Garden Reach

Garden Reach is a neighbourhood of Kolkata in West Bengal, India. It is situated in the south-western part of Kolkata near the bank of the Hooghly River. It is located to the north-east of Maheshtala, the west of Kidderpore and the north of Taratala and Behala. Localities within Garden Reach include Metiabruz, BNR Colony, Bartala, Bandhabartala, Badartala and Rajabagan.

Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in exile
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, in Garden Reach-BNR Colony area, now a part of headquarters of South-Eastern Railway, Kolkata.

Heartbroken after leaving Lucknow, he tried to carve out a miniature of Lucknow in Metiabruz. In his exile in Metiabruz, he tried to keep the sweet memories of his Lucknow era alive by recreating the musical environments of his Kaisarbagh Baradari. The king spent his life lavishly out of his income of 12 lakhs (i.e., 1.2 million) rupees per annum and a "second Lucknow" arose in this area. The Imambaras he created stands at the centre of Metiabruz.

Surinaam Ghat
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. Suriname ghat is also popularly known as Balu Ghat.

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.

Industry
Some of the major industries in the Garden Reach area are:
 * Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers - the premier warship building company in India, under the administrative control of Ministry of Defence.
 * ITC Ltd., Garden Reach, the Kolkata-based largest cigarette manufacturer in India, which has diversified into Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), hotels etc.
 * Paharpur Cooling Towers Ltd., Garden Reach, pioneers and leader in cooling towers.
 * General Electricals Co. Ltd., Paharpur, Kolkata.
 * Hindustan Unilever, Garden Reach, consumer goods company.
 * Britania Biscuit Co. Ltd., Hide Road, Kolkata.
 * Balmer Lawrie & Co Ltd., Hide Road, Kolkata.
 * Videocon Glass and Appliances Factory
 * CESC Limited
 * Danieli
 * A bottling plant unit of Indian Oil Corporation.
 * Hindustan Petroleum

Educational institutions
Government schools:
 * Arya Parishad Vidyalaya
 * Badartala High School
 * Bartala Library School
 * Bengali Bazar High School
 * Garden Reach Kesoram Cotton Mills High School
 * Garden Reach Maulana Azad 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
 * Maulana Hasrat Mohani Memorial Girls High School
 * Metiabruz High School
 * Nadial Ucchobidhyalaya
 * Santoshpur Shyama Prasad Vidyalaya For Girls

Private schools:
 * All Saints High School, Garden Reach
 * Badartala High Madrasa
 * Crescent Public School (English Medium) Madrasa School
 * Dar Al-Arqam International School
 * Guru Nanak Modern School
 * Little Steps School (Ashoka Hall Group)
 * Mali Sofiuddin Memorial School
 * P.A.J's English Day School
 * Sir Syed Ahmed Free Primary School (Urdu)
 * St Mathew School
 * St. Jacob's High School
 * The Study Park

Colleges:
 * Harimohan Ghose College
 * Matiaburj College
 * Panchur College

Hospitals

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

Notable people

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

Police station
The area is served by the Garden Reach police, Metiabruz police, Nadial Police, Rajabagan police, Rabindranagar Police

Crimes

 * 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.
 * 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.

Road transport
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. 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. The project was completed in 2018.