Previous Year Question
The “Secretariat Building” of which State is known as “Writer’s Building”?
Assam
West Bengal
Maharashtra
Karnataka
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
Writers’ Buildings is a historic administrative building situated in the B.B.D. Bagh area of Kolkata and served for a long period as the main Secretariat of the Government of West Bengal.
The name “Writers’” originated because junior clerks of the East India Company were then known as “Writers.” The building was initially developed for the office and residential requirements of these Company writers.
After Independence, it became a major administrative centre of West Bengal, housing the offices of the Chief Minister, Ministers and senior officials.
Writers’ Buildings is also associated with the Indian freedom struggle. On 8 December 1930, revolutionaries Binoy Basu, Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta attacked British official N. S. Simpson inside the building. Dalhousie Square was subsequently renamed B.B.D. Bagh in memory of these three revolutionaries.
Current Status
The principal administrative functioning of the West Bengal Government was later shifted to Nabanna in Howrah. The current government directory places the Chief Secretary and many major departments at Nabanna, while some departments and the West Bengal Secretariat Library continue to be associated with Writers’ Buildings.