Where to Eat Biriyani in Cuttack !

The Past, Present and Future of Cuttack!

Shreejit Swain,

Chief Editor , Cuttack Pulse

Madalapanji, the chronicle of Jagannatha temple, relates that Sri Ananga Bhima Deva III (1211- 1238 A.D.) at the sight of an auspicious sign near the Visvesvar temple of Barabati village laid the foundation stone of Barabati Kataka (Cuttack) or Varanasi Kataka (Cuttack) and made it the capital of Kalinga Empire. It is gleaned from the Nagari Copper Plate of Anagabhimadeva issued from the Abinavakataka that Anangabhima resided in the fort of Barabati.

While According to Andrew Stirling, present-day Cuttack was established as a military cantonment by king Nrupa Keshari of Keshari dynasty in 989 CE (Current Era). The reign of Maharaja Markata Keshari was distinguished for the stone embank built to protect the new capital from flood in 1002 CE.  

After the end of Ganga rule, Odisha passed to the hands of the Suryavansi Gajapati dynasty (1434–1541 CE) under whom Cuttack continued to be the capital of Odisha. Konark Temple, The Architectural marvel was conceptualized and built. The deity we worship as Cuttack Chandi was the primary deity of Gajapati Kings and was worshipped inside the fort. When the Islamic invaders attacked she was hidden unground to be later discovered by Hansa Panda who along with Kanika King restored the deity and constructed the present temple in the last century. It is said that around forty numbers bullock carts of Red Sindoor came out while digging and then emerged The Deity of Maa Katak Chandi Presently the temple is being restored to it’s original form by INTACH.

After the death of Raja Mukunda deva, the last Hindu king of Orissa, Cuttack first came under Muslim rule and later under Mughals, who made Cuttack the seat of the new Orissa Subah (imperial top-level province) under Shah Jahan.

Cuttack has numerous Islamic monuments that dots its history. The most important one is Kadam-e-Rasool.

Haji Syed Alimullah, a close relative of Syed Hashim of Mashar of Persia, brought the holy relic from Najab in Arabia with the signature of the Sheriff of Mecca. In the beginning, the relic was kept under a tree at Kukuriapada village in Sungra Pragana of Cuttack district to testify its genuineness.

As many people got cured of various diseases and ailments automatically because of the presence of the relic in Sungra Pragana, the news reached the-then ruler (deputy nazim) of the state. Even emperor Aurangzeb wanted to pay homage to the sacred relic. But it was not possible for him to come over because of the remote location of the place. Then, deputy Nazim Shujauddin Mohammed Khan decided to shift the relic to Cuttack so that more people could pay homage to it. Later, it was shifted to Rasulpur on the bank of river Mahanadi in 1099.

In 1750, Cuttack came under Maratha Rule, The Maratha Barracks are today one of the oldest surviving structures in Cuttack. Todays they house 6th battalion of Odisha state armed police.

As per the treaty of deogaon, Cuttack came under British occupation in 1803 and the English set themselves to the task of consolidation and land revenue administration. As an after effect of the devastating famine of 1866, the government gave serious consideration to remove the isolation of Cuttack from the outside world and at the same time to prevent the recurrence of such calamities in future. Along with several water ways, roads were also opened during the later part of the 19th century to provide Cuttack with internal communication. Then towards the last decade of the 19th century railway line of BNR connected Cuttack directly with Madras and Calcutta. There was a great change in the educational scenario of Cuttack after British occupation with the establishment of first Government English school in 1841 and it slowly progressed as the Higher English school until the famine of 1886.Then the school was converted into a college with intermediate teaching in 1868 which in due course of time took the name of Ravenshaw college. Ravenshaw college was converted to Ravenshaw University on 15th November 2006.Odisha Medical was established in 1875 following the establishment of Cuttack general hospital in 1874.The Cuttack Municipality came into existence in 1876.In 1923 two new educational institutions were opened in Cuttack. One was Cuttack Training College and the other was Odisha School of Engineering, which developed out of the old survey school separated from the Ravenshaw College in 1915 and from the Government workshop located at Jobra. Cuttack has been enjoying all along the unique privilege of being the administrative and commercial nerve centre of Odisha. It was the seat of the commissioner of Odisha Division till 1936 and with the formation of the province of Odisha in that year it was exalted to be the head quarter of

the new province. The historic Lalbagh place which was being occupied by the commissioner became the Governor House. Now it was being converted to children’s hospital called “Sishu Bhawan”. Barabati Stadium has been built on the famous Killa Maidan near the Barabati fort. The High court came into existence in 1948 and now has an impressive multi storied building from which it operates. In 1948 Akashvani (All India Radio) was established in the old Madhupur building of Cuttack. The glorious history of this city is something that the world envy. Cuttack acts as bridge linking the past, present and future of state’s History and Heritage.

