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Dum
Dum
was
sparsely
populated
before
the
British
came.
The
area
was
slightly
elevated.
On
6
February
1757,
an
accord
was
signed
at
Dum
Dum
by
the
Nawab
of
Bengal
to
allow
the
British
to
build
forts
at
Calcutta,
Dacca
and
Kashim
Bazar.
In
1783
a
cantonment
was
established
at
Dum
Dum.
Military
barracks
were
built
and
civilians
started
coming
in
to
provide
essential
services
to
the
military
personnel.
A
Cantonment
Board
was
formed
to
provide
civic
amenities.
The
ordnance
factory
was
established
at
Dum
Dum
in
1846.
It
may
be
noted
that
both
North
Dumdum
Municipality
and
South
Dumdum
Municipality
were
established
in
1870
thereby
somewhat
defining
administratively
the
different
parts
of
an
earlier
undefined
Dum
Dum
"area".[11][12][13][14]
Dum
Dum
was
a
separate
subdivision
for
a
short
period
(See
Barrackpore
subdivision
for
more
information).
During
the
early
years
of
the
cantonment
the
British
waged
several
imperial
wars,
out
of
which
the
wars
in
Burma,
Nepal,
the
Deccan
and
Afganisthan
were
costly
in
blood
and
lives.
Two
monuments
were
erected
to
commemorate
their
memory.
During
the
1857
disturbances
the
Indian
sepoys
posted
at
Dum
Dum
were
affected
and
Mangal
Pandey
was
hanged
from
a
tree
at
Dum
Dum
cantonment
(he/
his
dead
body
was
probably
hanged
at
both
Barrackpore
and
Dum
Dum).
Dum
Dum
cantonment
was
closed
down
and
the
Cantonment
Board
was
replaced
by
Dum
Dum
Municipality
in
1929.
The
temporary
set
back
to
Dum
Dum
arising
from
abolition
of
the
cantonment
and
departure
of
British
troops,
was
partially
made
up
with
the
shifting
of
Jessop
&
Co.
from
Howrah
to
Dum
Dum
in
1928
and
establishment
of
the
Gramophone
Company
at
Dum
Dum
in
1929.
Bengal
Flying
Club,
established
in
1920,
had
a
small
fleet
of
single
engine
moth
planes.
The
independence
movement
led
to
the
sudden
development
of
the
Central
Jail,
where
many
top
leaders
and
more
numerous
unknown
patriots
were
lodged.
The
old
military
barracks
made
way
for
multi-storied
jail
barracks.
The
environment
quite
often
reverberated
with
the
chanting
of
Vande
Mataram.[11]
With
the
partition
of
Bengal
in
1947,
"millions
of
refugees
poured
in
from
erstwhile
East
Pakistan."[15]
In
the
initial
stages
bulk
of
the
refugees
were
non-agriculturists.
A
few
of
them
made
their
own
arrangements,
but
"it
was
squatters
who
made
the
East
Bengali
refugees
famous
or
infamous."
Squatting
(jabardakhal
in
Bengali)
ranged
from
the
forcible
occupation
of
barracks
to
the
collective
take-over
of
private,
government
and
waste
land.
"This
happened
as
early
as
1948
with
middle
class
refugees
in
the
Jadavpur
area:
first
on
government
land
and
then
on
private
property,
leading
to
violent
clashes.
Having
won
the
battle,
the
elated
squatters
named
their
colony
‘Bijaygarh’,
the
Fort
of
Victory."
By
1949,
there
were
40
such
colonies
in
Jadavpur,
Kasba,
Santoshpur,
Garia
and
Behala,
in
the
south-eastern
part
of
the
city,
and
65
in
the
Dum
Dum
and
Panihati
zone
in
the
north.
Subsequently
squatters
colonies
also
came
up
along
the
west
bank
of
the
Hooghly
and
by
1950,
there
were
150
such
colonies.
It
has
to
be
borne
in
mind
that
the
squatters
were
in
a
way
"self-settlers"
in
the
absence
of
adequate
official
arrangements
for
rehabilitation.
Within
a
very
short
time
the
refugees
(quite
often
with
government/
administrative
support)
not
only
found
a
place
to
stay
but
developed
a
society
with
markets,
schools,
temples
and
sometimes
even
colleges,
hospitals
and
recreational
centres.[16][17]
Efforts
have
been
made
in
more
recent
years
to
regularise
land/property
rights
in
the
refugee
colonies.[18][19][20][21]
