Eastern Army Command headquarters Fort William renamed 'Vijay Durg'

Kolkata: In a bid to move away from the colonial legacy, the Indian Army has renamed Eastern Command headquarters Fort William in Kolkata as 'Vijay Durg', a Defence official said on Wednesday.

In a decision taken internally, the Army has also rechristened some landmark buildings inside the sprawling campus situated in the heart of the city.

"We are gradually moving away from the colonial legacy," the Defence official told PTI about the Army's decision to rename Fort William and some other buildings inside it.

The Army has renamed St George's Gate as the Shivaji Gate, he said, maintaining that the decision to rechristen the fort and some historic edifices situated inside it was taken in November-December.

"We have renamed Kitchener House as Manekshaw House," he said.

Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw was the chief of Army Staff during the India-Pakistan war of 1971 that led to the birth of Bangladesh.

Kitchener House had been named after HH Kitchener, the First Earl Of Khartoum.

The Army has also renamed Russell Block inside the fort as Bagha Jatin Block after freedom fighter Jatindranath Mukherjee better known as Bagha Jatin, who fell to the bullets of the British police following a gunfight in Odisha's Balasore in 1915.

Built in 1781, Fort William, the former seat and symbol of authority of the British Empire, has an unparalleled aura with its historic structures and edifices in and around the fort.

Situated on the eastern banks of the river Hooghly during the British East India Company's rule, the brick and mortar fort had been named after King William III of England.

The present-day fort complex covers an area of more than 170 acres and houses many colonial and modern-day structures together.

The fort has six gates - Chowringhee, Plassey, Calcutta, Water Gate, St George's and Treasury.

The Army has also renamed St George's Gate as the Shivaji Gate, the Defence official said.

Fort William became the Eastern Army Command's headquarters in 1963 following the Sino-India war of 1962.

Prior to that, the Eastern Army was headquartered at Lucknow.