Dhanbad
Dhanbad is the second most populous city in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Dhanbad ranks 33rd largest city in India and ranks 42nd largest million-plus urban agglomeration in India. It has been ranked 94th among 111 cities for Ease of Living Index[4] and is 96th fastest growing urban area of world by City Mayors.[5] Dhanbad shares its land borders with Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal. Dhanbad is also called Coal Capital of India for housing one of the largest coal mines of India.[6] The prestigious institute, Indian School of Mines (now IIT) is also situated in Dhanbad.[7]
Dhanbad City | |
---|---|
Metropolitan City | |
From top clockwise: Dhanbad Railway Station, Golchakkar, | |
Nicknames: 'The Coal Capital of India', 'Koylanchal' | |
Motto(s): City For All | |
Dhanbad City Location of Dhanbad in Jharkhand | |
Coordinates: 23.7998°N 86.4305°E | |
Country | India |
State | Jharkhand |
District | Dhanbad |
Government | |
• Body | Dhanbad Municipal Corporation |
• Mayor | Chandrashekhar Agarwal (BJP)[1][2] |
Area | |
• Metropolitan City | 577 km2 (223 sq mi) |
Elevation | 222 m (728 ft) |
Population (2011)[3] | |
• Metropolitan City | 1,162,472 |
• Rank | 33th |
• Density | 2,000/km2 (5,200/sq mi) |
• Metro | 1,196,214 |
• Metro rank | 42nd |
Languages | |
• Official | Bengali, Hindi, English, Khortha, Urdu |
Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
PIN | 826001 |
Telephone Code | 0326 |
Vehicle registration | JH-10 |
Website | www |
Dhanbad is 56th cleanest city of India according to Swachh Survekshan 2019.[8] It showed a great change in terms of cleanliness which was considered as least cleanest in Swachh Survekshan 2018[9] snd Dhanbad Municipal Corp. also worked for increasing more green cover in city.[10] Among the rail divisions of Indian Railway, Dhanbad Rail Division is the second-largest in revenue generation after the Mumbai division.[11]
Dhanbad ranked as top city in India with the highest 4G availability in India by a survey of Opensignal.[12]
History
The present district used to be a part of Manbhum region and was occupied by Mundari tribals in the wilderness of South undivided Bihar. In the seventh century A.D. some information is available from the account of the travels of Hieun Tsang. These accounts narrate existence of a powerful kingdom which comprised the district and adjoining areas, ruled by Sasanka.[13]
Manbhum was one of the districts of the East India during the British Raj. The region has thick forests, with rich mineral resources, and had a mixed demographic profile with people from different religious and social groups, including adivasis, particularly the Santals and the Mundas before the city was established.[14] After India's independence, the district became a part of Bihar state, and upon re-organization of the Indian states in the mid-1950s, the district became a part of the West Bengal. Present Purulia district was carved out of the district of Manbhum.[14]
In the Settlement Report for Manbhum (1928) it was stated that no rock inscriptions, copper plates or old coins were discovered and not a single document of copper plate or palm leaf was found, during the Survey and Settlement operations. The oldest authentic documents produced were all on paper and barely even a hundred years old.[15]
Dhanbad city was in Manbhum district from 1928 up to 1956.[15] However, on 24 October 1956, Dhanbad was declared a District[16] on the Recommendation of the States Reorganization Commission vide notification 1911. This was done under the strong commitment and leadership from a renowned journalist Mr. Satish Chandra. In the year 2006, Dhanbad celebrated 50 years of being an independent District and city. From 1956 to 14 November 2000 it was under Bihar. At present it is in Jharkhand, after the creation of state on 15 November 2000.[17]
In 21st Century discovery of rich deposits of coal in the region caused the city to flourish with wealth but also bought notorious coal-mafia and gang wars[18] which continues to this day with areas of city like Wasseypur being most affected by the conflict.[18]
Geography and climate
Dhanbad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Climate chart (explanation) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dhanbad has an average elevation of 227 m (745 ft). Its geographical length (extending from north to south) is 15 miles (24 km) and the breadth (stretching across east to West) is 10 miles (16 km). It shares its boundaries with West Bengal in the eastern and southern part, Dumka and Giridih in the North and Bokaro in the west. Dhanbad comes under the Chota Nagpur Plateau.
