Mahatma Gandhi Road or M.G. Road, formerly known as Harrison Road, is a principal East-West thoroughfare in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

(Previously known as Calcutta), the capital of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. M.G. Road makes the boundary of North and Central Kolkata. In 1889 this was the first street of the city to be lit by electricity.

History

Mahatma Gandhi road was initially known as Harrison Road. After the independence of India in 1947 the Harrison Road in Kolkata was renamed Mahatma Gandhi Road (M.G. Road) and the name of

Chowringhee Road Chowringhee Road (also spelt ''Chourangi Road''), located in the Chowringhee neighbourhood of Kolkata, is the arterial road running from the eastern fringes of Esplanade southwards up to the crossing with Lower Circular Road (AJC Bose Roa ...

was changed to

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

road. In 1889 when

Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation The Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) is the Kolkata-based flagship company of the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, born from the erstwhile RPG Group, under the chairmanship of businessman Sanjiv Goenka. It is an Indian electricity gene ...

(CESC) started promoting electricity in the city, this Harrison road was the first street in the city to be lit by the authority. Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT) decided to build the Central Avenue in 1911. By 1926, Harrison Road was stretched to Beadon Street in the north and to Bowbazar in the south. Charu Guha, a pioneer of the city's studio photography, started her first studio in the Harrison Road in 1920. During India's independence movement, this street was previously considered as "communally sensitive" neighbourhood of the city. On 1 April 1930, ''

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

'' newspaper reported— "four more were killed in rioting this afternoon in Harrison Road, which is the usual storm quarter in this region."

Location and operation

The road is arterial in maintaining east–west connection in

. It is of the shortest distance between two major rail stations in

Kolkata Metropolitan Area Kolkata Metropolitan Area (abbreviated KMA; formerly Calcutta Metropolitan Area), also known as Greater Kolkata, is the urban agglomeration of the city of Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the third most populous metropolitan ar ...

—

Sealdah Station Sealdah (station code:SDAH) is one of India's major railway terminals serving the city of Kolkata. The other main railway stations in the Kolkata metropolitan region are , , and Santragachi. Sealdah Railway station is the busiest railway stat ...

and

Howrah Station Howrah railway station, also known as Howrah Junction, is a railway station located in the city of Howrah, West Bengal, India. It is also the oldest and largest existing railway complex in India. It is one of the busiest train stations in the ...

. Several important places are on this road, such as

, Surya Sen Street crossing, Amherst Street crossing, College Street/

Bidhan Sarani Bidhan Sarani (formerly known as Cornwallis Street) is a principal north–south thoroughfare in north part of Kolkata, the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. It was named after the first Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra R ...

crossing, Chittaranjan Avenue crossing, Rabindra Sarani (Chitpur Road) crossing, Netaji Subhas Road crossing,

Burrabazar Burrabazar (also spelt ''Bara Bazar'') is a neighbourhood of Central-North Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Bazar Kolkata In between Sutanuti haat made way for Bazar Kolkata, some time in the 18th century ...

and Strand Road crossing/

Howrah Bridge The Howrah Bridge is a balanced cantilever bridge over the Hooghly River in West Bengal. Commissioned in 1943, the bridge was originally named the New Howrah Bridge, because it replaced a pontoon bridge at the same location linking the cities ...

. M.G. Road runs from Sealdah Flyover (Vidyapati Setu) in the eastern limit to the threshold of

in the west. The road is bi-directional throughout the day. Certain crossings are, however, unidirectional, that is, in certain crossings, vehicles can turn only in a specific direction.

Culture

Education institutions

Several educational institutions are located on or near Mahatma Gandhi Road, such as Anglo Arabic Secondary School, Gyan Bharati Vidyapith, St. Paul's School,

Hindu School Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest modern educational institution in Asia (then known as ''Hindu College''). The institution played a key role during Bengal R ...

, Lawrence Day School, Shri Jain Vidyalaya and St. Pauls' Mission School.

Restaurants

Some popular restaurants in or near Mahatma Gandhi Roadare Shreeram Dhaba, Aahar Restaurant, Madhuri Restaurant, Basanta Cabin.

Cinema halls

Several cinema halls are located on or near the road, such as Aruna, Chhabighar, Naaz, Purabi, Prabhat.

In popular culture

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

in this poem ''Ekdin Rate'' mentioned this street. The lines of the poem were— ''Howrah-r bridge chole mosto she bichhe, Harrison road chole tar pichhe, pichhe'' (the approximate English translation: The

is moving as if a large centipede and the Harrison Road moves behind it). Saradindu Bandopadhyay's famous fictional character,

Byomkesh Bakshi Byomkesh Bakshi is an Indian-Bengali fictional detective created by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. Referring to himself as a "truth-seeker" or Satyanweshi in the stories, Bakshi is known for his proficiency with observation, logical reasoning, and ...

- India's putative foremost detective, lived on Harrison Road in the second floor of a three-storied building along with his friend and associate Ajit Banerjee and domestic help, Putiram.

Gallery

File:Mahatma Gandhi Road - Strand Road View - Kolkata 2016-10-11 0591.JPG, MG Road and Strand Road Crossing File:Kolkata Tram on Mahatma Gandhi road IMG 20181215 101007.jpg,

Kolkata tram The tram system in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, operated by West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) after Calcutta Tramways Company (CTC) was dissolved, is the oldest existing tram network operating in India, and oldest operating ...

route no. 18 on MG Road near

File:Mahatma Gandhi Road - College Street Crossing - Kolkata 2015-02-09 2278.JPG, MG Road and College Street Crossing File:Mahatma Gandhi Road - Amharst Street Crossing - Kolkata 2015-02-09 2282.JPG, MG Road and Amherst Street Crossing File:Mahatma Gandhi Road and Surya Sen Street Crossing - Kolkata 2014-01-01 1787.JPG, MG Road and Surya Sen Street Crossing File:Vidyapati Setu - Mahatma Gandhi Road - Sealdah - Kolkata 2015-08-11 1974.JPG, Vidyapati Setu, MG Road,

Sealdah Sealdah is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Etymology Jackals (''sheal'' in Bengali) howled around Sealdah. Antiquarians identify it as Shrigaldwipa (Jackal Island). Nearby Beliaghata w ...

West Bengal

* College Street * Amherst Street

References

{{Streets of Kolkata, state=expanded Roads in Kolkata