Is the story of Cuttack city a story of past glory or is the city still has in it the appetite to inspire 21st century. Well that’s something the citizens have been pondering for past 2 decades. 

If you look at the think tank of Odisha and their plan of action for Cuttack city in the past decade you would definitely acknowledge their foresight. The Bidanasi Triangular Project which added 15 well planned Sectors to the age-old City. JICA aided drainage project which aims at solving storm water drainage issues and aims at providing 4 lane loads in the heart of the city by constructing box drains , Expansion of Internal and Ring Road to improve Intra City communication,  Construction of Trisullia and CDA-Choudwar bridge to improve communication of main land to the suburbs, Creation of Law Complex in Sector 1, Underground cabling are definitely some laudable steps but what went missing in their plans is smart education, smart infra and employment . 

Let me first talk about education. Cuttack though has some of the leading institutes of the state but lacks highly due to dearth of a good technical institute in an era dominated by engineering forcing people from Cuttack to go out for that. Ravenshaw university presently has become a place of politics and cheap appeasements with research and quality education taking a back seat. The second campus is a non-starter due to lack of funds. The National law university & Sri Sri university are definitely some good steps in improving the Educational Infra of the City. It’s a high time we attract Private and Government players to setup institutes which would have been instrumental in attracting best minds across the nation and boost our city knowledge diaspora.

Smart infra: the city restricted by two mighty rivers with no scope to grow is just the mindset which we have to break as early as possible. In fact, half of Indian cities have big rivers flowing inside them. Development of suburbs in places like Trisullia, Baranga, Gopalpur, Jagatpur, Naraj, Govindpur should be the first step. Establishing government offices and private Enterprises in those areas is the way to go. The city need road expansion and where not possible sealing should be done to force shops and commercial establishments to the outskirts and hence restricting the traffic in narrow lanes. Shops and commercial establishments shouldn’t be allowed in places without proper parking. In places like Baalu Bazaar, Buxi Bazaar, Naya Sadak, Haripur Road where huge no of commercial establishments with narrow lanes are prevalent, the establishments must be forced to shift to first floor and convert ground floor into parking space and thus minimizing the traffic woes.   Wherever possible the govt should take steps to expand roads.

Drains should be covered and roads should be constructed over it. Street vendors should only be allowed in vending zones. Slums should be replaced with multi-storeyed buildings. New 20+ storied building s must be constructed to shift offices and establishments.

Employment: this is the era of service sector. IT and consulting are leading employment across the world. Cuttack should change and make provisions for this new age companies. IT and Business hubs in outskirts should be the way to go.

But to fully understand the future of Cuttack we need to consider a major Factor “Bhubaneswar”.

The Capital was shifted 18 miles away from Cuttack and a new city called Bhubaneswar was established in 1946. A Greater Cuttack plan was in place. But things are much different in 2017, Today Bhubaneswar has outgrown Cuttack both in terms of Land and population and has been ranked no 1 among future Smart cities of India. It’s a hub of IT Sector and Education. The City is growing rapidly and today there is virtually no buffer area between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Surprisingly the distance between CDA, a major residential area in Cuttack and Patia, The IT and Education Hub of Bhubaneshwar is just 15 kms, which is less than most of the places in Bhubaneswar. The question that stakeholders need to ponder is how to integrate these two cities, one with age old Infra and high Pride and the other with aspiration to be a Metropolis. It’s high time for the government to create SPVs and and act upon State Capital Region Plans with High Speed transports systems like HSTS-High Speed Transit Systems (Metro Rapid Transit System, Bus Rapid Transit System etc), Systems where anyone from any suburb can reach main city within 1 hour, Business Hubs etc. The Stakeholders need to plan for each and every citizen’s need of education, employment and amusement to achieve this synchronisation or else the unhindered growth with leave both Cuttack and Bhubaneswar Paralysed.