Canning, South 24 Parganas
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Canning ক্যানিং Matla |
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|---|---|
| city | |
 Canning
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| Coordinates: 22°19′N 88°40′E / 22.32°N 88.67°ECoordinates: 22°19′N 88°40′E / 22.32°N 88.67°E | |
| Country |
 India
|
| State | West Bengal |
| District | South 24 Parganas |
| Elevation | 4 m (13 ft) |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 450,321 |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Bengali, English |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 743329 |
| Telephone code | 91 3218 |
| Sex ratio | 953 ♂/♀ |
| Lok Sabha constituency | Jaynagar (SC) |
| Vidhan Sabha constituency | Canning Paschim (SC), Canning Purba, Basanti (SC) |
| Website | s24pgs |
The Matla
The bazaars ended in causeway that led away from the town towards the Matla River. Although the causeway was a long one it fell short of the river…He remembered the Matla as a vast waterway, one of the most formidable rivers he had ever seen. But it was low tide now and the river in the distance was no wider than a narrow ditch flowing along the centre of a kilometre-wide bed. The freshly-laid silt that bordered the water glistened in the sun like dunes of melted chocolate. From time to time, bubbles of air rose from the depths and burst through to the top, leaving rings on the burnished surface… Although the vessel could not have been more than nine metres in length, it was carrying at least a hundred passengers, and possibly more: it was so heavily loaded that the water was within fifteen centimetres of its gunwales. It came to a halt and the crew proceeded to extrude a long gang plank that led directly into the mudbank.
Canning (also referred to as Port Canning) is headquarters of Canning subdivision and a town with a police station in South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Headquarters of two CD Blocks – Canning I and Canning II – of the subdivision are located in this town. Carrying the memory of an abandoned port, the town is dependent to some extent on the changing fortunes of the Matla River. It is a major centre for the supply of fish to Kolkata.
The place is named after Lord Canning. He was Governor General of India from 1856 to 1858, and Governor General and Viceroy from 1858 to 1862.
H. E. A. Cotton writes, "The year 1864… It witnessed also the speculative mania over an unlucky scheme for the reclamation of the Sunderbands, of which nothing remains but the deserted wharves of Port Canning, but which resulted in ruin to many". The idea of developing a major port at Canning faded with the choking of the Matla river as a result of inadequate headwater supply.
Lord Canning wanted to build a port that would be an alternative to Kolkata and a rival to Singapore. What no one heeded were the warnings of a lowly shipping inspector Henry Piddington, who had lived in the Caribbean and knew all about hurricanes and storms. He wanted the mangroves to be left alone, as they were Bengal’s defensive barrier against nature’s fury and absorbed the initial onslaught of cyclonic winds, waves and tidal surges. They went on to build a grand Canning with a strand, hotels and homes, but in 1867, the Matla river surged its fury on the new port-town, reducing it to a "bleached skeleton". Two different building was made for the purpose of administration namely 'Golkuthi' and 'Hotelkuthi'. The first one was demolished completely and the 'Hotelkuthi' is still standing in a ruined form near Helicopter More, Canning town.
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Wikipedia