ABSTRACT
The original colonisation area consisted of 20 estates in whole or in part, forming with a few exceptions a solid block 233¾ square miles in area at the south of the Sundarbans. The total area of the estates included in the colonisation area is 233¾ square miles, of which 176¼6 was available for colonisation. It is important to note that in many of these estates raiyatwari or small haoladari settlements had been made before the inception of the colonisation scheme. In Bakarganj, however, areas that had already been settled were included in the colonisation scheme; improvements both sanitary and agricultural, were effected, and settlements made under the colonisation rules in the areas only the final stage of assessment was required. The first effort at colonisation was made in the year 1904, after the decision arrived at by the Committee of 1903.
