Making of city's wards

Making of city's wards

Many of Bangalore's areas get their names from traditional businesses and prominent personalities
The Hindu

The City of Bangalore at the time of establishment of the Municipal Board comprised 54 wards, each of which had their own head called Yajamanas, Settis and whose office was hereditary. Balepet was where the bangle sellers resided, Akkipet for rice sellers, Cottonpet for cotton traders, Upparpet, the salt manufacturers. Similarly in Cantonment, Pottery Street was meant for potters, Bamboo Street for basket makers and Tannery Street for tanners.

In 1892, the Western extension was formed in the city and sites measuring 30 ft by 108 ft was sold community-wise at rates between Rs. 25 and Rs. 50. Here is the break-up of how many sites were distributed to the various communities: Brahmin — 200, Vaisya — 100, Sivachar — 100, Mudaliar, Naidu and other Hindus — 200, Muslims — 100, and Indian Christians — 50

Bungalow sites measuring 90 feet by 108 ft and 120 ft by 108 ft were sold for Rs. 50. This extension was later named as Chamarajendrapet. Similarly another extension in the northern part of the city was formed and named Sheshadripuram, after Diwan Sheshadri Iyer.

New extensions

After the plague havoc, to relieve congestion in the city, two new extensions, Malleswaram, extending to an area of 291 acres and named after the Kaadu Malleswara temple, and Basavanagudi, comprising an area of 440 acres and named after the Basava temple was formed. Here too, sites of various dimensions were sold community-wise.

As the prices of the residential sites that varied between Rs. 75 and Rs. 150 were not affordable by the poorer sections of the city, the rates were revised and fixed at Re. 1 for every 100 sq feet or Rs. 30 for a residential site measuring 30/100.

To encourage construction of houses, the government of Mysore granted an advance of one year's salary to government employees, repayable without interest in four years.

Many parks, markets and circles were named after prominent personalities of the State. The K.R. Market was named after the ruler of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, who ruled the State from1901 to 1940.

Russell Market

Russell Market near Shivajinagar was named after T.B. Russell, who was the President of Cantonment Municipality between 1924 and 1928. It was he who was responsible for getting through the scheme of that market. Khan Bahadur Hajee Ismail Sait, a philanthropist, opened it on August 5, 1927.

The Coles Park in Frazer town was named after the Resident of Mysore A.H. Coles, while the Silver Jubilee Park near K.R. Market was laid to commemorate the Silver jubilee celebration of the accession of the king of Mysore, Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, in 1927.

The road on one side of the Park was named Silver Jubilee Park Road and the Road on the other side of the park is named Narasimharaja Road in memory of Narasimharaja Wodeyar, the brother of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV who passed away in 1940. The Anand Rao Circle was named after Anand Rao, the Diwan of Mysore between 1909 and 1912. The Sajjan Rao Circle was named after the philanthropist Sajjan Rao.

The commercial hub of the city, Avenue Road, was so called as it had rows of trees on either side of the road. In Malleswaram we have the Margosa Road and the Sampige Road as on either side of these Roads Margosa and Champak trees had been planted. The B.V.K. Iyengar Road was opened to give a direct approach Road from Mysore Road to Sheshadri Road. The road was named after B.V.K. Iyengar, who had been the Vice-President of Bangalore Municipal Council for some time. The Municipality had acquired his building "Manorama" for opening the K.G. Road with Chikpet.

In August 1948, the then Governor General of India C. Rajagopalachari inaugurated the Jayanagar extension named after Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, the last ruler of princely Mysore. On July 3, 1949, the industrial suburb of the city was inaugurated by the Maharaja of Mysore and named as Rajajinagar after C. Rajagopalachari.