Paper short abstract:

A history of how the waterways in and around nineteenth century Calcutta were constructed through the efforts of both Government and private investors. The stages of planning, construction and maintenance are considered with an emphasis on the evolution of the waterways as a circulatory system.

Paper long abstract:

The making of the waterways as a circulatory system in Calcutta was a century long process. This paper covers some of the crucial issues in the development of the city and the region through this primary means of travel. The processes of the construction and maintenance of embankments, canals, bridges and ancillary roads seem to be systematic. But the conflicts that ensued due to particular land acquisition policies & planning problems, involved residents, landowners, as well as rivaling bodies of the Government, and led to haphazard and delayed progress. For example, the rivalry between the Port Trust and the East Indian Railway Company in the 1870s over a number of issues related to ferry charges and the bridging of the river, brought home the fact of the slow but steady decline of the waterways. Geological concerns like silting also contributed to this decline.

Considering these aspects of the emergence and decline of the waterways in Calcutta, the paper evaluates the nature of the city via its circulatory systems of transportation. The archival data referred to points to the fact that while a number of circulatory systems co-exist in and around the space of a city, they also tend to compete and replace one another over time. The waterways in Calcutta sufficiently elucidate this fact.