Gondia

Gondia Gondiya, Gundiya
City
From top, left to right: Gondia Airport,Gondia Junction, Gateway (Taj) Hotel , Mini Eiffel Tower
Nickname:  Rice city
Gondia Location in Maharashtra, India Show map of Maharashtra Gondia Gondia (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 21°27′35″N80°11′42″E / 21.4598°N 80.195°E / 21.4598; 80.195
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
Region	Vidarbha
District	Gondia
Government
• Type	Municipal Council
• Body	Gondia Municipal Council
• District collector [1]	Chinmay Gotmare, IAS
• District Police Superintendent	Nikhil N. Pingale IPS [2]
Area
• Total	55 km2 (21 sq mi)
• Rank	1st in Gondia District Vidarbha: 5th
Elevation	300 m (1,000 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	132,821
• Rank	1st in Gondia District Vidharbha: 5th
• Density	2,400/km2 (6,300/sq mi)
Demonym	Gondiakar
Language
• Official	Marathi [3]
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	441601,441614
Telephone code	+91-07182
Vehicle registration	MH-35
Literacy Rate	93.70%
Sex ratio	991 per 1000 male. ♂/♀
HDI	0.701 (Medium)
Nearest city	Tirora (33km)
Website	gondia.nic.in

Gondia (also spelled Gondiya) is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra which serves the administrative headquarters of the eponymous administrative district. ^[4] Gondia is also known as Rice City due to the abundance of rice mills in the area. ^{[5] [ failed verification ]} Gondia Airport (also known as Birsi airport) is the only airport in the district.

History

The region is named after the Gondi people, an Adivasi group in central India. During British Rule , Proprietor of Gondia was Ponwar Rajpoot. ^[6]

During British rule in India, the Great Famine of 1876–78 provided an opportunity for the construction of a 150-kilometre-long (93 mi) metre-gauge rail link called the Nagpur Chhattisgarh Railway, connecting Nagpur with Rajnandgaon. Gondia railway station was created when this line began operation in December 1888. Bengal Nagpur Railway (BNR) was formed in 1887 to upgrade and extend this line, and in 1902 BNR was contracted to provide a railway line from Gondia to Jabalpur with branches from Nainpur to Mandla as well as Nainpur to Seoni and Chhindwara. With these links and the commerce they brought, Gondia grew and prospered. ^{[7] [ pages needed ]} In the year 1877 Near Darekasa cave Swami Vivekananda occurred his "First Trance" reference book "Journey of Swami Vivekananda to Raipur and His First Trance"(23)

Geography

Climate

Climate data for Gondia (1981–2010, extremes 1946–2012)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	34.5 (94.1)	38.5 (101.3)	42.5 (108.5)	46.1 (115.0)	47.5 (117.5)	47.5 (117.5)	44.2 (111.6)	38.4 (101.1)	39.4 (102.9)	38.0 (100.4)	35.7 (96.3)	35.1 (95.2)	47.5 (117.5)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	28.5 (83.3)	31.2 (88.2)	35.9 (96.6)	40.3 (104.5)	42.3 (108.1)	37.9 (100.2)	31.5 (88.7)	30.6 (87.1)	32.1 (89.8)	32.6 (90.7)	30.9 (87.6)	28.9 (84.0)	33.6 (92.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	13.2 (55.8)	15.6 (60.1)	19.9 (67.8)	24.2 (75.6)	27.7 (81.9)	26.8 (80.2)	24.1 (75.4)	24.0 (75.2)	23.6 (74.5)	21.4 (70.5)	16.6 (61.9)	12.6 (54.7)	20.8 (69.4)
Record low °C (°F)	6.6 (43.9)	6.7 (44.1)	11.4 (52.5)	11.6 (52.9)	13.8 (56.8)	20.4 (68.7)	19.8 (67.6)	18.3 (64.9)	19.2 (66.6)	13.3 (55.9)	8.5 (47.3)	5.0 (41.0)	5.0 (41.0)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	24.3 (0.96)	22.9 (0.90)	13.9 (0.55)	8.8 (0.35)	10.6 (0.42)	180.5 (7.11)	386.1 (15.20)	374.5 (14.74)	177.6 (6.99)	46.5 (1.83)	13.6 (0.54)	11.4 (0.45)	1,270.7 (50.03)
Average rainy days	1.4	1.7	1.4	0.9	1.0	8.6	16.2	16.8	8.9	3.2	0.6	0.6	61.4
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST)	48	37	30	25	25	50	73	78	71	57	51	47	50
Source 1: India Meteorological Department [8] [9]
Source 2: Government of Maharashtra [10]

Location

Gondia is very close to the state of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and is considered the gateway to Maharashtra from central and eastern India. Tirora is only nearby city. Gondia municipal council was established in 1920. At that time Gondia had only 10 wards population up to 20,000 and an area of 7.5 km². Gondia has 42 wards, as well as population nearing up to 2 lakhs. The urbanisation has crossed municipal limits merging into nearby villages like Kudwa, Katangi, Fulchur, Nagra, Karanja, Murri, Pindkepar, and Khamari. The Ministry of Urban Development has recently^{[ when? ]} announced to merge 20 nearby villages into Gondia to give the city status of Municipal Corporation. It is connected with National Highway 543 and 753.

