Priya Manna Basti

All my dawns cross the horizon
and rise from underfoot.
What I stand for
is what I stand on.

Wendell Berry


Priya Manna Basti is a century-old jute workers’ settlement, that is today home to about 50,000 people, mainly labouring, Urdu-speaking, Muslim households.

This is a degraded, poverty-stricken locality, with inadequate civic amenities. Gastro-intestinal and waterborne diseases are common.

What is today known as PM Basti, was originally the property of two Englishmen - John Chew and James Chew. It was then known as ‘Chew’s Garden’, and there were a number of flower gardens, ponds and small structures on the site. One of the Chews was killed when he suffered a riding accident and fell from his horse into a pond. His brother then sold the property. The new owner re-named it after his wife.

Basti means “settlement” in north Indian languages. In common parlance, basti also refers to the habitation of low-income workers, of the common folk, of the labouring poor.

After Howrah Mills, Ganges Jute Mill, and Fort William Jute Mill were set up, and workers from the neighbouring states of Bihar and UP came to work in these factories, there was an acute need for housing the jute mill workers. Workers took small plots of land on the former Chew garden on rent and built huts for themselves - made of earth and wattle-and-daub. In this manner, about two hundred densely packed houses came up. This was around the turn of the last century.

Photo: Achinto