Garden Reach

Garden Reach is an industrial area in Kolkata in West Bengal. Garden Reach includes the Metiabruz, BNR Colony, Bartala, Bandhabartala and Sicklane. Garden Reach is situated at the eastern bank of the Hooghly River in the South Eastern part of Kolkata. It is north-east of Maheshtala, west of Kidderpore and to the north of Taratala, Behala.

Modern Garden Reach
Modern Garden Reach is now populated with Muslims and Biharis. Now, this city is more congested than any other places in Kolkata.

Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers is the premier Warship building company in India, under the administrative control of Ministry of Defence. There are more than 100 factories in this region.

History of Garden Reach provides a part of Lucknow"s history, after Nwab Wajid Ali Shah was put into exile in Garden Reach area of Kolkata, by the British East India Company in India.

Formation of Second Lucknow
Garden Reach, now is famous for the Muslim settlement and the ship building area in Kolkata, is connected to the history of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, fifth King of Oudh, who after being ousted by the British East India Company made Garden Reach his residence. Accompanied by his close relatives, musicians, cooks and animals from his menagerie, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah came ashore at Bichali Ghat near Metiabruz on May 6, 1856.

Exile of Nawab
A year later when the First War of Independence in 1857 spread to Lucknow and the sepoys installed one of his sons to the throne of Awadh, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was imprisoned in Fort William by the British East India Company along with his Prime Minister, due to the fear that he could become a rallying figure for the sepoys. HEA Cotton wrote that on Panic Sunday there was wide spread apprehension among the white inhabitants of Kolkata because he had one, two, three thousand (no one knew) armed men under him. After his release from Fort William, he was allotted a building called BNR House, in Garden Reach-BNR Colony area, now a part of headquarters of South-Eastern Railway, Kolkata.

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah had been given a number of fine houses with vast grounds stretching along the banks of the river Hooghly at Metiabruz. Heartbroken after leaving Lucknow, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah carved out a miniature of Lucknow in Metiabruz and the Garden Reach area. In his exile in Metiabruz, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah tried to keep the sweet memories of his Lucknow era alive by recreating the musical environments of his Kaisarbagh Baradari in Lucknow. The king spent his life lavishly out of his income of 12 lakhs rupees per annum and a "second Lucknow" arose in this area.

Suriname Ghat is now owned by the Port Trust of India which has also historical significances. Suriname Ghat is situated at the eastern bank of Hooghly river near Kolkata Port. It is named after the Caribbean country Suriname commemorating the indentured migration of Indian workers from this ghat to that country. A total of 64 sailing ships carried 34,300 workers to the country from 1873 to 1916. Suriname ghat is also popularly known as Balu Ghat. In the Honour of Indian indentured workers who had migrated to Suriname, an aluminium statue of a plainly-dressed couple carrying a potli which symbolizes the first Indian man and woman to set foot on Suriname was set up as a memorial. It was unveiled by Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on 7th October 2015.The statue is a replica of the Baba and Mai monument in Paramaribo, Suriname`s capital and is gifted by the government of Suriname.