Abstract
This chapter historically traces the degradation of Kolkata’s canal network by contextualizing it within the contemporary research on urban rivers, where water historians and political ecologists discuss how water bodies and tracts have been “thoroughly conquered” and “denatured” (Castonguay and Evenden 2012, p. 2). However, it rejects the linear explanation of this disruption portrayed in scientific literature and media reports which consider the colonial period as the “golden era” and the post-independence period as the stage dotted with bureaucratic reluctance, civic indifference, and overall apathy and lack of awareness with regard to protecting these canals. Shedding light on a succession of technologies, from inland boat traffic to steam navigation to the railways, this chapter illustrates how Kolkata’s canal network succumbed under the pressure of emerging networked infrastructures (like railways) which appeared more lucrative, promising huge investment returns to the state. Reading “archival silence” (with declining availability of records on the canal trade and investments since the early 20th century) as an indicator of decreasing colonial enthusiasm for the canal network as arteries of trade, the chapter also explores debates and discussions among proponents and opponents within the government and conflicts of interests among municipal officials and the state regarding the functioning of the canal system as a navigation network or a receptacle of the city’s wastewater. It ends with a discussion of the social and ecological costs of this disruption, complicating the mainstream “development” and “encroachment” narratives of contemporary times.
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Notes
- 1.
While steamers plied along the steamer route close to the bay to Khulna, Goalundo, Chandpur, and Barishal down the Hooghly to Mud Point and turned eastward by the Bartala Creek between the Sagar Island and the mainland, the main brunt of the local trade in rice, vegetables, forest products, etc., was borne by boat traffic (Bandopadhyay 2018). Boats also “served well as feeders to the steamboat traffic by linking the interior villages with the main-line river traffic” (Bandopadhyay 2018, p. 220).
- 2.
R. Cort revealed that the amount of capital invested in the internal navigation of Britain was no less than £30,000,000 and he demanded that in the unavoidable case of expansion of the railways, the canal interests should be protected by a legislation of Parliament (Cort 1835). On the other hand, in Bengal, “there was hardly any question of private investment in maintaining canals and similar waterways,” which led to the infiltration and permeation of railways as the “sole arbiter” (Iqbal 2007, p. 336).
- 3.
N. Pearce, Agent, Eastern Bengal Railway, to G. G. Day, Chief Engineer to the Government of Bengal, Communication, Building and Irrigation Dept. (Railway), October 30, 1928, bundle 1, unrecorded files, file 7, National Archives of Bangladesh, Dhaka; cited in Iqbal (2007).
- 4.
Archival records attest that there had been fluctuations in boat traffic and tollage during some years between the 1800s and 1880s, but the uniform and steady statistics of decline from the 1890s confirm that neither could the system recover, nor could the colonial administration retain its interests and enthusiasm in the venture.
- 5.
This declining importance also becomes apparent from the absence of more frequent year-wise records in the archive.
- 6.
Parliamentary Papers (1832), Great Britain: H.M. Stationary Office, 10(2): 677 (italics added).
- 7.
Archival records confirm that between 1804 (when the Government of Bengal levied tax on boat traffic or water carriage) and 1850, a profit of more than 40,00,000 rupees could be extracted as canal revenue. That the returns were commendable can be assessed by the fact that with “the exception of some of the Madras irrigation works, no other public works in India had been more really productive than the Calcutta and Eastern Canals” (Bandopadhyay 2018, p. 95).
- 8.
These informal exchanges and non-structured interviews following the storytelling mode were conducted in 2008 during my Ph.D.
- 9.
A drainage basin is designated on the basis of geomorphological characteristics of the land and assumes significance in terms of precipitation absorption and the amount of rainwater being drained and discharged into a common outlet point, in this case within the KMC. Drainage system refers to an engineered arrangement designed and derived to discharge rainwater and sewage that are accumulated and carried from numerous source points to canals or drainage channels.
- 10.
For an exhaustive list of the major and minor pumping stations within KMC, see the official KMC website: https://www.kmcgov.in/KMCPortal/jsp/PumpingStation.jsp (accessed April 2, 2019).
- 11.
In an interview conducted in November 2019, the former secretary, I&WD, confirmed setbacks associated with scattered and patchy desiltation initiatives of short and targeted canal stretches against comprehensive maintenance of the entire system for which detailed planning and timelines need to be arrived at.
- 12.
Panchayat refers to the lowest village administrative unit in India. With the incorporation of erstwhile Joka-I & Joka-II gram panchayats in September 2012 under the jurisdiction of KMC, it has now become 200.71 km2.
- 13.
“The flow of sewage into the fish farms or bheris has been deliberately reduced in an attempt to snuff out fishery and farming and make way for conversion of the land into real estate” (Niyogi, 2015).
The nitty-gritty of the wastewater supply and distribution challenges, clashes and collaborations among the multiple actors will be discussed in Chap. 9.
- 14.
Ray (1993) makes the correlation between the pollution problem in municipal canals and the growing numbers of industries in Kolkata since the 1960s.
- 15.
- 16.
Further monitoring of development related to relocation was referred to the Green Bench of the Kolkata High Court, which was established in 1996 within the context of urban environmentalism surrounding EKW (Chap. 8).
- 17.
Key informant interview with executive engineer, Canal Division, I&WD, in November 2018.
- 18.
The difficulty in the draining of rainwater due to the “saucer-shaped” feature of Kolkata finds repeated mention in drainage reports. The 1945 Drainage Committee Report specified, “Calcutta is a saucer-shaped city with a steep fall of nearly 4 feet to the mile from Strand Road to Cornwallis Street (24.0 at Strand Road to 19.5 at Falitola and Bidyasagar Street). The level then gradually rises upwards to about 20.7 at Circular Road and 23.0 at the bank of the Circular Canal… it will be apparent … flood after heavy rainfall occurs in low pockets mostly below 22.0 contour. Water from higher areas collects in the low-lying areas quickly before it can enter the sewers through the street gully pits” (I&WD 1947, p. 40).
- 19.
Though the capacity of the combined outfall channels was in tune with the generated effluent and storm water, the addition of southern and eastern areas like Jadavpur, EM Bypass, and other new townships with additional effluent has made the system deficient.
The east-centric urban sprawl of the city consuming its peri-urban wetlands, transforming these ecological infrastructures into estates, is covered in the next chapter (Chap. 6).
- 20.
This will be discussed in Chap. 7.
- 21.
The lock-gate operator at the Chitpur lock gate confirmed this phenomenon during an interview (conducted in January 2019) mentioning that during full moon, with high tides in full swing, the lock gates face risks of damage due to tidal currents if these are not properly controlled with advanced preparedness. The shift from a manual to machine-based lock-gate operation system has made the task convenient and safe.
- 22.
For Times of India coverage of flooding and waterlogging in Kolkata, see https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Waterlogging-in-Kolkata (accessed April 8, 2019).
- 23.
There is an official distinction between “slums” and “squatters.” Squatters are unregistered settlements sprouting up in inhospitable areas like canal banks, railway tracks, etc. Most of the squatting population are issued with voters’ cards by the state (winning party cadres being more influential or specific parties historically and politically having more power in specific wards) to enlarge vote banks. However, they lack land deeds, which makes them the most vulnerable to displacement against statist development projects.
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Mukherjee, J. (2020). Disrupted Networks. In: Blue Infrastructures. Exploring Urban Change in South Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3951-0_5
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