Dhanbad features climate that is transitional between a humid subtropical climate and a tropical wet and dry climate. Summer starts from last week of March and ends in mid-June. Peak temperature in summer can reach 48 °C. Dhanbad also receives heavy rainfall. In winter, the minimum temperature remains around 10 °C with a maximum of 22 °C. Damodar River is the main river flowing through the district. Katri, Jamunia, Gobai, Khudia and Irji are the other rivers flowing through the district.
Climate data for Dhanbad | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Average high °C (°F) | 25 (77) |
28 (82) |
33 (91) |
38 (100) |
39 (102) |
35 (95) |
31 (88) |
31 (88) |
31 (88) |
31 (88) |
28 (82) |
25 (77) |
31 (88) |
Average low °C (°F) | 11 (52) |
14 (57) |
18 (64) |
23 (73) |
25 (77) |
25 (77) |
24 (75) |
24 (75) |
23 (73) |
20 (68) |
16 (61) |
11 (52) |
20 (67) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 17 (0.7) |
18 (0.7) |
18 (0.7) |
22 (0.9) |
49 (1.9) |
192 (7.6) |
342 (13.5) |
311 (12.2) |
282 (11.1) |
105 (4.1) |
7 (0.3) |
5 (0.2) |
1,368 (53.9) |
Source: IMD |
Demography
As of 2011 census, Dhanbad City had a population of 1,162,472.[3] Males (614,722) constitute 53% of the population and females (547,750) 47%. It has a sex ratio of 891. Dhanbad has an average literacy rate of 79.47%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 86.14% and female literacy is 71.96%.[3] In Dhanbad, 10.57% of the population is under 5 years of age.
Religion
Hinduism is the dominant religion with over 81% adherents. The minority religions are Islam, Sikhism and Christianity.[3]
Economy
Dhanbad have one of the oldest markets of region and is also a hotbed of large scale industries. It is famous for its coal mines and industrial establishments; the city is surrounded by about 112 coal mines[19] with a total production of 27.5 million tonnes and an annual income of 7000 million rupees through coal business. There are a number of coal washeries present there.
BCCL have its headquarter in Dhanbad and SAIL, Tata Steel and Eastern Coalfields (at Mugma) also operates their mines. Om Besco Rail Products.Ltd,[20] a public limited rail wagon manufacturing company at Mugma, Hindustan Zinc Ltd ( now Vendanta Resources) had a lead smelting pilot plant at Tundu,[21] Maithon Power.Ltda J.V of Tata Power & DVC (first PPP project of India), Hindusthan Malleables & Forgings Ltd,etc. are also operational in and around areas of Dhanbad.
Fertilizers Corporation of India (closed), Projects & Development India.Ltd and ACC.Ltd at Sindri are also available and being one of the 5 divisions of South Eastern Railway zone, Indian Railways is also a big employer in Dhanbad. Also, Kandra Industrial Area at Gobindpur houses some small & middle scale industries.
Education
Universities and colleges
- Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, was established by the British in 1926.[7][22]
- Birsa Institute of Technology, Sindri is one of the oldest govt. engineering college in India.[23]
- SSLNT Women's College is one of the oldest women's science and art college in east India established in 1956.[24][25]
- K. K. Collegeof Engineering and Management, Gobindpur
- Patliputra Medical College and Hospital, established in 1971
- Law College Dhanbad[26] was established in 1976.
- Guru Nanak College[27]
- Raja Shiva Prasad College, established in 1949 by Raja of Jharia
- P.K. Roy Memorial College, established in 1977.
