Ballarpur

Ballarpur (Marathi: बल्लारपूर) is a city and a municipal council in Chandrapur district in the state of Maharashtra, India.

Demographics

India census,^[1] Ballarpur had a population of 133,722 including villages under ballarpur tahsil. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Ballarpur has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 80% of the males and 66.5% of females literate. 11.6% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Highlights

The king of Ballarpur was Balharshah. The town was named Balharshah after him. Even today the Railway station is listed as Ballarshah with the Indian Railways. It is the last station in the Central Railway zone for Indian Railways. Hence all the trains entering South Central Railway zone stop here for Crew Change(TTE, Loco Pilots, Guards, RPF) as well as to upload pantry stuff from the base kitchen in Ballarshah.

King Balharshah developed a skin ailment. He was told to regularly bathe in a well close to Chandrapur. The king recovered, built a new fort called the Chanda fort and moved his capital there. Even today the ruins of the old Balharshah fort can be seen on the banks of Wardha river.

Balharshah is also a semi road transport hub. The state highway that passed through Balharshah considerably cuts the time to travel from Nagpur to Hyderabad. There are many transport companies based in Balharshah. The town came in limelight after the Avantha Group established their flagship paper factory, BILT there.BILT is India's largest manufacturer of writing and printing (W&P) paper. BILT's subsidiaries include BILT Graphic Paper Products Limited (BGPPL); Sabah Forest Industries (SFI), Malaysia's largest pulp and paper company; and BILT Tree Tech Limited (BTTL), which runs BILT's farm forestry programme in several states in India. Mr. R.R. Vederah is the Managing Director and Executive Vice Chairman. The Gadchroli and the southern Chhattisgarh region is rich with bamboo plantations. Hence there are a number of paper factories in the Telangana, Chhattishgarh and Vidharbha region.

Balharshah has five colleges: Guru Nanak College of Science, Mahatma Jyotiba Fule College of Arts and Commerce, Thapar College, Zhaveri Womans College of Arts, Mount Science Junior College and BIT(Ballarpur Institute of Technology). BIT is a new college on the Rajura road. It has a coal mine, timber depot and a defunct power plant. The attraction at the timber depot is a 800 year old timber log, that has been preserved. The nearest airport is Nagpur. Ballarpur is just 165 km. from Nagpur (Zero Mile of India) and well connected through Trains, Private and Government buses. Cabs are also easily available. Ballarpur has always been a peaceful town in the resource rich region of vidharbha.

Ballarpur has a coal fields which is owned by the public sector, which gives a huge opportunity to fresh graduates for further jobs.

Ballarpur has a population of 301,000. Most are outsiders who work for BILT and Western Coal Fields Limited.

References