The shaping of modern Calcutta : the Lottery Committee years, 1817-1830 / Ranabir Ray Choudhury

By: Ray Choudhury, Ranabir, 1948-.

Material type: Text

TextPublisher: New Delhi : Niyogi Books, 2022.Description: 516 p. : ill (some col.), maps (some col.) ; 22 cm.ISBN: 978-93-91125-30-1; 9391125301.Subject(s): Lottery Committee (Kolkata, India) -- History | 1800-1899 | City planning -- India -- Kolkata -- History -- 19th century | City planning | History

| India -- Kolkata | DDC classification: 307.12160954147

Contents:

Summary: "The volume focuses on the Calcutta Lottery Committee's work from 1817 till about 1830 when, for all practical purposes, the functions of the committee relating to the improvement of the city ceased effectively. The work done by the committee was phenomenal because the projects conceived and implemented by it still cast their long shadow on life in modern Calcutta. Thematically, the book is a sequel to A City in the Making: Aspects of Calcutta's Early Growth, published by Niyogi Books in 2016. That work ended with the formation of the Lottery Committee in 1817: this book takes up the story from there. As with the earlier work, this book is wholly based on archival material available at the West Bengal State Archives. Among other things, the Lottery Committee built the major arterial roads in the northern and central parts of the city, which in time determined the layout of the contiguous residential areas. Dalhousie Square and the entire ground between Park Street and Circular Road were developed by the committee. Previously, a large part of the ground south of Park Street was low-lying and marshy, generating pestilence all around, Bustee clusters were located here probably because of the availability of Gangajal from Tolly's Nullah (the Adi Ganga) through the existing network of drains, the river being some way off to the west. The story of the making of Strand Road is narrated in detail, the Lottery Committee also being responsible for putting up the first brick-and-mortar decorative balustrade which still adorns the Chowringhee area and Red Road."-- Book jacket

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Books	Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group Library	307.12160954147 CHO (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		3517

incl. bibliographical references (pages 503-505) and index.

Introduction -- A Committee is Set Up -- Reforming the Lottery System -- The First Planned Square -- Birth of Three More Squares -- Filthy State of the Drains' -- River Water for the Town -- Hare Street and its Vicinity -- Henry Shakespear's Minutes -- Strand Road - Clearing the Table -- Strand Road - Step by Step -- The Maidan, Tank Square, Clive Street... -- Cossitala, Colootala, Garden Reach... -- The Land of William Camac -- Epilogue -- Endnotes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Photo Credits -- Acknowledgements -- Index

"The volume focuses on the Calcutta Lottery Committee's work from 1817 till about 1830 when, for all practical purposes, the functions of the committee relating to the improvement of the city ceased effectively. The work done by the committee was phenomenal because the projects conceived and implemented by it still cast their long shadow on life in modern Calcutta.
Thematically, the book is a sequel to A City in the Making: Aspects of Calcutta's Early Growth, published by Niyogi Books in 2016. That work ended with the formation of the Lottery Committee in 1817: this book takes up the story from there. As with the earlier work, this book is wholly based on archival material available at the West Bengal State Archives.
Among other things, the Lottery Committee built the major arterial roads in the northern and central parts of the city, which in time determined the layout of the contiguous residential areas. Dalhousie Square and the entire ground between Park Street and Circular Road were developed by the committee. Previously, a large part of the ground south of Park Street was low-lying and marshy, generating pestilence all around, Bustee clusters were located here probably because of the availability of Gangajal from Tolly's Nullah (the Adi Ganga) through the existing network of drains, the river being some way off to the west. The story of the making of Strand Road is narrated in detail, the Lottery Committee also being responsible for putting up the first brick-and-mortar decorative balustrade which still adorns the Chowringhee area and Red Road."-- Book jacket

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