Fort William To Be Renamed As Vijay Durg

 

1. Fort William, the Indian Army’s Eastern Command HQ in Kolkata, has been renamed Vijay Durg to remove colonial imprints.
2. It is named after Maharashtra's oldest Sindhudurg fort, a former Maratha naval base under Chhatrapati Shivaji. 

• Other changes include renaming Kitchener House, inside the fort to Manekshaw House and St. George’s Gate to Shivaji Gate. 

About Fort Williams: 

1. The fort is located in Kolkata on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River and was originally named after King William III of England. 
   1. The original fort was built by the British in 1696 under Sir John Goldsborough and completed in 1706.  
   2. It was damaged during the Siege of Calcutta (1756) when Siraj-ud-Daulah defeated the British.  
   3. After the Battle of Plassey (1757), Robert Clive rebuilt it at a new location between 1758 and 1781. 
2. Significance: 
   1. Site of the Black Hole of Calcutta incident (1756). 
   2. It houses a war memorial with artifacts from the 1971 Indo-Pak War and Bangladesh Liberation War. 

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