- Al Iqra Teacher's Training College, Gobindpur[28]
- B.S.S Mahila College[29]
- Bholaram Shibal Kharkia College, Maithon
- Binod Bihari Mahato Koylanchal University, a public university established in 2017.
Schools
- D.A.V Centenary Public School, Baniahir
- Carmel School, Dhanbad
- Carmel School Digwadih
- DAV Public School, Koyla Nagar
- DAV Public School, Mahuda
- Delhi Public School, Dhanbad
- De Nobili School, CMRI
- De Nobili School, Bhuli
- De Nobili School, FRI
- Kendriya Vidyalaya
- Tata D.A.V School, Jamadoba
Politics
Dhanbad city and district is considered a BJP stronghold with majority of its MPs MLA's being of the party since the 1990s. Chandra Shekhar Agrawal of BJP is the mayor, otherwise known as the first citizen, of Dhanbad Municipal Corporation. He won by the margin of 42,525 votes.[30][31][32]
Raj Sinha of BJP won in the 40-Dhanbad assembly constituency defeating Mannan Malick of Congress in 2014.[33] Pashupati Nath Singh of BJP defeated Mannan Mallik of Congress in 2005, Prasadi Sao of RJD in 2000, and Ramadhar Yadav of JD in 1995. Surendra Prasad Roy of Congress defeated S.K. Shriva of JD in 1990 and Ram Chander Singh of Janata Party in 1985. Yogeshwar Prasad Yogesh of Congress defeated Gopi Kant Bakshi of CPI(M) in 1980 and Kalawati Devi of Janata Party.[34][35]
Dhanbad assembly constituency is part of Dhanbad (Lok Sabha constituency).[36]
Members of Parliament for Dhanbad
Election | Member | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
1991 | Rita Verma | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
1996 | Rita Verma | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
1998 | Rita Verma | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
1999 | Rita Verma | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
2004 | Chandra Shekhar Dubey | Indian National Congress | |
2009 | Pashupati Nath Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
2014 | Pashupati Nath Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party | |
2019 | Pashupati Nath Singh | Bharatiya Janata Party |
Transport
Rail
Dhanbad has a very good rail connectivity with the other major parts of the country such as Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Munger, Gaya, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi, Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam Jodhpur, Nagpur, Pune, Varanasi, Guwahati etc.
Dhanbad Rail Division comes under East Central Railway zone. Grand Chord rail-line passes through Dhanbad junction, it connects Howrah and New Delhi. CIC rail line starts from Dhanbad and ends at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh. There is one more rail line passing through the district, it starts at Kharagpur and ends at Gomoh, this rail line comes under South Eastern Railway. Dhanbad is connected with almost all states through rail network. Each and every train through this has a stop at Dhanbad. Now, even Sealdah and Howrah Duronto have their stoppage at Dhanbad.
On 1 October 2011, India's first AC double-decker train was flagged off to connect Howrah and Dhanbad. With this India joins the league of Europe and North America that run multi-deck trains. As of October 2011, the train runs daily except Sunday, departing from Howrah at 8:30 am to arrive at Dhanbad at 12:45 pm, and on return trip it departs Dhanbad at 6:30 pm to arrive at Howrah at 10:40 pm. It has a maximum permissible speed of 110 kilometres (68 mi)/hr with stops at Bardhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Barakar and Kumardhubi on both legs of the route. This new AC design has several features namely stainless steel body, high-speed Eurofima design bogies with air springs and other safety-features.[37][38][39]
Roads
National Highway 19 and National Highway 18 are the major highways passing through Dhanbad.[40] NH 19 is part of Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway network; Dhanbad lies in Kolkata-Delhi link of the Golden Quadrilateral network.[41] NH19 is being converted into six lane expressway; NH 18 connects Dhanbad to Bokaro-Jamshedpur.[41]
Private and State buses are available for inter-city traveling.[41]
Air
Dhanbad Airport is used for private small aircraft and helicopters, currently there is no public air-link at the airport. The nearest public airports to Dhanbad are
- Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport, Asansol-Durgapur 85 kilometres (53 mi)
- Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi 140 kilometres (87 mi)
- Gaya Airport 207 kilometres (129 mi)
- Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata 269 kilometres (167 mi)
- Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport, Patna 271 kilometres (168 mi)
Sports
Cricket is the most popular sport in Dhanbad, followed by Football. Dhanbad is one of the centres where 34th National Games[42] was organised. Cricket Stadiums at present are at Tata Steel Stadium Digwadih, Nehru Stadium Jealgora and Railway Stadium where Ranji Trophy matches are organised. Women's International Cricket were also played at Railway Stadium. Football matches of national level were played at Railway Stadium but now it is converted into Cricket Stadium by the Railway management and Sijua Stadium.
