Calcutta and Eastern Canals
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Calcutta and Eastern Canals
A system of navigable channels in the Twenty-four Parganas, Khulna, Backergunge, and Faridpur Districts of Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam, extending over a length of 1,127 miles, of which 47 miles, including Tolly's Nullah, are artificial canals, and the remainder are natural channels, mainly tidal creeks in the Sundarbans. These stretch eastwards from the Hooghly across the Ganges delta and afford means of intercommunication between the mouths of the latter river. The channels are under the supervision and control of Government, and tolls are charged on vessels using the artificial canals.
This is one of the most important systems of river canals in the world, judged by the volume of the traffic, which averages 1,000,000 tons per annum, valued at nearly four millions sterling. The situation of Calcutta makes it the natural outlet for the Ganges valley ; and this position has been enormously strengthened by the construction of railways, but other measures were necessary to enable it to tap the trade of the Brahmaputra valley and to focus the rich traffic of the eastern Districts. The intermediate country is a maze of tidal creeks, for the most part running north and south but connected here and there by cross-channels, wide near the sea-face but narrow and tortuous farther inland. These inland channels are constantly shifting as the deposit of silt raises their beds, while on the other hand the great estuaries near the sea-face are not navigable by country boats from June to October, owing to the strong sea-breezes which prevail during the south-west monsoon.
This system of canals was devised, therefore, in order to allow country boats to pass from the eastern Districts to Calcutta by a direct inland route, and the problem has been to keep the natural cross-channels clear of silt, and to connect them with each other and with Calcutta by a system of artificial canals. The channels have been in use for many years ; and it is along them that the rice, jute, and oilseeds of East and North Bengal, the tea of Assam and Cachar, and the jungle produce of the Sundarbans pour into Calcutta, while they also carry the exports of salt, piece-goods, and kerosene oil from Calcutta to those Districts.
Before the opening of Tolly's Nullah, boats could approach Cal- cutta only by a route close to the sea-face which brought them into the Hooghly by the Baratala creek, 70 miles below Calcutta ; and this route was not only circuitous but was impracticable for country boats during the rainy season. The pioneer of the system was Major Tolly, who in 1777 canalized an old bed of the Ganges, from its confluence with the Hooghly at Hastings, a little south of Fort William, in Calcutta, south- eastwards to Gariya (8 miles). From this point the canal (known as Tolly's Nullah) was carried east to meet the Bidyadhari river at Samuk- pota, and thus gave access to an inner route which leads eastwards from Port Canning.
In 1810a further step was taken to facilitate access to Calcutta. An old channel through the Salt Water Lakes, east of the city, was improved and led westwards by what is now known as the Beliaghata canal in the neighbourhood of Sealdah. Between 1826 and 1 83 1 a new route was opened between Calcutta and the Jamuna river, following, the same direct easterly course as the present Bhangar canal, the object being to relieve the pressure on Tolly's Nullah ; a number of tidal channels were utilized and connected by six cuts to form a con- tinuous eastward route. The next step was to cut the Circular canal from Chitpur, parallel with the Circular Road, to meet the old Eastern canal at Beliaghata, and this was completed in 1831. These canals were still choked by the increasing stream of trafific ; and, in order to relieve them, the New Cut was opened in 1859, leading from Ulta- danga, a point on the Circular canal 3 miles east of Chitpur, south-east to Dhapa on the Beliaghata canal. Finally the Bhangar channel was canalized in 1899 for a length of 15 miles, thus completing the inner channel which had been commenced in 1831.
The objective of this system is Barisal, the head-quarters of the great rice-growing District of Backergunge, situated 187 miles east of Calcutta. There are three alternative routes to Barisal. The one generally followed is along the Bhangar canal and Sibsa river to Khulna, and thence by the Bhairab river to Pirojpur and Barisal. An alterna- tive route between Calcutta and KalTganj on the Ichamati river follows Tolly's Nullah and the Bidyadhari river to Port Canning, and then strikes north-eastward. This is called the Outer route, and two similar alternative routes branch off southwards in Khulna District. The main steamer route follows the Hooghly river as far as the Baratala creek, and then turns east and north-east, meeting the two routes pre- viously described at Pirojpur.
Included in this system is an important channel, known as the Madaripur Bil route, which connects the Kumar and MadhumatI rivers, and is used by jute-laden steamers during the rains ; it shortens the journey between Khulna and Madaripur by 89 miles. The construction of this route was commenced in 1900, and has since been completed. The channel is being deepened and widened for the purpose of allowing steamers and flats drawing 6 feet of water to use the route during the jute season ; and the question of still further improving it, so as to make it navigable throughout the year, is under consideration. The net revenue of these canals in 1902-3 was 1-4 lakhs, being 2 per cent, on the capital outlay, and the estimated value of cargo carried during the year was 497 lakhs. In 1903-4 the receipts amounted to 4 lakhs and the net revenue was 1-3 lakhs; while the total capital outlay up to March 31, 1904, was yy-i lakhs.
