After the annexation of the kingdom of
the Bhosles, resident Mansel was appointed as the first Commissioner
of Nagpur on 13-3-1854. The English directly assumed the
administration of Nagpur in which they had been taking keen interest
for their own political gains since the treaty of Devaganv. The
Central Provinces were formed into a new administrative unit in 1861.
Comprising Nagpur, Chanda, Bhandara, Chindavada, Raipur (Chattisgadh )
Sironja with their dependencies Bastar and Kuronda- these formed the
Nagpur territory;and sagar, Damoh, Jubbulpore, Mandla, seoni Baitul,
Narsimhapur and Husangabad- these formed the Sagar-Narmada
territories.
From the map of this period it seems
that Nagpur then extended up to the Wardha river. The territory up to
the western bank of Wardha granted to the Nizam by the treaty of
Devaganv- 1803, was annexed by Dalhousie on the plea that the Nizam
had failed to pay the money for the maintenance of the subsidiary
force. The arrears then amounted to Rs. 50 lacs. The annexation took
place in 1853. The Berar was then divided into the Northen and
southern Berar. For the loyal services of the Nizam, however, during
the rising of 1857, Southern Berar was given back to him. Again in
1903 it was joined to the Central provinces forming the Central
Provinces and Berar. This arrangement by the States Reorganization
Commission.
A wave of repression spread all over
India at the end of the rising of 1857. Thousand of innocent persons
were hanged after a summary trial. At times a whole villages was set
on fire on the ground that some person or persons participating in the
revolt hailed from it. The whole village was held at stake for the
acts of just a few persons. These repressive measures were intended to
strike terror into the hearts of the people. Nagpur with its
surrounding area was saved for some time from these cruelties of the
government as Bakabai remained loyal to the East India Company during
the rising. Actually she discouraged any rising in the neighbourhood
of Nagpur. However, the result of the repression was engendering
racial hatred between the ruling English and their Indian subjects.
Nagpur was no exception to this general situation.
The arms act of 1857 was passed with a
view to disarming the people. The property of those who were suspected
of having participated in the rising was confiscated. In the Nagpur
area chieftains, like Navab Quadir Alikhan and a number of petty
Zamindars came to be deprived of their property on the suspicion that
they had a hand in the revolt. The arms act of 1878. This new Act
introduced licensing of firearms throughout India and imposed heavy
import duty. Penalties for the breach of this Act were enforced very
stringently.