Kalimpong
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.
Kalimpong
Dalingkot
A hilly tract in Darjeeling District, Bengal, lying between 26 degree 51' and 27 degree 12' N. and 88° 28' and 88° 53' E., with an area of 41 2 square miles. It is situated east of the Tista, west of the Ni-chu and Di-chu (Jaldhaka), and south of the State of Sikkim, and was acquired from Bhutan after the campaign of 1864-5. Of the total area, 213 square miles are occupied by 'reserved ' forests and 10 square miles by four tea gardens, while 1 79 square miles are reserved for native cultivation ; five-sixths of the inhabitants are settled on the khds mahdls or state lands. The country is cut up by ridges of varying height and steepness, separated by narrow valleys, the principal of which run back far into the mountains. These ridges debouch into the plains at elevations ranging from 300 feet to 1,000 feet above sea- level, rising in the interior to 10,500 feet at Rishi La, Over a large portion of the tract the ' reserved ' forests cover the tops of the ridges and the bottoms of the valleys, while the cultivated area occupies the intervening space. The land above 5,000 feet is mostly, and that above 6,000 feet almost entirely, under ' reserved ' forest, which also covers most of the area below 2,000 feet The chief crop grown is maize, which occupies 38,000 acres, or more than three-quarters of the net cropped area. A new settlement of the land revenue was com- pleted in 1903 ; the demand is Rs. 10,000 per annum, and Rs. 1,300 is realized from cesses. A poll tax was originally levied, which was gradually replaced by block rates, and these have in their turn given way to a differential classification and assessment of the lands within each block.
The land has been classified for revenue purposes as cardamom, held rent free for the first three years, during which there is practically no out-turn, after which it is assessed at Rs. 10 per acre ; terraced rice lands, paying from 8 annas to Rs. 1-4 per acre ; unterraced cultivation, including fallows of less than three years' standing, paying 6 annas to 15 annas per acre; and fallows of three years' standing and over, pay- ing from 2 to 3 annas per acre. Some lands in each of the last three classes are assessed at a slightly lower rate for the first few years of the settlement. The estate has been divided into 48 blocks, excluding Kalimpong bazar, each under a headman or mandal, who is responsible for the collection of rents, the repair of roads, and certain other duties, in return for which he receives a percentage on the collections and certain other privileges. The total rental of the khas mahals for i903-4 was Rs. 31,000, and they are exempt from the payment of cesses. The chief village in the estate is Kalimpong ; and there are large bazars at Pedong on the Tibetan trade route, and at Somban at the end of the Chel valley, where the produce of the hill cultivators is sold to the cultivators of the Duars. The forests and the colliery at Daling have been referred to in the article on Darjeeling District. A new tract has been opened for cinchona cultivation at Munsang. Oranges are grown and exported to the Duars and the tarau
[C. A. Bell, Settlement Report (Calcutta, 1905).]