For the preparation of Mission Olympic 2020 and 2024, the Dhanbad District Olympic Games Association is working day and night.
Dhanbad officially became the second town in the state to boast a cricket stadium with floodlights, with the inauguration of floodlights at Tata Digwadih Stadium.[43]
Media
Hindi newspapers are mainly published from the city, among them Hindustan Dainik is the most popular, followed by Prabhat Khabar, Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar. "Dhanbad Bokaro Live" is published from Dhanbad.
Doordarshan relay station is present in Dhanbad near Koyla Nagar. There are some local news channels in the city such as, Antarkatha which are creative media houses which broadcast on local cable on Dhanbad, Jharia, Bokaro, Chatra, Hazaribag, Kodrma, Ramgarh etc.
FM radio is available as Vividh Bharti Service of All India Radio at 101.8 MHz.
Rivers
The Damodar is a major river of the Chota Nagpur Plateau. It rises in Palamu and flows eastward between the plateaus of Ranchi and Hazaribag. It is joined by the Bokaro, the Konar and the Barakar rivers. The Damodar enters Dhanbad district at its confluence with the Jamuria, a stream which marks the western boundary of Dhanbad with Hazaribagh District. Further east, the Damodar is joined by the Katri River which rises in the foothills below Parasnath and traverses through the Coal-field Area.
The Barakar, which forms the northern boundary of the district, traverses about 77 km. In the district. It flows in south westerly direction up to Durgapur and then south till it joins the Damodar near Chirkuda.
Notable people
- Bibhu Bhattacharya, Bengali film & TV actor
- P. C. Bose, freedom fighter, labour activist & politician
- Meiyang Chang, Bollywood film & TV actor
- Seth Khora Ramji Chawda, railway contractor, coal mines owner, banker and philanthropist
- Anurag Dikshit – businessman (ranked 207th-richest person in the world by Forbes in 2006)[44]
- Satya Narayan Gourisaria, British company secretary, Gandhian and a former secretary of the India League
- Chetan Joshi, classical Indian flautist
- Rishabh Kashyap, Bhojpuri Actor
- Shiv Khera, author and professional speaker
- Binod Bihari Mahato, politician, advocate, activist, founder of Shivaji Samaj and Jharkhand Mukti Morch
- Aseem Mishra, Indian cinematographer
- Zeishan Quadri, Bollywood actor, film maker
- A. K. Roy, founder of Marxist Coordination Committee
- Meenakshi Seshadri, former Bollywood actress
- Deven Sharma, former global president of Standard & Poor's
- Ram Krishna Singh, reviewer, critic, contemporary poet and retired professor of IIT-D
- Diwan Bahadur D.D. Thacker, noted coal miner and philanthropist, owner of Pure Jharia Colliery
- Madhurima Tuli, Indian film & TV actress
- Randhir Prasad Verma, IPS officer and recipient of Ashoka Chakra
References
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- BIHAR REORGANISATION ACT,2000
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dhanbad. |
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Dhanbad. |