The
East India Company obtained from the
Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar, in 1717, the right to rent from 38 villages surrounding their settlement. Of these 5 lay across the
Hooghly in what is now Howrah district. The remaining 33 villages were on the Calcutta side. After the fall of
Siraj-ud-daulah, the last independent
Nawab of Bengal, it purchased these villages in 1758 from
Mir Jafar and reorganised them. These villages were known en-bloc as
Dihi Panchannagram and Tiljala was one of them. It was considered to be a suburb beyond the limits of the
Maratha Ditch. In the eastern fringes of Kolkata, the neighbourhoods such as
Tangra, Tiljala,
Topsia and
Dhapa, were populated largely with people who migrated from poverty-ridden and caste-ridden villages, in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They came with dreams of a better life but landed in the slums with open drains, pigsties, factory chimneys and pungent chemicals. They found work in the tanneries and factories and also engaged in menial work. A big proportion of them were
Chamars, but there also were
Doms, Dosads,
Mehtars and
Kahars. They were all
Harijans and they formed a majority. They escaped from the petty persecution they faced in their villages but were far removed from the mainstream of urban life and culture. They have been here, living in depressing conditions, for more than a century. Originally a slum area, Tiljala was once known for abject living conditions and high crime rates. It has seen a recent real estate boom but urbanization hasn't kept pace with settlements. Scattered pockets of slums exist, illegal constructions are on the rise and the arterial roads still lack pavements. ==Geography==