B.B.D. Bag (Bengali: বি.বি.ডি.বাগ়)
BBD Bag formerly called Dalhousie Square, is the shortened version for Benoy-Badal-Dinesh Bagh. It is the seat of power of the state government, as well as the central business district in Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal.
Origin of name: -
BBD stands for three young Indian independence activists - Benoy Basu, Badal Basu and Dinesh Gupta, who on 8 December 1930 shot dead the Inspector General of Prisons, N.S. Simpson, in the balconies of Writers' building of the then Dalhousie square. Previously the square had been named after Lord Dalhousie, Governor General of India from 1847 to 1856. At different times it has been called ‘The Green before the Fort’ or Tank Square.
Significance: -
B. B. D. Bag continues to be like the 'HEART' of Kolkata and many famous buildings housing important businesses and bank share located here. The Writer's Building-secretariat of West Bengal government, Royal Exchange (a one-time residence of Robert Clive and now the office of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry), General Post Office (G.P.O.) of Kolkata, Telephone Bhawan, St. John's Church are all situated around the square. The place is locally known as the “Office Para” - meaning the locality of offices. A large part of the daily commuters to Kolkata from the neighbourhood area comes here for livelihood. The square is famous for the cheap food vendors that sell ready foods throughout the day to the "office-babus" and pedestrians, all the clerks and officers that work in the offices. However, in the night, the place becomes eerily silent as there are hardly any residential buildings in the district.
The St. John's Church's yard has the Mausoleum of Job Charnock. The building is supposedly the oldest piece of masonry in Calcutta.B.B.D.Bagh also has statue of famous philanthropist Maharaja Lakshmeshwar Singh of Darbhanga (1858 -1898) sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford.
Preservation: -
The Dalhousie Square was included in the 2004 and 2006 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) due to "decades of neglect". After this listing the international financial services company American Express provided funding through WMF for the square's preservation.
Location: -
The BBD Bag area is located at the central Kolkata and is a square built around the old Lal Dighi tank. The old fort built by the British was around where the General Post Office now is. The area was in the heart of Kalikata or the White Town in old Calcutta.It is just 2.5 km from Howrah Station.
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