Cannon digging work finally complete
The digging work of the cannon at Strand Road that was started on May 4 has finally been completed with the structure successfully extracted from the ground.
The digging work was stalled recently with the Railways objecting to it since they feared it could affect their Fairlie Place headquarters which is an old heritage building. However, the impasse was soon broken after the Kolkata Municipal Corporation engineers assured the Railways that the structure was beneath the pavement and not inside the Railway HQ premises.
A team of railway engineers had also visited the site for inspection to see if the operations could cause any damage to the heritage building. The digging work was supervised by Biplab Roy, the administrator general and official trustee of Bengal, and Amitabha Karkun, a firearm enthusiast.
It is learnt that the cannon, after it is extracted, will be examined carefully to determine its history and age. It is estimated that it could be of a British make. It was only last year that the Indian Navy recovered two British-era cannons while clearing a piece of land on the left bank of the Hooghly.
Earlier, in 2019, two cannons, more than 200 years old and belonging to the Royal British Army and Navy, were restored and opened for public viewing opposite Jorabagan Police Station.
They were found near Mayo Hospital and were later shifted to Nimtala. Cannons were said to have been first brought to India by Babur. There are two big and majestic cannons in Bengal by the name of Jahan Kosha and Dalmadal, located in the Murshidabad and Bishnupur districts respectively.
