Kanpur

Kanpur from the river in 1858

In the 19th century, Cawnpore was an important British garrison with barracks for 7,000 soldiers. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, 900 British men, women and children were besieged in the fortifications for 22 days by rebels under Nana Sahib Peshwa. They surrendered on the agreement that they would get safe passage to the nearby Satti Chaura Ghat whereupon they would board barges and be allowed to go by river to Allahabad.[16]

Though controversy surrounds what exactly happened at the Satti Chaura Ghat, and who fired the first shot, it is known that, soon afterwards, the departing British were shot at by the rebel sepoys and were either killed or captured. Some of the British officers later claimed that the rebels had, on purpose, placed the boats as high in the mud as possible, to cause delay. They also claimed that Nana Sahib's camp had previously arranged for the rebels to fire upon and kill all the English. Although the East India Company later accused Nana Sahib of betrayal and murder of innocent people, no evidence has ever been found to prove that Nana Sahib had pre-planned or ordered the massacre. Some historians believe that the Satti Chaura Ghat massacre was the result of confusion, and not of any plan implemented by Nana Sahib and his associates. Lieutenant Mowbray Thomson, one of the four male survivors of the massacre, believed that the rank-and-file sepoys who spoke to him did not know of the killing to come.[17]

Many were killed and the remaining 200 British women and children were brought back to shore and sent to a building called the Bibighar (the ladies' home). After some time, the commanders of the rebels decided to kill their hostages. The rebel soldiers refused to carry out orders and butchers from the nearby town were brought in to kill the hostages three days before the British entered the city on 18 July. The dismembered bodies were thrown into a deep well nearby. The British under General Neill retook the city and committed a series of retaliations against the rebel Sepoys and those civilians caught in the area, including women, children and old men. The Cawnpore Massacre, as well as similar events elsewhere, were seen by the British as justification for unrestrained vengeance.[18] "Remember Cawnpore" became a war cry for British for the rest of the rebellion.

Kanpur division which consists of seven districts, and is headed by the divisional commissioner of Kanpur, who is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of high seniority, the commissioner is the head of local government institutions (including municipal corporations) in the division, is in charge of infrastructure development in his division, and is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the division.[38][39][40][41] The district magistrate of Kanpur reports to the divisional commissioner. The current commissioner is Pradeep Kumar Mohanty.[26][27][28]

Kanpur district administration is headed by the district magistrate of Kanpur, who is an IAS officer. The DM is in charge of property records and revenue collection for the central government and oversees the elections held in the city. The DM is also responsible for maintaining law and order in the city.[38][42][43][44] The DM is assisted by a chief development officer; four additional district magistrates for finance/revenue, city, land acquisition, and civil supply; one city magistrat; and seven additional city magistrates.[45] The district has three tehsils viz. Sadar, Bilhaur and Ghatampur, each headed by a sub-divisional magistrate.[45] The current DM is Vijay Vishwas Pant.[26][27][28]

Kanpur Municipal Corporation HQ

Kanpur municipality was established on 22 November 1861, and was upgraded to a municipal corporation in 1959.[46] The local government of Kanpur is governed under the Municipal act for the state, Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1959.[47]

The area under the municipal limits of Kanpur city, or Kanpur Municipal Corporation, is spread over an area of 260 square km.[3][48] It oversees civic activities in the city. The head of the corporation is the mayor, but the executive and administration of the corporation are the responsibility of the municipal commissioner, who is an Uttar Pradesh government-appointed Provincial Civil Service officer of high seniority.[35] The executive wing is headed by municipal commissioner, Avinash Singh[34][36] and has the following departments: Revenue, City Cleansing, Engineering, Marg Prakash, Health, Accounts, Personnel/HRD, Swasthya Vibhag, Education, Mukya Nagar Lekha Vibhag, Pariyojna, Udyan Vibhag, Chikitsa Vibhag, Encroachment & Cattle Catching Department.[49] There is also an executive committee present in the city.[50][51]

The development of infrastructure in the city is overseen by Kanpur Development Authority (KDA), which comes under the Housing Department of Uttar Pradesh government. The divisional commissioner of Kanpur acts as the ex-officio Chairman of KDA, whereas a vice chairperson, a government-appointed IAS officer, looks after the daily matters of the authority.[52] The current vice-chairman of Kanpur Development Authority is K. Vijayendra Pandian.[32][33]

The municipality receives revenue from general tax, advertisement tax, income from municipal properties, grants from state government etc.[53]

The Kanpur District Court is headed by the district judge of Kanpur, who is assisted by numerous additional district judges, civil judges (senior division) and additional civil judges. Kanpur is a notified metropolitan area by UP Government under Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, and therefore has a chief metropolitan magistrate, who is assisted by several metropolitan magistrates. The current district judge is Shashi Kant Shukla,[37] and the current chief metropolitan magistrate is Shabistan Aquil.[37]

