On the grand trunk road

What is a "trunk road" and who decided GT Road and BT Road should be trunk roads? Also, what does it take for a truck road to become an "imperial" trunk road?

The Grand Trunk Road is not the only trunk road. The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) is a famous institution and anyone familiar with its address, will be familiar with Barrackpore Trunk Road (BT Road). Those who know about West Bengal will know about BT Road independent of the ISI. BT road connects Barrackpore with Shyambazar. Courtesy Samaresh Basu’s novella on jute mills, slums and the trade union movement, BT Road is famous in Bengali literature too. BT Road has a more pedestrian name though. In that hierarchy of roads, it is not important enough to be a National Highway. It is a State Highway. Strictly speaking, it is part of a State Highway. West Bengal’s SH1 (State Highway 1) is a 151 km long stretch from Bangaon to Kulpi and BT Road is the 18 km stretch from Barrackpore to Kolkata. I found a reference that BT Road is one of the oldest “metaled” roads in India. I guess one should be more guarded. Barrackpore Cantonment was established in 1765. In a way, Kolkata became capital of British India in 1772. With movements between Kolkata and Barrackpore increasingly frequent, a good road had to be constructed and this was done in 1775. By “metaled”, one presumably means made out of concrete or asphalt. Though BT Road was thus constructed in 1775, it couldn’t have been asphalt at the time. The asphalting must have been done later, in the nineteenth century.

What is a “trunk road” and who decided GT Road and BT Road should be trunk roads? The 1860-61 Annual Report on the Administration of the Bengal Presidency has a statement and a map. This tells us there are 11 “Imperial Trunk Roads existing, or under construction in Bengal, extending over a length of 1,994 miles”. These are: (1) Grand Trunk Road (Calcutta to Kurrumnassa River); (2) Madras Trunk Road (Calcutta to Chutterpore on the Madras Frontier); (3) Darjeeling Trunk Road (Peerpointee Station, East Indian Railway to Darjeeling); (4) Berhampore Trunk Road (Calcutta to Berhampore); (5) Tirhoot Trunk Road (Monghyr to Beilsurah); (6) Chittagong Trunk Road (Daoodcandy to Chittagang); (7) Assam Trunk Road (Rajmahal to Debrooghur); (8) Mutlah Trunk Road (Calcutta to Mutla Port); (9) Diamond Harbour Road (Calcutta to Diamond Harbour); (10) Bhaugulpore and Sooree Road (Ahmedpore Station to Bhaugulpore); and (11) Nulhutee Road (Nulhutee Road to Jeagunge). The longest among these was (7), Assam Trunk Road, followed by (1) and (2). Clearly, a trunk road is an important road. But who declared these 11 to be “Imperial Trunk Roads” and what were the criteria used in the determination?

John Seely’s 1825 “The Road Book of India; or, East Indian Traveller’s Guide through the Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay” says the first route for the Bengal Presidency is a route from Calcutta to St Petersburgh. The picture above shows an electric tram in Kolkata that dates back to the time of British rule

In searching for the definition, I read an interesting book authored in 1778 by James Rennell, “Late Major of Engineers and Surveyor General to the Honourable the East India Company”. This is “A Description of the Roads in Bengal and Bahar” and is just a compendium of tables about various roads. This doesn’t define a trunk road, nor does it mention BT Road. I next turned to John Seely’s 1825 “The Road Book of India; or, East Indian Traveller’s Guide through the Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay”. This is a fascinating description of routes. For example, the first route for the Bengal Presidency is a route from Calcutta to St. Petersburgh. This passed through Barrackpoor, as did some other routes from (or to) Calcutta. The distance from Calcutta to Barrackpoor is given as 14 miles and 4 furlongs. This is a bit longer than the present BT Road. But this may depend on the definition of Calcutta, or the layout of the road may have changed. Therefore, by 1825, BT Road existed, though there doesn’t seem to have been a definition of a trunk road. Perhaps there was no precise definition of a trunk road. In 1936, United Kingdom passed a Trunk Roads Act. A schedule in this legislation listed roads which were thus declared trunk roads. That is, like the 1860-61 Report, roads became trunk roads by virtue of the listing. Though the root has the analogy of the main stem of a tree, the expression is typically British, leaving a legacy in former colonies (such as in Africa too). In Britain too, the expression is largely a legacy now. There, anything under the control of the central government or its executive agencies is now classified as a trunk road. That’s a bit like saying National Highways are trunk roads in India, with BT Road losing its trunk classification.

Sometimes we don’t realise how much roads have improved, everywhere in the world. “Had I talked only of the weather and the roads, and had I spoken only once in ten minutes, this reproach would have been spared.” This is Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. One can understand weather. Why roads? That’s because roads were terrible in Jane Austen’s time and everyone talked about them. Here is a conversation between Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice.  The conversation was about the distance between Hunsford and Meryton. “An easy distance do you call it? It is nearly fifty miles.” “And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day's journey. Yes, I call it a very easy distance.” Finally, “Mansfield Park” and Mrs Norris, “Between ourselves, coachman is not very fond of the roads between this and Sotherton; he always complains bitterly of the narrow lanes scratching his carriage.” Jane Austen’s world was a pre-trunk road one.

The author is chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. 

Views are personal.