The
Calcutta Collectorate Building on Clive Street (now Netaji Subhas Road), at the North Western corner of Dalhousie Square (now Binay Badal Dinesh Bagh or BBD Bagh), is one
of the many unfortunate victims of Calcutta’s (Kolkata) unplanned and
uncontrolled green drive. Large trees have been planted at random along the
pavements of many of the city’s streets, which completely blocks of the view of
the architectural marvels behind them.
When the
English bought the villages of Kalikata, Sutanuti and Gobindapur from Sabarna
Roychowdhury in 1698, and established their factory here, they also had to take
over the tasks of tax collection and policing. For this task, a European
collector or zamindar was appointed who would have a native as his deputy.
During the tenure of John Zephaniah Holwell, the “black zamindar” was the
notorious Gobindram Mitter (or Gobindaram Mitra) who was famously rich and,
legend says, the first native in the town to have a horse carriage. Gobindram
Mitter was the man who built Chitpur’s famous “Black Pagoda”, a “nava ratna” or
nine turreted temple that was so huge, it was used as a navigational aid by
ships on the Hooghly. It was knocked down by a cyclone in 1820, and its ruins
can still be seen.