Kanpur district comes under the Kanpur Police Zone and Kanpur Police Range, Kanpur Zone is headed by an additional director general-ranked Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, and the Kanpur Range is headed inspector general-ranked IPS officer. The current ADG, Kanpur Zone is Avanish Chandra,[29] and IG, Kanpur Range is Alok Singh.[30]

The district police is headed by a deputy inspector general/senior superintendent of police (DIG/SSP), who is an IPS officer, and is assisted by seven superintendents of police or additional superintendents of police for east, west, south, rural area, crime, traffic and modern control, who are either IPS officers or Provincial Police Service (PPS) officers.[31] Each of the several police circles is headed by a circle officer (CO) in the rank of deputy superintendent of police.[31] The current DIG/SSP is Sonia Singh.[31]

The city is divided into 6 zones and 110 wards with a ward population range of 19,000 to 26,000 and 110 corporators directly elected from each ward.[46][54] As mandated by the 74th constitutional amendment, there were 11 ward committees in Kanpur municipal corporation in 1991.[55] Local elections were last held in 2017, when the mayor, Pramila Pandey from the BJP, was elected.[56] The previous mayor had been Captain (retired) Jagatvir Singh Drona.[34] As of 2006, Kanpur Municipal Council has an elected mayor-in-council system.[57]

Kanpur Nagar district encompasses one Lok Sabha constituency and ten Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha constituencies. The city of Kanpur has one representative member of parliament in Lok Sabha for Kanpur, Satyadev Pachauri.

The first development plan of the city was created by the Kanpur Development Board in 1943. This was followed by the masterplan being designed by the Town and Country Planning Department from 1962-1991, which was adopted after the establishment of the Kanpur Development Authority in 1974.[58][53] The most recent masterplan is the Draft Master Plan of 2021 .[53] [59]

Electricity is supplied to the city by Kanpur Electricity Supply Company (KESCO), which is under the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL).[60][61] Fire services are under the state, Uttar Pradesh Fire Service.[62]

Water supply, sewerage is done by the Jal Kal vibhag of KMC.[63] Infrastructure development and maintenance is done by the state's body, UP Jal Nigam.[64] The piped water supply of Kanpur City was started in 1892.[65] After construction of Ganga Barrage on the river, a permanent and reliable source for the water supply got available to provide 1600 mld raw water.[65] The city also receives water from the catchment areas of rivers Ganga and Pandu.[65] However, while the total water supply requirement is 600 mld only 385 mld of potable water is being supplied.[65] The city loses water due to leaky pipes and contamination of natural water sources.[65] There is a severe water crisis in Kanpur.[66]

In 2015, Ganga Pollution Control Unit in Kanpur got about Rs 200 crores to make 4 STPs functional.[67] The city then reported having 3 STPs for domestic waste.[67] In 2017, there was only one sewage treatment plant for waste from tanneries, biggest source of industrial pollution to the Ganga, was to be replaced by a newer one costing 400 cr as the old one could only treat 9 MLD at the most. 823.1 MLD of untreated sewage and 212.42 MLD of industrial effluent flow into the river.[68] In 2019, another STP costing worth Rs 816.25 was to be set up.[69] As of 2020, While the government has stopped pollution from Kanpur’s biggest drain, Sishamau, of Kanpur’s 48 drains, eight still have no devices to stop effluents.[70]

Solid waste management is handled by the KMC.[71] As of 2015, Kanpur generates 1,500 tonnes of solid wastes from domestic and industrial sources, 64,000 tonnes of hazardous waste annually which includes metals and waste generated by tanneries, dye industries and chemical industries; while coal ash produced in Kanpur amounts to 71,000 tonnes per annum.[72]

Faculty Building, IIT Kanpur

Aerial view of Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University

Educational institutions in the city include three state universities. Chhatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University is one of the largest universities in Asia catering to urban and rural students offering professional and academic courses in disciplines of Arts, Science, Commerce, Law, Engineering, Biotechnology, Computer Applications, Management and Medicine. Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology is an agricultural university named after the Indian revolutionary Chandrashekhar Azad which caters to the needs of the farming community of 29 districts of Uttar Pradesh. Harcourt Butler Technical University (HBTI) offers Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral programs in engineering, as well as Masters programs in Business Administration, and Computer Applications. A public engineering institution Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur is in the city. It was one of the first Indian Institutes of Technology established in 1959, created with the assistance of a consortium of nine US research universities as part of the Kanpur Indo-American Programme (KIAP).[79][80] There is also a private university in the city: Rama University part of the Rama Group.[81] There are several private Technical and Management institutions.

Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College (GSVM Medical College) is a state-run medical college in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. It was founded in 1956 and named after Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, a freedom fighter and journalist from Kanpur. Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital, which is also known as Hallet Hospital, is associated with GSVM, Kanpur.