Parnasree Pally

Parnasree Pally is an upscale locality of Behala in southern Kolkata, India. It was included in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 1985. Translated to English the name means "beauty of the leaves". While it has lost most of its greenery owing to rapid real estate development, it remains one of the greener and cleaner localities of Kolkata. It was earlier known as Halderbagan (The Halders were probably the priests of Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family). The name Parnasree (Beauty of the Leaves) was coined by Late Asoke Ratan Mazumder when he became the member of the Co Operative Society formed for the rehabilitation of Refugees during Partition of India in 1947.

Parnasree Pally
Neighbourhood in Kolkata (Calcutta)
Parnasree Pally Location in Kolkata
Coordinates: 22.509°N 88.306°E / 22.509; 88.306
Country	India
State	West Bengal
City	Kolkata
District	Kolkata[1][2]
Kolkata Suburban Railway	Brace Bridge
Municipal Corporation	Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KMC ward	131
Elevation	36 ft (11 m)
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	700060
Lok Sabha constituency	Kolkata Dakshin
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Behala Paschim

FORMATION OF PARNASREE PALLI

In 1941 as war preparation began in India for Japanese invasion, a land locally known as Halder Bagan was acquired by the then Govt. for building an air strip. One “ Anti Air Craft” Gun was also installed there. After war was over this land was taken over by central Govt and handed over partly to Calcutta Port Trust and partly to local govt. After Independence Dr. B.C.Roy (Bidhan Chandra Roy - the first Chief Minister of West Bengal)ordered Land & Land Revenue to disburse the land usefully . One noteworthy point –by the side of present Taratola Road there was a low marshy land which was filled by a company who were entrusted to fill Salt Lake later. As a work sample they filled up that low lying area. Now coming back to Parnasree episode – For East Bengal refugees the Bengal Government announced a cooperative society to be set up so as to develop a habitable planned township under guidance of municipal norms of South Suburban Municipality . Land and Land Revenue department set up a steering committee headed by Mr. Amal Home of Hindusthan Insurance Company (later L I C I )as Chairman, Mr.Kshitindra Mohan Sen, Ex-Director of Customs , Mr. Mahendra Kumar De , Dr.Rukmini Dutta Roy, Educationist , Mr. M. L. Dhar Lawyer, Mr. Nikhil Adhikari of United Bank of India . The chamber of Mr. M.L.Dhar at Dover Lane was the first office of this cooperative society.

It was September 1948. The scenario was  - New Alipore township with large plots having modern facilities like sewerage, water connection , metal road, electrified streets etc.  were  being promoted by Hindusthan. Many employees of Hindusthan missed the chance of getting a plot in New Alipore for its high price . 

Now many Hindusthan employees along with their friends, rushed to the office of the new project office and enquired about the modus operandi of the project. At that point the Name of the co-operative was suggested by Mr Asoke Ratan Mazumder as PARNASREE PALLY SAMABAY SAMITI and suggestion was accepted by voice vote. Immediately Mr.Dhar arranged for the registration with that name. In October 1948 share selling of co-operative started . It was decided that the share Holding pattern will be Rs.100/- per person, with a sub clause that a person can pay Rs.50/- and balance Rs. 50/- within six calendar months. The survey was conducted by Mr. Robin Routh and site plan was planned . Low lying areas were filled up by digging ponds. The developed lands were gradually handed over to PARNASREE PALLY SAMABAY SAMITI and distributed to the share holders.with Rs. 500/-for municipal mutation. Many later days deed of conveyance with Govt of West Bengal were done at stipulated price.

PRESENT DAY

The local dhobis of Parnasree are supposed to be the oldest residents of the area. They can still be found in the Dhopapara area of Parnasree which consists of two to three houses. The area of Parnasree has quite few banks namely the State Bank of India, United Bank of India (presently Punjab National Bank), Allahabad Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda besides a few ATMs of other banks. The area also is home to the Parnasree Palli Post Office which constitutes Kolkata 700060. A 40 feet wide road runs around the core area of Parnasree. It comes out the junction of Banamali Naskar Road and Upen Banerjee Road and it merges back into Upen Banerjee Road at RIC More (Crossing). The area has got a vibrant bus station where bus routes of 13, S4, S4D, AC4, AC4A,E4, VS-4, Parnasree Howrah Mini bus terminate. Parnasree Pally is situated very close to the Behala Airport, which is to be converted to an airport to serve as an air traffic hub for Bengal and for other regional traffic.[3] 

While super cyclone 'Amphan' had played havoc across different parts of Kolkata, life in Parnasree Pally came to a complete halt with large scale devastation to both life and property. Five people were electrocuted during the storm that made landfall on May 20, 2020. The entire area of Parnasree plunged into darkness with no connectivity with the outside world and didn't see much improvement in its state for more than a week.