Purulia

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Purulia
Purulia
State - District(s)	West Bengal - Purulia
Coordinates	23.19° N 86.22° E
Area
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Population - Density	-
Chairman

Purulia(Bengali: পুরুলিয়া) (also spelled Puruliya) is a town located in West Bengal state, India. It is the location of the district headquarters of Purulia district. Purulia is located on the north of the Kasai river and is a major road and railway junction. Purulia municipality was constituted in 1876.

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 History
4 External links
5 References

[edit] Geography

Puruliya is located at 23.33° N 86.37° E^[1]. It has an average elevation of 228 metres (748 feet).

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census^GRIndia, Puruliya had a population of 113,766. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Puruliya has an average literacy rate of 68%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 60%. In Puruliya, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

[edit] History

Purulia entered the news in December 1995, when a Latvian aircraft dropped a large consignment of arms into its vicinity. Several days later, when the plane re-entered Indian airspace, it was intercepted by the MiG21 Indian Air force Jet planes, and its crew were captured. It was believed that the arms were intended for the Hindu cult Anand Marg ("Happy Path"), but proof of this could not be established. The crew of the aircraft consisted of five Latvian citizens and Peter Bleach, a British citizen. They were arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment. Following the intervention of Russian authorities, the Latvian crew (ethnic Russians) were later pardoned and released in 2000.

Purulia is also famous for the prestigious institution named Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith. This is a residential school for boys with the calm environment of ancient gurukul system which was the ideology of Swami Vivekananda. Purulia also has famous Sainik School on Ranchi Road.