State of Housing in Dum Dum (ward 21 & 22), Kolkata, West Bengal

Introduction
The Dum Dum constituency lies in the north eastern part of Kolkata, at the vicinity of the airport and the
central jail. It is connected by 2 major arterial roads – Jessore road and Vip road, railways – Cantonment
station along with the new upcoming metro line no. 6, to the city. It falls under the jurisdiction of North
24 Parganas of West Bengal.

According to the District handbook of north 24 parganas:

Dum Dum ward no 21

population - 5574

workers total - 2128

main workers - 1509

cultivators - 9

agricultural labourers - 4

workers (household) - 51

other workers - 1445

households - 1333

marginal workers –619

Dum Dum ward no 22

population - 5194

workers total - 1263

main workers - 1161

cultivators - 8

agricultural labourers - 38

workers (household) - 14

other workers - 1101

households- 1159

marginal workers – 102

Historical evolution of the settlement

Dum Dum ward no. 21 and 22 has been a historically significant area. In 1775, the Bengal artillery factory
and the cantonment were established. Along with it, several British officers' bungalows were built all along
an avenue which was known as mall road, which connected the ammunitions factory to the house of
Major General Robert Clive. (The mall road area falls under the ward 21 and 22 of Dum Dum) Mall road
became the official residential area for the British Officials working in the Cantonment and the artillery
factory.
(Source: Saha, Moumita (2017), Maps of Dum Dum and its Environs, Peoples Green Society, Kolkata)

In 1853 the cantonment was shifted to Barrackpore as a result of which the British officials had to shift to
newer locations. This also led the cantonment board to sell off the properties to the local zamindars of
this area as free hold property. (Refer map of Dum Dum 1908-1909) Around this time, in 1920-24 the
Jessop factory and the aerodrome were established which led to the influx of high officials who worked
in this area. Therefore, the plots owned by the local zamindars as freehold property started to get further
subdivided into smaller plots and sold to middle- and upper-class people. (Refer map of Dum Dum 1953)

After independence, the influx of refugees led to squatting on these plots which made some of the local
zamindars to set up factories which would stop refugees from squatting and also because of strong labor
force existing in this area. The plots were the refugees squatted soon got legitimized into formal colonies
after. On the eastern part of Mall road, refugees settled in as it was comparatively a low-lying area. Later
the refugee settlements were legitimized into formal colonies by the government. The formalized colonies
were named after nationalist leaders. (Patel nagar is one such colony in this case). The migrants who came
from UP and Bihar to work in the factories formed squatter settlements or unauthorized slums, which
were called bustees. The unauthorized slums are known by their own local names: the ones near roadside
are called jhupri, alongside canals are called khaldars and those that establish themselves in any vacant
space are called udbastu. (In this case, aam tala, Christian colony, hindustani bustee, nepali bustee, refer
to the territorialized map of the study area)

At present context, due to establishment of the IT hub (New town-Rajarhat) towards the east of kolkata,
this area has come under massive real estate pressures. The factories which were setup earlier became
derelict with time, which gave rise to the coming up of gated communities as the derelict factories were
large parcels.
Residential area types

1. Plotted housing

The average area of plotted housing ranges from 150 to 200 sqm. These were the freehold lands of the
zamindars who subdivided it into plots and sold it. Morphologically, these housing consists up to 3 floors
on an average, with proper side open spaces which ensures adequate light and ventilation. The houses
are detached in form with average means of access of about 4 to 7 meters.

2. Refugee colonies

These were the former squatter settlements by refugees from Bangladesh which got legitimized in the
70’s. Morphologically they are built to edge, often having commercial use in the ground floor and upper
floors with residential use. They are all detached housing with a maximum height upto 2 floors, and
apartment blocks upto 5 floors. The average means of access ranges from 2.5 to 4 meters. The average
size ranges from 80 – 120 sqm.
3. Factory worker’s housing

These are in the form of single storied hutments with an average area of 10-20 sqm organized in the form
of rows along the edges of the factories.

4. Bustees

These are unauthorized slums with an average size of 10 sqm. They are mostly aligned along the canal.
With no services provided in terms of drainage, sanitation, waste management or water supply, the
environmental conditions of these settlements are appalling. The canal is used for the disposal of sewage.

5. Gated communities

These are usually group housing with gated enclaves. These are of various areas depending on the size of
the parcel, the minimum size is of 2000 sqm. The average height ranges from 20m to 36m.

Among these typologies, the bustee typology needs to be taken care of. The bustee typology is of two
types, one which is found on government land and the later are the ones which are constructed on private
land. The later typology is found in the area of study. Along with issues of lack provision for proper light
and ventilation, lack of proper sanitation and sewage facilities, there is another major problem which is,
the landowner does not allow any kind of alteration to be done. The bustee dwelling units get overheated
every summer due to lack of proper roofing system and every year the residents face fatalities during
monsoon season because of lack of proper drainage channels. The municipality does cannot intervene in
this situation because the land belongs to private ownership. Therefore, some kind of policies needs to
instrumented to tackle this issue and to direct future development in a sustainable manner. Also, the
private owners on whose land the bustees are located, the bustee dwellers face eviction threats so that
the private owner can sell the plot to real estate dealers or developers, as the land price of this locality in
the entire part of Dum Dum constituency is the highest. Therefore, in situ slum redevelopment policies
on private land needs to be instrumented which would provide incentives to the private land owner.