City Info, , - Nagpur City,Yellow Pages,Property,Map,University,Forum,Info

City Info

Nagpur pronunciation (नागपुर) is the largest city in central India (2001 Census) and the second capital of the state of Maharashtra. The city is the commercial and political center of the state's eastern Vidarbha region. Nagpur lies in central India with Zero mile marker located here. City was founded by Gond people but later became part of Maratha Empire under Bhonsle. British East India Company took over the city in 19th century and made it the capital of Central Provinces and Berar. After first state reorganization, it lost the capital status but was made second capital of Maharashtra. Nagpur is an important location for Dalit Buddhist movement and Hindu nationalist organizations like RSS and VHP. Nagpur is strategically important as it is situated at the cross-roads of India's North-South and East-West routes by road, rail and air.

The Nag River, which is a tributary of the Kanhan River, flows in a serpentine path and so got its name, "Nag", the Marathi word for cobra. The river flows through the old city of Nagpur and so the city derived its name from this river, 'Nag'+'pur'. "Pur" is common suffix given to cities, villages and towns across India, and is often simply translated "city" The seal of Nagpur Municipal Corporation depicts a cobra in the water of a river. Nagpur is famous for growing oranges from which it derives it's nickname Orange city.

Civic administration

Nagpur is administered by Nagpur Municipal Corporation(NMC) along with Nagpur Improvement trust(NIT). The city is divided in 10 zones and which are in turn divided into wards. Each ward is represented by a corporator. NMC comprises 136 corporators majority of whom are elected in local elections. NMC and NIT together are in charge of the civic and infrastructure needs along with development of new areas.

Winter Session of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly assembles in Vidhan Bhavan during the month of December. In addition, a bench of the Bombay High Court is located in the city.. Nagpur is an important city for the scientific community as it is headquarters of number of national level scientific and governmental establishments like NEERI, Central Institute of Cotton Research (CICR), National Research Centre for Citrus, National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Aluminium Research and Development Centre, Indian Bureau of Mines, India's Intellectual Property Training Institute, the National Academy of Direct Taxes, the Chief Controller of Explosives of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, and regional office of the Indian Meteorological Department.

The Nagpur Police is headed by Police Commissioner, who is an IPS officer. The Nagpur Police comes under the state Home Ministry. The city is divided into three police zones each headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police(DCP). Also there are separate DCPs each for traffic and cyber crime. The Nagpur Fire Brigade department is headed by the Chief Fire Officer, who is assisted by Deputy Chief Fire Officers. Nagpur also has National fire service college.

Nagpur is also an important city for the Indian armed forces. It is headquarter of Maintenance command of Indian Air Force. Indian Army's Ordinance factory and staff college are located on west side of city. Nagpur's suburb Kamptee has cantonment of Regimental center of Indian Army's Brigade made up of National Cadet Corps' Officers' Training School, Institute of Military Law and other establishments. Nagpur's National Civil defense College provides civil defense and disaster management training to pupils from all over India and abroad. Indian Air Force's giant IL-76 transport planes nicknamed "Gajraj" are based in Nagpur

People and Culture

The food culture in Vidarbha is quite distinct from rest of Maharashtra. Nagpur is famous for it Saoji restaurants. Saoji food is very spicy but not harmful to the body, as the process of cooking has been modified to overcome any health problems.

Prominent cultural and literary societies in Nagpur include Vidarbha Sahitya Sangh(for development of Marathi), Vidarbha Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti (promotion and spreading Hindi) and Vidarbha Hindi Sahitya Sammelan (for promoting Hindi). The Nagpur central museum (estb 1863) maintains collections are mainly for Vidarbha region. The South Central Cultural Centre also actively sponsors various other cultural events in Nagpur city, such as the Orange City Craft Mela and Folk Dance Festival, which is noted for its numerous folk-dances. City was judged as the cleanest and second greenest in India after Bangalore. The Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground (VCA) in Nagpur is one of the nine test venues in the country. A new stadium of VCA is coming up on Wardha road which boasts a seating capacity of 80,000 people. INOX Nagpur (area:45,000 square feet) is the first multiplex in city. The present day Maharajbagh zoo was originally a garden developed by the Bhonsle rulers. Government of Maharashtra has approved a new safari park of international standards besides Gorewada Lake.