Demographics

As per 2011 Indian Census, Gondia municipal corporation had a total population of 132,889, of which 66,756 were males and 66,133 females. Children in the age range of 0 to 6 were 12,835. The effective literacy (of population 7 years and above) of the city was 93.70%. ^[11]

Year	Male	Female	Total Population	Change	Religion (%)
					Hindu	Muslim	Christian	Sikhs	Buddhist	Jain	Other religions and persuasions	Religion not stated
2001 [12]	61418	59484	120902	-	77.072	7.147	0.524	0.779	13.508	0.817	0.137	0.015
2011 [13]	66500	66313	132813	0.099	76.228	7.483	0.472	0.760	13.804	0.692	0.088	0.473

Economy

Agriculture

The city has a large number of rice mills. ^{[14] [15] [ failed verification ]} Agriculture is the main economic activity in Gondia. The main agricultural crops are paddy and sugarcane. ^{[16] [ failed verification ]}

Industries

Adani Power Maharashtra Limited (APML), is 3 km away from Tirora on Tirora-Gondia state road. Coal is transported to Adani power, Ltd through a railway which is connected to Kachewani Railway Station. Water is being used from nearby weir constructed on Wainganga River. An 85.89% subsidiary of Adani Power Limited is implementing 3300 MW Thermal Power Station in Tirora.

Transportation

Road

The Mumbai–Nagpur–Kolkata Road is the only national highway passing through the district, covering a total distance of 99.37 km (62 mi). Gondia is situated about 170 km by road from Nagpur of Vidarbha region. The district has road links to adjoining districts Chandrapur, Bhandara, Nagpur. The city is well connected by roads. It takes around 4 hours journey from Nagpur by State Transport Bus to reach Gondia. Gondia has bus connectivity to Jabalpur, Nagpur, Raipur and Hyderabad.

Rail

Main article: Gondia Junction railway station

Gondia rail routes

Gondia Junction railway station is a junction in Maharashtra, with heavy passenger and goods traffic. It is an A-Grade station.

It lies on the Howrah–Mumbai route. The station has seven platforms, each with potable water, tea stalls, benches and waiting sheds. There is also a fruit stall and a bookstall. The station is equipped with air-conditioned waiting rooms for passengers travelling by upper accommodation classes and a waiting hall for passengers travelling by lower accommodation classes.

The Gondia–Jabalpur Junction (Madhya Pradesh) section of South East Central Railway runs north–south, along the valley of the Wainganga River. The line was formerly narrow gauge (762 mm [2 ft 6 in]) along its entire length, but the section between Gondia and Balaghat was converted to broad gauge in 2005–2006, ^[17] connecting Balaghat to India's national broad-gauge network. Work is completed to convert the Balaghat–Jabalpur section to broad gauge as well.

Railway milestones for Gondia include:

• 1888 – Gondia Railway Station was opened to the public.
• 1901 – Satpura Express began first class service.
• 1903 – The first portion of Gondia–Nainpur was opened. ^[18]
• 1905 – Nainpur–Gondia line was extended to Jabalpur. ^[18]
• 1908 – Gondia–Nagbhir–Nagpur line was opened for traffic. ^[18]
• 1990-91 – Paniajob–Gondia and Gondia–Bhandara Road sections were electrified. ^[19]
• 1999 – Gauge-converted Gondia–Balharshah line opened.
• 2005 – Gauge-converted Gondia–Balaghat section opened.

Airport

Gondia Airport is situated near Kamtha village, 12 km (7.5 mi) from Gondia. This airstrip was built by the British in 1940, during World War II. ^[20] Initially run by the Public Works Department, it was taken over by the state-owned Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) from August 1998 ^[21] to December 2005, after which it has been operated by the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The airport's runway has been extended to 2,300 metres (7,500 ft) to accommodate Airbus A-320, Boeing 737 and similar aircraft. ^[22]

Other nearby airports to Gondia Airport (GDB) include Nagpur (NAG) (124.8 km), Raipur (RPR) (163.2 km) and Jabalpur (JLR) (192.2 km).

References

1. "District Gondia - Collectorate" . Retrieved 30 July 2019.
2. "organ trafficking case related to naxalites gondia s sp nikhil pingle sar 75 zws 70". Loksatta (in Marathi). 28 February 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
3. "52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
4. "गोंदिया संकेतस्थळ". gondia.nic.in. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
5. "Rice city".
6. "Central Province District Gazetteers - Bhandara District". Gazetteer Department of Maharashtra. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
7. "The Roaring Journey" (PDF). secr.indianrailways.gov.in.
8. "Station: Gondia Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. pp. 293–294. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
9. "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M142. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
10. "Climate and Seasons". Government of Maharashtra. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
11. "Cities having population 1 lakh and above, Census 2011" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in/. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
12. "C-01 population by religion - Census 2001". censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
13. "C-01 population by religion - Census India 2011". censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
14. Behl, Manka (22 August 2016). "Rice mills at Gondia causing pollution". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
15. "Promote fortified rice manufacturing plants, Centre tells Maharashtra". Business Line. 5 December 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
16. "Economy and Agriculture | District Gondia | India" . Retrieved 31 March 2023.
17. Railway Gazette International Supplement December 2007 p7
18. "South Eastern Railway". 1 April 2013. Archived from the original on 1 April 2013.
19. "History of Electrification". IRFCA. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
20. "Airstrips in Maharashtra". Maharashtra Public Works Department. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
21. "MIDC airports". Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
22. "Akola, Gondia next aviation hot spots". The Times of India . 27 November 2007. Archived from the original on 11 July 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2012.