A fodder storage has been converted into a museum for Kollkata Mounted Police at its headquarters on SN Banerjee Road in central part of the city. It is older than Kolkata police having been introduced in the city in 1840. The force started with two sowars under a Dafadar or Head Officer who carried messages to the harbour master whenever any ship was sighted.
Inaugurating the museum, city’s police commissioner Somen Mitra said, “The mounted police are an important force of Kolkata Police. Kolkatans are fond of animals. They have an empathy for animals as proven by how they took care of all the strays during the pandemic. Horses are beautiful animals. We can learn more about horses and tell people more about horses through this museum.”
He said all the documentation has been done by wild life enthusiast and restaurateur Shiladitya Chaudhury. The project was supported by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce.
Just as the fodder storage has been turned into a legacy centre with a museum, Mitra said, the Jorabagan Traffic Guard, one of the most beautiful Kolkata police properties with Baroque-Bengal architecture, would also have a lounge with the history of the local area on display. “Kolkata police, the city’s law enforcement agency, grew and developed with the city itself. So it can tell the stories of its lanes and bylanes,” said Mitra.
Apart from inaugurating the museum, Mitra also launched a book, Built Heritage of Kolkata Police, which he has authored with Nikhil Kapur who has photographed all the properties of the police force. The book has been published by Intach. Launching the book, Intach convener GM Kapur said: “During Mitra’s tenure as commissioner 45 buildings of the Kolkata Police have been restored.”
The book has a detailed introduction by Mitra who lists all the important properties of Kolkata Police and explains the architectural and operational significance of each. Of the police headquarters, he writes: “The immediate impression made by Lalbazar today is not of grandeur, nor even of whimsy but of something solid, severe, functional but authoritative.”
He goes on to list the Security Control Office on AJC Bose Road, which he writes belonged to Nalini Ranjan Sircar, a politician and economist. The divisional headquarters of Kolkata Police, the DC South office, the DC North Office, the DC Port Office and the DC Central Office are all “variations of the neo-classical double storey bungalows” that filled the city a century ago.
He writes elaborately on the Dalanda House before shedding light on another gem, the headquarters of the Special Branch, one of the last Elysium Row bungalows on Lord Sinha Road.