courses and is affiliated to the
West Bengal University of Health Sciences
West Bengal University of Health Sciences (WBUHS) is a Public medical university in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It was established in 2003 by an Act of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for better management of the health and medical educ ...
. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons was set up in 1911 at Bow Bazar. The name was later changed to National Medical College of India and still later became Calcutta Medical College on land donated by
Maharaja Sir Manindra Chandra Nandy on Upper Circular Road. Another medical institute at Bow Bazar started as Calcutta Free Hospital in 1910, became Kings Hospital National Medical College (''Jatiya Vaidya Shastrapith'') and later changed its name to National Medical Institute (''Jatiya Aurvigyan Vidyalaya''). Both the medical institutions were merged in 1923, and became Calcutta Medical Institute. In 1925,
Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das
Chittaranjan Das (5 November 1870 – 16 June 1925), popularly called ''Deshbandhu'' (Friend of the Nation), was an Indian people, Indian freedom fighter, political activist and lawyer during the Indian independence movement and founder-lead ...
, then Mayor, allotted a plot of land at Beniapukur for construction of a hospital of National Medical Institute. He also laid the foundation stone for the hospital and it was for some time named after him. In 1948, Calcutta National Medical Institute was formed with the amalgamation of National Medical Institute and Calcutta Medical Institute. The latter's property at Upper Circular Road was disposed of. Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital was totally moved to Beniapukur in 1964 and in 1967, it was taken over by the government. Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, a
state government hospital has 1,470 beds.
Transport
Road
Many buses ply along
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road,
Park Street, Suhrawardy Avenue, Darga Road and CIT Road in Beniapukur. Nonapukur tram depot-cum-workshop, where all manufacturing, modernisation and refurbishing of trams are done, is also situated here.
Kolkata tram
The tram system in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, operated by West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) after Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC) was dissolved, is the oldest existing tram network operating in India, and oldest operating ...
route no. 25 serves Beniapukur (via Nonapukur-
AJC Bose Road
Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road (earlier known as Lower Circular Road) and its continuation northwards called Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road (earlier known as Upper Circular Road), are together the longest and the most important north-south ...
-
Park Street-
Park Circus
Park Circus is a neighbourhood of Central-South Kolkata, in Kolkata district
Kolkata district (formerly known as Calcutta district) is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Kolkata.
History
Long before the B ...
).
[Google maps]
Train
Park Circus railway station
Park Circus railway station is a Kolkata Suburban Railway station on the main line. It is under the jurisdiction of the Sealdah railway division in the Eastern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It serves the local area of Park Circus in Ko ...
on
Sealdah South Lines is the nearest railway station.
Sealdah Station
Sealdah (station code:SDAH) is one of India's major railway terminals serving the city of Kolkata. The other main railway stations in the Kolkata metropolitan region are , , and Santragachi. Sealdah Railway station is the busiest railway stat ...
, one of the major railway-terminals of the city, is also located nearby.
External links
References
{{Neighbourhoods in Kolkata
Neighbourhoods in Kolkata