Garden Reach
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta)
South Eastern Railway Headquarters, BNR Southern Generating Station CESC Gate of Sibtainabad Imambara, Metiabruz Baba and Mai statue at Suriname Ghat Garden Reach Flyover Paharpur Road Nature Park Garden Reach Water Works
Garden Reach Location in Kolkata
Coordinates: 22°32′20″N 88°17′31″E / 22.539°N 88.292°E / 22.539; 88.292
Country	India
State	West Bengal
City	Kolkata
District	Kolkata[1][2][3]
Kolkata Suburban Railway	Santoshpur railway station
Municipal Corporation	Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KMC wards	80, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	700018, 700024, 700043, 700044, 700066, 700088
Area code	+91 33
Lok Sabha constituency	Kolkata Dakshin and Diamond Harbour
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Kolkata Port and Metiaburuz

Garden Reach is a neighbourhood of Kolkata in West Bengal, India. It is situated in the south-western part of Kolkata on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River. Localities within Garden Reach include Metiabruz, BNR Colony, Rajabagan, Bartala and Badartala.^[4]

This area is connected to the history of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, eleventh and last King of Oudh, who after being ousted by the East India Company, made Garden Reach his refuge. Accompanied by his close relatives, musicians, cooks and animals from his menagerie, he came ashore at Bichali Ghat near Metiabruz on 13 May 1856. A year later when the Indian Rebellion of 1857 spread to Lucknow and the rebelling sepoys installed one of his sons to the throne of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah was imprisoned in Fort William by the East India Company along with his Prime Minister, due to the fear that he could become a rallying figure for the rebellion. H.E.A. Cotton wrote that "on Panic Sunday (June 14, 1857), 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,^[5] in Garden Reach-BNR Colony area, now a part of headquarters of South-Eastern Railway, Kolkata.^[6][7][8]

Heartbroken after leaving Lucknow, he tried to carve out a miniature of Lucknow in Metiabruz. In his exile in Metiabruz, complete with grand Islamic structures and cultural hubs, he arranged dance and music events and nurtured his love of poetry and the arts. He kept the sweet memories of his Lucknow alive by recreating the musical evenings of his Qaisarbagh Baradari. The king spent his life lavishly out of his income of 12 lakhs rupees per annum and a second Lucknow arose in this area. The Imambaras he created stands at the centre of Metiabruz.^[9][10] He established a zoo of exotic animals, Kabootarbazi (pigeon flying), Kite flying and brought along secret recipes from royal kitchens to feed the entourage. His royal chefs knew the recipes of the Awadhi Kitchen, which arrived in Kolkata with them. Awadhi cuisine was distinguished by its delicious biryani, a dish of spiced rice and meat that was popular for its aromatic richness and flavour balance. Due to a shortage of funds following the banishment, the cooks started using potatoes and eggs instead of a large quantity of meat to maintain the royalty. These skilled chefs adapted their traditional recipes to suit the local taste buds, resulting in the birth of Kolkata Biryani.^[11][12][13]

Owned by the Port Trust of India this Ghat is situated at the eastern bank of Hooghly river near Kolkata Port. It is named after the South American 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 1917.^[14] Suriname ghat is also popularly known as Balu Ghat.^[15]

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 7 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.^[16][17]

750m
780yds

Garden Reach

  

Garden Reach, located in the south-western part of the city, is bounded by the Kidderpore in the east, Taratala and Behala in the south and Maheshtala in the south west.^[18]

The area is served by the Garden Reach police, Metiabruz police, West Port police, Nadial Police, Rajabagan police and Rabindranagar police.^[19][20]

Garden Reach is a vast locality with many Postal Index Numbers:

Garden Reach has a delivery sub post office, with PIN 700024 in the Kolkata South Division of Kolkata district in Calcutta region. Other post offices with the same PIN are K.C Mills, T.G Road and P.G Reach.^[21]

Bartala has a delivery sub post office, with PIN 700018 in the Kolkata South Division of Kolkata district in Calcutta region. Other post office with the same PIN is Rabindra Nagar.^[22]

South Eastern Railway has a delivery sub post office, with PIN 700043 in the Kolkata South Division of Kolkata district in Calcutta region. Other post office with the same PIN is Sonai.^[23]

Rajabagan Dock Yard has a non-delivery sub post office, with PIN 700044 in the Kolkata South Division of Kolkata district in Calcutta region. Other post office with the same PIN is Badartala.^[24]

Taratala Road has a non-delivery sub post office, with PIN 700088 in the Kolkata South Division of Kolkata district in Calcutta region. Other post offices with the same PIN are Hide Road, Telecom Factory and Brace Bridge.^[25]

Bidhangarh has a delivery sub post office, with PIN 700066 in the Kolkata South Division of Kolkata district in Calcutta region.^[26]

• On 11 February 2013 a police officer, Tapas Choudhury, was shot dead as members of the students' wings of Indian National Congress and Trinamool Congress violently clashed at Harimohan Ghose College while filling the nomination papers for the students' union election. Four students were injured in the violence.^[27][28]
• On 18 March 1984 during a clash between residents, a mob clashed with the police and the police fired several rounds. As a result, a deputy commissioner, Vinod Mehta, and his bodyguard, Mokhtar Ali, were killed by anti-socials.^[29][30]

