Abstract
Establishing the Largest Railway workshops of Assam-Bengal Railway here in Saidpur in 1870 by the British Crown, brought in Railway officers, service holders, workers, and traders from throughout the Indian sub-continent. Soon, this place was thriving with people of diverse cultures & ethnicities. It had become so prosperous & burgeoning that it became the third-largest city in East Pakistan. Since then, Saidpur has been facing a decline in growth due to conflicts in post-partition British India, the Independence War of Bangladesh & post-war problems. These incidents left deep scars in the people's hearts and generated misguided hatred. It had resulted in uneasy interaction & irrational mistrust among the diverse ethnic group of people living there for more than one & a half centuries. In this paper, the author aims to tell the true city narrative without any biases and means to alleviate the misunderstanding to identify between the stranded Pakistanis & other non-Bengalis. This paper intends to find out the present character of Saidpur city and the potential reasons behind it. In addition, it also aims to investigate and find the probable identity that the city and its people hold by analyzing them in contemporaneous situations. It's a qualitative research study conducted using a mixed method approach. Based on a conceptual framework & a review of relevant literature, the author applied different methods to collect primary data about this historical city. In-depth surveys, experiments, observations, key person interviews, focus group discussion & oral histories are considered to collect these data.