It is a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. Swami Vivekananda landed at Budge Budge ferry ghat when he returned from his Chicago visit. The anniversary is still celebrated on 19 February with great zeal. The old station from where he boarded the train to Kolkata is decorated with flowers on this day. The waiting room where he rested for a while is preserved. A c
urious feature of this small and old town is the large number of Sikhs who live here. Budge Budge was the site where the ship Komagata Maru was allowed to land following its return from Vancouver. The ship was chartered by a group of Sikhs to challenge the exclusion laws enacted by Canada to restrict Indian immigration. Budge Budge municipality and Budge Budge Public Library are more than a century old establishments. Historically the oldest people of this place were the 'Haldars' who came here to guard a fort near the bank of the River Ganges. A British writer who had come with Clive around 1740-50 chronicled this event. Maniklal was the main person at the fort and his soldiers lost to Clive's troops. This may have been the start of the series of Indian defeats to the expanding British colonial forces in the 18th century.
