Urban city park in North India
26°28′02″N
80°21′37″E
/
26.467308°N 80.360248°E
/
26.467308; 80.360248
Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Udyan
/
Phool Bagh
(
Hindi
: ???? ???? ?????????? ?????? / ??? ????, ?????? ),
earlier
Queen's Park
, is an
urban
city park
in
Kanpur
, the industrial hub of
Uttar Pradesh
in North
India
. It has been the location for many public meetings and political rallies in Kanpur from the early twentieth century.
Importance
[
edit
]
The original greenery of the park has been restored after local Development Authority leased the park on BOOT basis to private developer.
History
[
edit
]
Queen Victoria Park
[
edit
]
During the reign of Queen Victoria in Britain, the park was named as Queen Victoria Garden.
King Edward
ruled Britain from 1901 to 1910. In 1876, as the
Prince of Wales
, he had been the first
British
royal prince
to visit India on a state visit, after the control of India passed from the
East India Company
to the
British Crown
. During this trip to India, he had visited Kanpur as well.
Gandhi Bhawan
[
edit
]
European
merchants
who had settled in Cawnpore, felt the need for a European style
amusement center
in Cawnpore.
On the death of King Edward in Britain, the hall was initially established as a
memorial
to commemorate his 1876 visit to Cawnpore and was named as K. E. M Hall. The
funds
for the park were collected from European traders settled in Kanpur and
Indian
merchants.
The K.E.M. (King Edward Memorial) Hall was initially planned as a
wooden
dancing floor for Western style, ball room dancing. Due to outbreak of
World War I
in 1914, construction of the hall was interrupted. There was a regular
hospital
in Kanpur Cantonment for
soldiers
injured in the
World War
. As the facilities in this hospital were not adequate, the
K.E.M. Hall
was temporarily used to house wounded World War I
British soldiers
in the temporary hospital inside KEM Hall.
The hall construction was completed after the end of World War I in 1918. It was used by European
settlers
in India for cultural activities. Occasionally it was rented to rich Indian merchants for marriage ceremonies.
After independence in 1947, KEM Hall was renamed as Gandhi Bhawan. A part of this Gandhi Bhawan now houses a
Municipal
library and the
Kanpur Sangrahalaya
/ Kanpur Museum.
Location
[
edit
]
The park is located in the central area of Kanpur city and is close to right bank of river
Ganga
,
Kanpur Central
railway station, LIC Building and
Nana Rao Park
.
Attractions
[
edit
]
- Kanpur Sangrahalaya
( Kanpur Museum ) is located in the park ground.
- Cawnpore Union Club is located inside the precincts.
- A water pumping station supplying
drinking water
to Kanpur residents is located inside the grounds.
- An enclosed sewage dumping ground has been created inside the park by the Kanpur Municipal Corporation authorities.
- It is located close to
Nana Rao Park
.
Historical awareness
[
edit
]
People like
Mahatma Gandhi
,
Indira Gandhi
,
Ram Manohar Lohia
,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee
have given public speeches inside this park.
References
[
edit
]
|
---|
History
| |
---|
Places of worship
and tourist spots
| |
---|
Ghats
| |
---|
Government agencies
| |
---|
Public parks
| |
---|
Companies
| |
---|
Education
| Universities
| |
---|
Medical colleges
| |
---|
Technological institutes
| |
---|
Private technological
institutes
| |
---|
|
---|
Localities
| North West Kanpur
| |
---|
Central Kanpur
| |
---|
East Kanpur
| |
---|
West Kanpur
| |
---|
South Kanpur
| |
---|
Left Bank
| |
---|
|
---|
Hotels
| |
---|
Economy and transport
| |
---|
Sports
| |
---|
Lok Sabha constituencies
| |
---|
Assembly constituencies
| |
---|
Other topics
| |
---|
|