Mahatma Gandhi Road or M.G. Road, formerly known as Harrison Road, is a principal East-West thoroughfare in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

(Previously known as Calcutta), the capital of the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. M.G. Road makes the boundary of North and Central Kolkata. In 1889 this was the first street of the city to be lit by electricity.

History

Mahatma Gandhi road was initially known as Harrison Road. After the independence of India in 1947 the Harrison Road in Kolkata was renamed Mahatma Gandhi Road (M.G. Road) and the name of

Chowringhee Road Chowringhee Road (also spelt ''Chourangi Road''), located in the Chowringhee neighbourhood of Kolkata, is the arterial road running from the eastern fringes of Esplanade southwards up to the crossing with Lower Circular Road (AJC Bose Ro ...

was changed to

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

road. In 1889 when

Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) is the Kolkata-based flagship company of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, born from the erstwhile RPG Group, under the chairmanship of businessman Sanjiv Goenka. It is an Indian electricity gener ...

(CESC) started promoting electricity in the city, this Harrison road was the first street in the city to be lit by the authority. Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT) decided to build the Central Avenue in 1911. By 1926, Harrison Road was stretched to Beadon Street in the north and to

Bowbazar Bowbazar, also spelt ''Boubazar''; formerly known as Bahubazar) is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. History On Lt. Col. Mark Wood's map of 1784, the portion of the eastward road from L ...

in the south. Charu Guha, a pioneer of the city's studio photography, started her first studio in the Harrison Road in 1920. During India's independence movement, this street was previously considered as "communally sensitive" neighbourhood of the city. On 1 April 1930, ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...

'' newspaper reported— "four more were killed in rioting this afternoon in Harrison Road, which is the usual storm quarter in this region."

Location and operation

The road is arterial in maintaining east–west connection in

. It is of the shortest distance between two major rail stations in

Kolkata Metropolitan Area The Kolkata Metropolitan Area (abbreviated KMA; formerly Calcutta Metropolitan Area), also known as Greater Kolkata, is the urban agglomeration of the city of Kolkata (Calcutta) in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the third most populous ...

—

Sealdah Station Sealdah railway station (station code: SDAH) is an NSG–1 category Indian railway station in Sealdah railway division of Eastern Railway zone. It is one of the five terminal railway stations serving the Kolkata metropolitan area, the othe ...

and

Howrah Station Howrah railway station (also known as Howrah Junction) is a railway station located in the city of Howrah, of Kolkata Metropolitan Area, West Bengal, India. It is the largest and busiest railway complex in India, as well as one of the busie ...

. Several important places are on this road, such as

, Surya Sen Street crossing, Amherst Street crossing, College Street/

Bidhan Sarani Bidhan Sarani (formerly known as Cornwallis Street) is a principal north–south thoroughfare in north part of Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. It was named after the first Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra R ...

crossing,

Chittaranjan Avenue Chittaranjan Avenue, more commonly C.R. Avenue (Formerly Central Avenue), a principal north-south thoroughfare in Central-North Kolkata. It starts from Beadon Street (Dani Ghosh Sarani/Abhedananda Road) crossing ( Girish Park) in the north and e ...

crossing, Rabindra Sarani (Chitpur Road) crossing, Netaji Subhas Road crossing,

Burrabazar Burrabazar (also spelt ''Bara Bazar'') is a neighbourhood of Central-North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. Bazar Kolkata In between Sutanuti haat made way for Bazar Kolkata, ...

and Strand Road crossing/

Howrah Bridge The Howrah Bridge is a balanced steel bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal, India. Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the both ...

. M.G. Road runs from Sealdah Flyover (Vidyapati Setu) in the eastern limit to the threshold of

in the west. The road is bi-directional throughout the day. Certain crossings are, however, unidirectional, that is, in certain crossings, vehicles can turn only in a specific direction.

Culture

Education institutions

Several educational institutions are located on or near Mahatma Gandhi Road, such as Anglo Arabic Secondary School, Gyan Bharati Vidyapith, St. Paul's School,

Hindu School Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest modern educational institution in Asia (then known as ''Hindu College''). The institution played a key role during Bengal R ...

, Lawrence Day School, Shri Jain Vidyalaya and St. Pauls' Mission School.

Restaurants

Some popular restaurants in or near Mahatma Gandhi Roadare Shreeram Dhaba, Aahar Restaurant, Madhuri Restaurant, Basanta Cabin.

Cinema halls

Several cinema halls are located on or near the road, such as Aruna, Chhabighar, Naaz, Purabi, Prabhat.

In popular culture

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

in this poem ''Ekdin Rate'' mentioned this street. The lines of the poem were— ''Howrah-r bridge chole mosto she bichhe, Harrison road chole tar pichhe, pichhe'' (the approximate English translation: The

is moving as if a large centipede and the Harrison Road moves behind it).

Saradindu Bandopadhyay Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was an Indian Bengali-language writer. He was actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. The creator of the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi, Sharadindu comp ...

's famous fictional character,

Byomkesh Bakshi Byomkesh Bakshi is a fictional detective created by Bengali author Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. A self-proclaimed "satyanweshi" (literally seeker of truth), Bakshi is known for his keen observation, logical thinking, and knowledge of forensic sc ...

- India's putative foremost detective, lived on Harrison Road in the second floor of a three-storied building along with his friend and associate Ajit Banerjee and domestic help, Putiram.

Gallery

File:Mahatma Gandhi Road - Strand Road View - Kolkata 2016-10-11 0591.JPG, MG Road and Rajiv Gandhi Sarani Crossing File:Kolkata Tram on Mahatma Gandhi road IMG 20181215 101007.jpg,

Kolkata tram The Kolkata Tram System, is a tram system that serves Kolkata, the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, operated by West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) after Calcutta Tramways Company (C ...

route no. 18 on MG Road near

, closed in 2021 File:Mahatma Gandhi Road - College Street Crossing - Kolkata 2015-02-09 2278.JPG, MG Road and College Street Crossing File:Mahatma Gandhi Road - Amharst Street Crossing - Kolkata 2015-02-09 2282.JPG, MG Road and Raja Ram Mohan Sarani Crossing File:Mahatma Gandhi Road and Surya Sen Street Crossing - Kolkata 2014-01-01 1787.JPG, MG Road and Surya Sen Street Crossing File:Vidyapati Setu - Mahatma Gandhi Road - Sealdah - Kolkata 2015-08-11 1974.JPG, Vidyapati Setu, MG Road,

Sealdah Sealdah is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Etymology Jackals (''sheal'' in Bengali) howled around Sealdah. Antiquarians identify it as Shrigaldwipa (Jackal Island). Nearby Beliaghata ...

(also known as Sealdah flyover)

West Bengal

* College Street * Amherst Street

References

{{Streets of Kolkata, state=expanded Roads in Kolkata