Bareilly: Bareilly has always been a prominent and flourishing town of U.P. It lies mid-way between Delhi and Lucknow, with Rampur and Moradabad on the west side and Shahjahanpur and Hardoi on the east side. It is a gateway to the Himalayas with Haldwani, Kathgodown and Nainital facing it in the north. Bareilly lies on the left bank of river Ram Ganga with Budaun stretching across the river in the south. Bareilly was the headquarters of Rohilkhand and Kumaun Division of United Provinces in 1946 and presently, it is the headquarters of Bareilly Division of Uttar Pradesh. Bareilly is well known all over the country for high quality of its shisham, bamboo and cane furniture. Bareilly has a central location in upper gangetic valley and is very well connected by a network of roads, railways and air services.
Kumaun: Uttrakhand is a Himalayan state which was formerly part of Uttar Pradesh and was carved out as a separate state for providing boost to the growth and development of the hilly areas and for bringing the benefits of social, economic and health services to the doors of the people living in the mountainous country. Uttrakhand has Tibet in the northeast, Nepal in southeast, Uttar Pradesh in southwest and Himachal Pradesh in northwest. Uttrakhand is divided into two administrative divisions. Garhwal division on northwest side, with administrative head quarters at Dehradun, which is also the capital of Uttrakhand and Kumaun on the southeast side, with its head quarters at Nainital. During the good old days, when Uttrakhand was a part of U.P., Kumaun formed part of Rohilkhand and Kumaun Division of U.P. Northern part of Kumaun is mountainous country, which includes Nainital, Almora, Ranikhet, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar and Champawat disstricts. The rivers and streams of Himalayas run through steep slopes in the mountainous country. When they emerge in the plains, they fan out and deposit the load of boulders, shingle, gravel, coarse sand and other porous material along the foothills. This gently sloping permeable alluvial zone, so formed is known as bhabar. It extends upto 10 to 15 kilometres width from the foothills. The water level is deep in this zone. This is followed by deposits of fine silt, clay and other non-permeable materials lower down, forming a stretch of land known as terai or rain forest. The soil is very fertile in this zone. It is almost saturated with water. The sub-soil waterlevel in this zone is at ground level or close to the ground. The width of this strip of land is about 30 to 40 kilometres. Terai and bhaber areas in Kumaun run along the foothills of the Himalayas and extend from Ramnagar, Kashipur, Rudrapur and Panthnagar on the west side to Pilibhi, Lakhimpur Kheri and and Sitapur on the east side. In 1946 this area was a deep forest and marshy land, supporting 12 to 15 feet high wild grass and was serving as a sanctuary for all types of wild animals. The climate was very humid, malarious and unsuitable for human habitation. During and after the partition of India in 1947, refugees fleeing from Pakistan were resettled in the terai and bhaber areas of Kumaun. They were very gritty and hardy people and gradually with proper drainage and deforestation, the whole area has been reclaimed and developed into rich farmlands and townships buzzing with activity.
Rohilkhand: Rohilkhand is a stretch of land in the upper gangetic valley bounded by terai and bhabher areas of Kumaun in the north and river Ganga in the south. The region stretches from Bijnor, Moradabad, and Rampur in the west to Pilibhit and Shahjahanpur in the east. It was inhabited by Rohila Afghans during the medieval period and more than fifty percent of the population of Rohilkhand consisted of Rohillas during that period. Some of them migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947. Rohilkhand is cris-crossed by a series of seasonal rivers and streams flowing from north to south-east, ultimately meeting river Ganga and its tributaries.
Rohilkhand Canals Division: During the nineteenth century East India Company and subsequently the British Government had initited a number of irrigation projects in the Indo-Gangetic valley and other places in the country. Rohilkhand Canals Project was undertaken sometimes in the last decade of the nineteenth century. After flowing through the mountainous country, the hill streams and rivers of Kumaun region continued their flow through terai and bhabher areas north of Bareilly and thereafter, they continued their run in southeasterly direction through Bareilly districit. These were seasonal rivers with modest section and limited discharge with firm and sticky bed and banks, formed from silt and clay. During their passage through terai areas, the rivers meandered through deep forests, wild grass and inaccessible areas. Under the Rohilkhand Canals Project weirs were built across these rivers for the diversion of waters into Rohilkhand Canals. Rohilkhand Canals were small channels with limited discharge and were helpful in meeting the irrigation reqirements of local areas under cultivation. However, in course of time, they helped in providing a boost to the development and extension of agriculture and growth of commercial crops in the region.
Sarda river, popularly known as Kali Ganga, forms the boundary between Uttrakhand and Nepal in the upper reaches. Sarda Canal was initially taken up as an irrigation project during the years 1920 to 1926. Sarda Canal System is one of the largest irrigation systems of the country. The headworks of Sarda Canal was located at Banbassa in Champawat district just below the Nepal border and the main canal, branches and distributaries of Sarda Canal covered all the districts lying north of river Ganga in Ganga-Ghaghra valley including Pilibhit, Bareilly, Lakhimpur-Kheri, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Sitapur, Lucknow, Unnao, Barabanki and Rai Bareilly. Construction of a hydroelectric powerhouse at Khatima on Sarda Canal was taken up in 1945. Subsequently, as water and power requirements developed, storage reservoirs and power stations were added to the system from time to time to augment the supplies of water and power in the region.
In the meantime, Rohilkhand Canals had considerably helped in the development of cultivation in areas lying south of terai in Bareilly district. To meet the growing irrigation requirements of the region, water was transferred from Sarda Canal to Deoha river through Sarda Deoha Feeder. These supplies were picked up lower down at Duni by the construction of a weir across Deoha river, which was later on reconstructed as a barrage. Thereafter, another feeder known as Deoha-Behgul Feeder, running from Duni Barrage in the east to Behgul river in the west became the feeding channel for all branches and distributaries of the Sarda Canal system, running through Bareilly district.
Bareilly in the year 1946: There were nine divisions in United Provinces in 1946, headed by divisional commissioners, who belonged to the Indian Civil Service. Rohilkhand and Kumaun division was one of them with its headquarters at Bareilly. Collector and district magistrate of Bareilly was also an officer of the Indian Civil Service. District and Sessions Judge of Bareilly also belonged to the judicial stream of Indian Civil Service. It may be recalled that in that era, officers of the Indian Civil Service formed the steel frame of the British Government. Very few Indians had an opportunity to get into the Indian Civil Service, as the examination for recruitment to Indian Civil Service was held in Britain. Top officers of the irrigation department, including the Chief Engineers and Superintending Engineers belonged to the Indian Service of Engineers and they were mostly British Officers.
During the British period the economy of the country was mostly agricultural. The salaries, wages and income levels were generally low. Bareilly was no exception. Fed by a network of Rohilkhand Canals and Sarda Canals, all types of food crops and commercial crops, including wheat, rice and sugarcane were being raised in Bareilly. Industrial and commercial development was very limited. The only exception was Western India Match Company (WIMCO), which was a fully automatic plant producing match sticks. It was located in north of the city at Izzat Nagar. WIMCO brand of match sticks were well known and sold all over the country. Another prestigious landmark of Bareilly was Indian Veterinary Research Institute at Izzat Nagar. Bareilly College was the only college of higher education in the whole of Kumaon and Rohilkhand Division. There were no institutions providing facilities for technical, professional or management education. However, there were no social or communal conflicts and tensions and people were leading happy and satisfying lives.