Economy

Nagpur has been the center of commerce in the Vidarbha region since early days and is an important trading location. Nagpur's economy is now recovering from past slowdown and city has attracted Rupees 5,000 crore in investment in 2004. During the slowdown, state and central government offices were a major source of employment in the city. Nagpur regional office of Reserve Bank of India was opened on September 10, 1956. The Butibori industrial area is the largest in all of Asia in terms of area.The estate's largest unit is of Indo Rama Synthetics, which manufactures synthetic polyester yarn. Other units in Butibori include the power transmission company KEC, Hyundai Unitech, ACC Nihon Castings Ltd. Koradi & Khaparkheda are 2 thermal power stations located near Nagpur and operated by MSPGCL.

The Hingna industrial estate located on the western fringes of the city is made up of around 900 small and medium industrial units. The major ones among them are tractor manufacturing plant of Mahindra and Mahindra, casting units of NECO Ltd. (the country's largest casting group), units of International Combustions, Bajaj Auto group, Candico (the SECOND largest confectionery manufacturing plant in India ), Ajanta toothbrushes and Sanvijay Group (largest steel rolling group of companies for long products in Central India). Nagpur is home to ice-cream manufacturer Dinshaws, Indian dry food manufacturer Haldiram's and Ayurvedic product company Vicco.

Currently, Nagpur is witnessing an economic boom as "Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur(MIHAN)" is being developed. MIHAN will be used for handling heavy cargo coming from south east Asia and Middle east Asia. Project will also include Rupees 10,000 crore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Information Technology (IT) companies.

Education

Nagpur is a major education centre in Central India. Nagpur has both "municipal schools"; (run by the NMC) and private schools (run by trusts or individuals), which in some cases receive financial aid from the government. City has 10+2+3/4 plan which is followed by Junior college and later degree course. Founded in 1923, Nagpur University is one of the oldest in the country and has geographical jurisdiction over the five districts of Nagpur division in addition to giving affiliation to hundreds of colleges. Nagpur has three medical colleges and Maharashtra Animal and Sciences University(MAFSU) for animal sciences Nagpur has several engineering colleges which provide education in various specialty courses. Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) which is now a deemed university. Nagpur has India's only National Fire Service College that providing graduation course in Fire Engineering and Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT) which one of few colleges for chemical engineering. Institute of Management Technology also has college in Nagpur. College of Agriculture in Nagpur provides impetus in agricultural research.

Bhosle Dumb and Deaf School, Bharat Muk Vidyalaya and Residential Blind Boys Institution provide education to physically challenged. Matru Sewa Sangh's Nandanwan school is for physically handicapped and mentally retarded children.

Transport

Due to its central location in India, the Nagpur Railway Station is an important railway junction and a transit for trains that connect the country lengthwise and breadthwise, especially trains connecting India's four major metropolises (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Kolkota) located in the four corners of the country. Nagpur is also a major junction for roadways as India's two major national highways (Kanyakumari-Varanasi (NH 7) and Hajira-Kolkata (NH-6)) pass through the city. One more highway number 69 connect Nagpur to Obaidullaganj near Bhopal. Nagpur is at the junction of two Asian Highways namely AH43 Agra to Matara, Sri Lanka and AH46 connecting Kharagpur, India to Dhule, India. Auto rickshaws operate in most parts of Nagpur and are the main form of hired transport within the city.

Nagpur's Air Traffic Control (ATC) is the busiest in India, with more than 300 international flights flying over the city every day in 2004. In October 2005, Nagpur's erstwhile Sonegaon Airport was declared an international airport and was renamed Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport. Country's first ever rnational cargo hub, the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) is planned on the outskirts of the city.