North Dum Dum
India · Asia
About North Dum Dum
North Dum Dum or Uttar Dum Dum is a city and a municipality of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).
In 1870, Dum Dum was divided into two parts named as North Dum Dum and South Dum Dum. Though North Dum Dum Municipality was established on 10 September, 1870. It comprised villages known as Birati, Nimta, Kadihati, Jangalpur Patna, Gouripur and a large area of what is now Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport. In 1998, Bisharpara gram panchayat and half of Sultanpur gram panchayat were merged with the Municipality.
With the partition of Bengal in 1947, "millions of refugees poured in from erstwhile East Pakistan." In the initial stages bulk of the refugees were non-agriculturists. A few of them made their own arrangements, but "it was squatters who made the East Bengali refugees famous or infamous." Squatting (jabardakhal in Bengali) ranged from the forcible occupation of barracks to the collective take-over of private, government and waste land. By 1949, there were 65 refugee colonies in the Dum Dum and Panihati zone. The squatters were in a way...
Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.