4/5 Ashis R. 4 years ago on Google
Nice
but....Kurseong
is
47
kilometres
(29 mi)
from Siliguri and
is
connected
to
the
city
by
road
and
the Darjeeling
Himalayan
Railway.
The
nearest
airport
is
at Bagdogra and
the
nearest
major
railway
station
is New
Jalpaiguri,
which
is
about
53
kilometres
(33 mi)
from
the
town.
The
economy
is
based
primarily
on
education
and
tourism.The
original
inhabitants
were
the Lepcha
people,
who
named
their
home
"Kurseong",
because
every
spring
it
was
alive
and
bright
with
Kurson-Rip
orchids.
In
the
remote
past,
Kurseong
was
a
part
of
the
Kingdom
of Sikkim,
even
before
the
British
came
to
India.
However,
in
around
1780
the Nepalese conquered
and
annexed
Kurseong
and
its
surrounding
areas.
Then
came
the Gurkha
War,
which
the
Nepalese
lost.
The
1817 Treaty
of
Titalia restored
Kurseong
to
Sikkim.[6]
With
its
mountains
providing
a
cool
and
dry
environment
in
the
summer,
Kurseong
was
a
favourite
of
the British.
Nevertheless,
they
found
travelling
there
from
the
plains
of
Bengal
difficult,
even
on
warm
sunny
days
because
of
the
mountains.
Although
a
road
was
built
from
Kurseong
to
Darjeeling
from Titalia in
the
1770s
and
1780s,
its
irregular
maintenance
soon
made
the
new
route,
the Military
Road,
almost
useless.
The
next
route,
Hill
Cart
Road
(now
Tenzing
Norgay
Road),
opened
in
1861
and
fared
better.
Nevertheless,
in
1835
the
British
decided
that
Darjeeling
would
make
an
excellent sanitorium and
summer
residence
for
their
military
and
civilian
officers
along
with
their
families.
Negotiations
with
the Chogyal of
Sikkim, Tshudpud
Namgyal,
provided
them
a
strip
of
hill
territory
in
Kurseong
for
an
annual
fee.
As
one
of
the
hill
stations
on
the
road
to
Darjeeling,
Kurseong
began
to
develop.
Kurseong
is
home
to
one
of
the
oldest
municipalities
in
the
state
of
West
Bengal.
Established
as
an
independent
Municipality
in
1879,
it
did
not
become
a
Sub-Division
until
1890,
when
the
District
of
Darjeeling
was
formed.
Kurseong
and
the
District
were
added
to
the Rajshahi
Division (now
West
Central Bangladesh)
by
the British
Raj for
the Bengal
Presidency.
In
1908,
they
were
transferred
to
the
Bhagalpur
Division
in
the
same
Presidency.
Before
Independence
from
the
British,
there
were
12
ward
commissioners.
Four
of
them
were
appointed
by
the
British
Raj
and
it
also
appointed
its
own
man,
the
Sub-Divisional
Officer
(S.D.O.),
as
their
Chairman.
In
1939,
when
Bengal
became
a
province
of
British
India,
Kurseong
was
allowed
to
elect
its
own
member
to
be
the
chairman,
but
the
Raj
continued
to
send
ward
commissioners
until
India
gained
independence.
Nevertheless,
between
1939
and
1942,
Kurseong
grew
rapidly.
As
of
today
Kurseong
has
20
commissioners.
