The Writers' Buildings, often shortened to just Writers', is the official secretariat building of the
B.B.D. Bagh
, long considered as the administrative and business hub of the city.
It originally served as the principal administrative office for writers (junior clerks) of the
Chief Minister of West Bengal, cabinet ministers and other senior officials, until 4 October 2013, when a major restoration of the building was announced. The majority of government departments were subsequently moved out to a new re-purposed building named Nabanna in Howrah
on a temporary basis.
The building has been called a mini-township of sorts with a built-up area of around 550,000 square feet. Before the shifting of the state secretariat, the building housed 34 departments of the state government, and served as the office for approximately 6,000 employees.[1] As of October 2020,[update] the renovation of the building continues.
History
The Writers' Building was designed by Thomas Lyon in 1777 for the EIC, which wanted to consolidate its trading operations in India and centralize the tax operations the EIC undertook in
Nawabs of Bengal, it was re-purposed as the effective headquarters of the EIC and later the entire British Raj in the Indian subcontinent. For more than 200 years the building served as the centre of British power and claims, as the seat of government of the Bengal Presidency and later the Province of Bengal. In the early part of the twentieth century, the building was the site of agitations, violence and assassination attempts during the Indian independence movement.[2] Since India's independence in 1947, it has served as the state secretariat and has been the location of turbulent politics, mob violence and police brutality. It has also become a popular metonym for the government of West Bengal, and especially the unbroken 34-year long Left Front rule
in the state.
The building has also played a fundamental part in shaping the
Fort William
, the EICs primary military stronghold in Bengal, stood until 1756. It also marked the centre of the 'White Town', populated primarily by English merchants, officers and EIC functionaries which was kept separate from the 'Black Town' populated primarily by the native landowners and businessmen.