Bhilai | |
|---|---|
| Nickname: Steel City of India | |
  Bhilai  Bhilai | |
| Coordinates:21°13′N81°23′E / 21.21°N 81.38°E /21.21; 81.38 | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Chhattisgarh |
| District | Durg |
| Named after | Bhils |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal corporation |
| • Mayor | Neeraj Pal |
| Area | |
| 357 km2 (138 sq mi) | |
| • Rank | 1st in state |
| Elevation | 297 m (974 ft) |
| Population | |
| 624,700 | |
| • Rank | 2nd in state, 50th in India |
| • Density | 1,750/km2 (4,530/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 1,064,222 |
| • Metro rank | 50th |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 490XXX |
| Vehicle registration | CG-07 |
| Website | www.bhilainagarnigam.com |
Bhilai is a city inDurg district of theIndian state ofChhattisgarh, in eastern central India. Along with its twin-cityDurg, the urban agglomeration of Durg-Bhilai Nagar has a population of more than a million, making it thesecond most populous urban area in Chhattisgarh afterRaipur. The Bhilai metropolis contains three municipal corporations: Bhilai Municipal Corporation,Bhilai Charoda Municipal Corporation and Risali Municipal Corporation.[3]
Bhilai is a major industrial and educational hub of central India. The city is home to several industries likeBhilai Steel Plant,Jaypee Cement,Orient Cement,NSPCL Bhilai Power Plant,Steel Authority of India, FSNL andACC Cement.[5] The city is home to theIndian Institute of Technology Bhilai, as well as theBhilai Institute of Technology. Risali is an emerging hub with its own municipal corporation.[6]The city also has the state's oldest zoo,Maitri Bagh.
The termBhilai is derived from theBhil tribe which originally inhabited this region and continues to dwell in the nearby forests until today.[7]
Bhilai was a small village and a part of theHaihaiyavansi Kingdom until 1740 when it was conquered by theMarathas.
The foundation of the modern city of Bhilai was laid in 1955 when the Indian government signed a historic agreement with theSoviet Union inMagnitogorsk to establish a steel plant near the village. The first blast furnace of the plant was commissioned in 1959 by the first president of India,Dr. Rajendra Prasad.[8]
In the 2011 census,Durg-Bhilainagar Urban Agglomeration had a population of 1,064,222, of which 545,916 are males and 518,306 are females. Bhilai has an average literacy rate of 86.63%, with male literacy at 92.22% and female literacy at 80.71%.[9]
Bhilai lies at 21.21°N 81.38°E inCentral India at an elevation of 297m abovesea level on the banks of theShivnath river, a tributary of the riverMahanadi. It covers an area of 341 km2 (132 sq mi).
According to theBureau of Indian Standards, the town falls underseismic zone 2, in a scale of 2 to 5 (in order of increasing value of vulnerability to earthquakes).[10]
Owing to its proximity to theTropic of Cancer, Bhilai has a tropical climate. There are three main seasons: summer, monsoon, and winter. The average annual temperature in Bhilai is 26.6 °C and the city receives an average rainfall of 1188 mm in a year. Summers usually last from May to June, followed by monsoons in July and August. The town receives the bulk of rainfall in July, with an average rainfall of 352mm. There is little rainfall during the winters, with November being the driest month of the year.[11]
Durg Bhilai has been ranked 29th best “National Clean Air City” (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India.[12]
Bhilai is home to theBhilai Steel Plant, the first and largest Indian plant to produce steel rails. The inauguration of the first blast furnace of Bhilai Steel Plant was done by then president of India Dr. Rajendra Prasad, which was established with help from theSoviet Union in 1955.[13]
Iron ore from Rawghat, limestone from Nandini, coal from Jharia, manganese from Balaghat, electric power from the Korba thermal power plant, and water from the Tandula Canal, all nearby, are used in the Bhilai Steel Plant to manufacture rails and structural steel. Pig iron and billets are supplied to foundries and rolling mills located at Kumhari and other sites in central India.
The number of steel rails produced by the facility till 2007 can go around the circumference of the earth 7.5 times. This is depicted on the monument at the globe square in the heart of the city. The facility underwent modernisation and expansion and is amongst the leading manufacturers of iron and steel in Asia.[13]
The city serves as an educational hub in the region, with a total of 59 universities and colleges, likeIndian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhilai,Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University,Bhilai Institute of Technology,Shri Shankaracharya Institute of Medical Sciences,Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Government Medical College,Rungta College Bhilai, andShri Shankaracharya Technical Campus,Dau Shri Vasudev Chandrakar Kamdhenu Vishwavidyalaya Durg,Hemchand Yadav Vishwavidyalaya.
Schools in Bhilai are run either by municipal corporations or privately by entities, trusts, and corporations. The majority of schools are affiliated with theChhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education and theCentral Board of Secondary Education.
The twin city of Durg-Bhilai is well connected with a network of national and state highways. Some major highways passing through the city areNational Highway 53 (NH-53), SH-7 tillBemetara and SH-22 tillAbhanpur. The proposedDurg–Raipur–Arang Expressway will start from Durg and will pass near the outskirts of Bhilai tillArang, which after completion, will enhance connectivity and commute in the state.
There are total 15 railway stations in the twin city that includes railway stations serving adjacent and minor neighbourhoods within the city. The main stations areBhilai Power House railway station andDurg Junction railway station, which are major railway stations, with Durg being the biggest and the busiest, lying on theHowrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line.
The Durg Bus Station is a hub with buses plying to any place in and around Chhattisgarh as well as other parts of the country, with daily bus services operated by private and government buses to all cities within the state and outside the state, likeBhubaneswar,Nagpur,Jharsuguda,Varanasi,Prayagraj,Kolkata,Patna,Ranchi,Hyderabad,Jabalpur,Visakhapatnam, among others.
Alight rail, Metrolite or Lite Metro (as referred in India), has been proposed by theGovernment of Chhattisgarh, which will pass fromNaya Raipur to Durg viaRaipur and Bhilai.[14]
The nearest major airport isSwami Vivekananda International Airport at Raipur, located 50 km (31 mi) east from Bhilai. The airport atBhilai is currently a private airport operated by theBhilai Steel Plant, located 15 km (9.3 mi) north of the city. In recent years, it has been considered for the airport to be developed to handle commercial operations, and make it a domestic airport.
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