2/5 MR L. 2 years ago on Google
The
Writers'
Buildings,
often
shortened
to
just
Writers',
is
the
official
secretariat
building
of
the
state
government
of
West
Bengal
in
Kolkata,
India.
The
150-meter
long
building
covers
the
entire
northern
stretch
of
the
iconic
Lal
Dighi
pond
at
the
centre
of
historic
B.B.D.
Bagh,
long
considered
as
the
administrative
and
business
hub
of
the
city.
It
originally
served
as
the
principal
administrative
office
for
writers
(junior
clerks)
of
the
British
East
India
Company
(EIC).
Designed
by
Thomas
Lyon
in
1777,
the
Writers'
Building
has
gone
through
a
long
series
of
extensions
over
the
centuries.
Since
India's
independence
in
1947,
it
housed
the
office
of
the
Chief
Minister
of
West
Bengal,
cabinet
ministers
and
other
senior
officials,
until
4
October
2013,
when
a
major
restoration
of
the
building
was
announced.
The
majority
of
government
departments
were
subsequently
moved
out
to
a
new
repurposed
building
named
Nabanna
in
Howrah
on
a
temporary
basis.
The
building
has
been
called
a
mini-township
of
sorts
with
a
built-up
area
of
around
550,000
square
feet.
Before
the
shifting
of
the
state
secretariat,
the
building
housed
34
departments
of
the
state
government,
and
served
as
the
office
for
approximately
6,000
employees.[1]
As
of
October
2020,
the
renovation
of
the
building
continues.
The
Writers'
Building
was
designed
by
Thomas
Lyon
in
1777
for
the
EIC,
which
wanted
to
consolidate
its
trading
operations
in
India
and
centralize
the
tax
operations
the
EIC
undertook
in
Mughal
Bengal.
Over
time,
as
British
mercantile
interest
in
India
grew
and
the
EIC
defeated
the
Nawabs
of
Bengal,
it
was
repurposed
as
the
effective
headquarters
of
the
EIC
and
later
the
entire
British
Raj
in
the
Indian
subcontinent.
For
more
than
200
years
the
building
served
as
the
centre
of
British
power
and
claims,
as
the
seat
of
government
of
the
Bengal
Presidency
and
later
the
province
of
Bengal.
In
the
early
part
of
the
twentieth
century,
the
building
was
the
site
of
agitations,
violence
and
assassination
attempts
during
the
Indian
independence
movement.[2]
Since
India's
independence
in
1947,
it
has
served
as
the
state
secretariat
and
has
been
the
location
of
turbulent
politics,
mob
violence
and
police
brutality.
It
has
also
become
a
popular
metonym
for
the
government
of
West
Bengal,
and
especially
the
unbroken
34-year
long
Left
Front
rule
in
the
state.
The
building
has
also
played
a
fundamental
part
in
shaping
the
history
of
the
immediate
region,
as
the
village
of
Kalikata
became
British
Calcutta
and
finally
Kolkata.
From
its
conception,
the
building
was
designed
to
become
the
focal
administrative
and
business
hub
of
the
city
emerging
around
it
and
was
thus
built
close
to
existing
infrastructure
owned
by
the
EIC.
It
was
constructed
on
parts
of
the
same
parcel
of
land
where
the
original
Fort
William,
the
EICs
primary
military
stronghold
in
Bengal,
stood
until
1756.
It
also
marked
the
centre
of
the
'White
Town',
populated
primarily
by
English
merchants,
officers
and
EIC
functionaries
which
was
kept
separate
from
the
'Black
Town'
populated
primarily
by
the
native
landowners
and
businessmen.
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