the Sundarban Plan by Jmaes Westland

In the 1780s, much of the route through

s still passed through dense forest, with no habitations along either side. Then Jessore magistrate Tilman Henckell began a scheme to reclaim the forest for cultivation. By 1787, 21,000 bighas were already under cultivation — but disputes over land soon threatened the entire plan. Zamindars began claiming lands granted to taluqdars, while some reclaimed areas fell back into jungle. Yet cultivation continued to expand, and about twenty miles of Sundarban land was eventually reclaimed from forest and brought under cultivation.