Some of the major industries in the Garden Reach area are:

GRSE Headquarters

Hindustan Unilever

Garden Reach Ship Builders & Engineers Main Unit

• Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers - the premier warship building company in India,^[31] under the administrative control of Ministry of Defence.^[32][33]
• ITC Ltd., Garden Reach, the Kolkata-based largest cigarette manufacturer in India, which has diversified into Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), hotels etc.^[34][33]
• Hindustan Unilever, Garden Reach, consumer goods company.^[35][33]
• Paharpur Cooling Towers Ltd., Garden Reach, pioneers and leader in cooling towers.^[36][33]
• General Electricals Co. Ltd., Paharpur, Kolkata.^[33]
• Britania Biscuit Co. Ltd., Hide Road, Kolkata.^[33]
• Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd., Hide Road, Kolkata.^[33]
• Videocon Glass and Appliances Factory
• Southern Generating Station CESC Limited
• Danieli, the Italian supplier of equipment and physical plants to the metal industry.^[33]
• A bottling plant unit of Indian Oil Corporation.
• A bottling plant unit of Hindustan Petroleum.
• Readymade Garments manufacturing at Metiabruz.^[37]
• Santoshpur Industrial Estate ^[38]

The following institutions are located in the Garden Reach area:

Colleges:

• Harimohan Ghose College
• Matiaburj College
• Panchur College

Government schools:

• Arya Parishad Vidyalaya
• Badartala High School
• Bartala Girls High School
• Bengali Bazar High School
• Fatehpur Giribala Girls High School
• Garden Reach Kesoram Cotton Mills High School
• Garden Reach Maulana Azad Memorial Girls High School
• Garden Reach Mudiali Girl's High School
• Garden Reach Mudiali High School
• Garden Reach Nut Behari Das Boy's High School
• Garden Reach Nut Behari Das Girl's High School
• Kendriya Vidyalaya Garden Reach^[39]
• Maulana Hasrat Mohani Memorial Girls High School
• Metiabruz High School
• Metiabruz Girls' High School
• Nadial High School
• Santoshpur Shyama Prasad Vidyalaya For Girls

Private schools:

• Birla Bharati
• All Saints High School, Garden Reach
• The Garden Reach School
• Dar Al-Arqam International School
• Guru Nanak Modern School
• J D School, Metiabruz
• Little Steps School (Ashoka Hall Group)
• P.A.J's English Day School
• St. Annes Day School, Garden Reach
• St. Mathew Convent School
• St. Anthony's Day School
• The Study Park

• Garden Reach Maternity Hospital
• Garden Reach State General Hospital
• Metiabruz Super-Speciality Hospital
• S.E Railway Central Hospital
• Metiabruz Seva Sadan Hospital
• Unipon Hospital
• Susrut Eye Foundation

• Biman Banerjee – Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
• Arnab Mondal, footballer

Transport system of Garden Reach has been improved. Although traffic jam occurs at late night after 11pm. Garden Reach Flyover, which connects Garden Reach with Majherhat, helps in smooth transportation of vehicles. The port area is congested primarily because of the trailers.^[40] However, people of Garden Reach are now using this flyover from brook lane in the Garden Reach area to reach Diamond Harbour Road easily. The foundation stone of the flyover was laid on 1 March 2014, after being approved by Central Government. Its estimated project cost is of Rs 313.27 crore.^[41] The project was completed in 2018.^[42][43]

Several buses ply on Garden Reach Road, Paharpur Road, Karl Marx Sarani Road, Railway Line Road and Taratala Road are:

• 227 BNR Colony - Bangur Avenue
• 1 Ramnagar - Mukundapur
• 1B Ramnagar - Nayabad
• 12/1 Ramnagar - Rajabazar
• 12 Badartala/Rajabagan - Esplanade/Rajabazar
• 12A Badartala/Rajabagan - Howrah Station
• 12B Kamal Talkies - Esplanade
• S-161 Metiabruz - Shyambazar
• S-123 Metiabruz - Howrah Station
• 12AD Akra Phatak - Howrah Station

• C-7 Harimohan Ghose College - Howrah Station
• 14-A Harimohan Ghose College - Karunamoyee
• S-62 Metiabruz (Bichali Ghat) - Kasba Bus Depot
• S-63 Metiabruz Ssp Hospital - Behala 14 No. Bus Terminus

Metiabruz Ferry Ghat provides ferry service from Garden Reach (Bichali Ghat) to Nazirgunge near Botanical Garden in Howrah.^[44]

Santoshpur railway station on the Budge Budge Branch line is situated nearby. Auto services are available from Ramnagar, Bandhabartala, Bartala Rail line more, Haziratan Hati Park to Santoshpur railway station.^[45]

• Port of Kolkata
• Nature Park of India
• Kolkata Port Assembly constituency
• Metiaburuz Assembly constituency

• Kolkata/South travel guide from Wikivoyage