| Bhilai | |
| — city — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Chhattisgarh |
| District(s) | Durg |
| Population | 753,837[1] (2001[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 293 metres (961 ft) |
Bhilai or Bhilai Nagar (Hindi:भिलाई) is a city in the Durg district of Chhattisgarh, in eastern central India. As of 2001, it had a population of 753,837.[1] The city is located 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of the capital Raipur, on the main Howrah–Mumbai rail line, and National Highway 6. Bhilai is famous for the Bhilai Steel Plant, which is the largest steel plant in India and known for being the only manufacturer of rails in the country used by Indian Railways.
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As of the 2001 India census,[1] Bhilai Nagar has a population of 753,837, mostly composed of residents who came from various other regions of India and have now settled there. The population is 52% male and 48% female. Bhilai Nagar has an average literacy rate of 90%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; the male literacy rate is 90% and female literacy is 89%. 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.
The economy of the town is centered around the massive Bhilai Steel Plant, one of the largest integrated steel plants in the world.
The climate is pleasant and mild in the winter (minimum temperature 10 °C, 50 °F). There are medium rains in the monsoon season. The summers are very hot and dry, with maximum temperature 45 °C (113 °F), and maximum humidity.
There are three railway stations within the Bhilai region:
Shared diesel-run three-wheelers, called "tempos" in local parlance, ply along select routes in the city and serve as a reliable and convenient local public transport.
The city of Bhilai Nagar is a planned township, divided into 10 sectors and various other areas. Bhilai is part of the new towns set up in independent India to enhance modernization, productivity, development.
Other new SAIL or Steel Authority of India towns include Rourkela, Bokaro, Durgapur.
New Towns and cities built in independent India include Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, etc.
Bhilai has been listed as one of the top three best planned cities in India.
The steel township campus is managed by in house town planning department. Bhilai Nagar has a municipal corporation. This comes under the Special Area Development Authority or SADA (as used in Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh states).
Bhilai has three road spines or arterial roads which bind the town.
In the centre is the `Central Avenue'
In the north is the `Railway Avenue'
In the South is the `Forest Avenue'()
The central avenue, starting from the Ispat Bhawan-Bhilai Steel plant to Jawahar Lal Nehru Main Hospital, divides the city into two halves.
Each sector is approximately 1 to 2.25 sq kms, spatially by planning standards
Bhilai is known for its pre-graduate education aimed at preparation for entrance examinations for engineering. The local educational system was built by the Bhilai Steel Plant for the children of their employees, which attracted students from all over India. Starting in late 1950s, the first Higher Secondary School was opened in Sector 1 (which still stands today), followed by Bhilai Vidyalaya in Sector 2 and the Higher Secondary School in Sector 7. The Sector 7 School has supported instruction in both English (through Cambridge Board) and in Hindi. Recognizing that most of the employees were going to be engineers or work in some other technical field, the plant management attempted to attract the best teachers in the country.
With the increasing population over the last 50 years, the populace as well as the education system has become somewhat diversified. Many business and English-coaching classes have flourished in the city. Bhilai is also famous for its schools. It is considered among best places in India for studying higher and senior secondary levels. The best schools of Bhilai are: Mar Gregorious Memorial (MGM) senior secondary school, sector 6, Delhi Public School, Risali, Delhi Public School Durg, D.A.V. Public School, Senior Secondary School (S.S.S) Sector 10, Bhilai Nair Samajam school sector-8, S.S.S Sector 4, S.S.S Sector 6, S.S.S Sector 7, Bhilai Vidyalaya, dps risali sector, Krishna Public School, Shri Shankara Vidyalaya, St. Xavier's High School, Angle Valley School Hudco etc. all boast of illustrious alumni. A high percentage of students qualify for the IITs from these schools. In some years, the city has given up to 40 IIT selections, who were the pupils of Bhilai (unlike other hub places such as Kota, Delhi, etc. which has students coming from outside). Delhi Public School Risali is the best school in the town and has also received various awards for best educational facilities.
Higher education has been provided since the creation of the State of Chhattisgarh in the year 2000. There was a need to have a separate technical university to cater to the wish of the people to get technical education for its wards and opening of a large number of higher technical education colleges. Hence the Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University was formed in the year 2004 by act (number 25 of 2004) by the Chhattisgarh State Assembly. Some leading and esteemed engineering institutes in Bhilai, which have been assigned and run under the supervision of CSVTU are: BIT-DURG, MPCCET, SSCET, CIMT-BHILAI-3,CSIT ,DIMAT and SSIPMT.
The local dialect is Chhattisgarhi, which is very similar to Hindi.
All major festivals are celebrated in a scale similar to their region of origin. Like the Durga Puja celebrations of Bhilai are in tune with that in Bengal. The same can be said about Maharashtra's Ganesh Chaturthi, Andhra's Ugadi, Tamil Nadu's Pongal, Muslim's Id, Jagganath Puri's Rath Yatra. The population of Sikh's in the region is high, and the Sikh festivals like the Guru Nanak Dev ji's Guruparab, Guru Gobind Singh's Guruparab, Baisakhi (The Birth of Khalsa), Shaheedi Gurparab of Guru Arjan Dev and Guru Teg Bahadur is celebrated with a great passion by all the people irrespective of their religion. If Sikhs visit there, they must go to the satsang (a place where all of them get together for praying and singing God's name) house. That place is known for praying for many people in Bhilai and some areas of Punjab. Bhilai also boasts of high levels of linguistic and religious unity, which has been the hallmark of its culture since its inception.
The main reason obviously lies in the fact that before the establishment of Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP), with collaboration from Russian counterparts, it was almost nothing but an agricultural area with small villages like AmdiGaon (now AmdiNagar-HUDCO) and many others. But the setting up of BSP made a cale all over India to make a rush and henceforth bring the multi-ethnicity with them. This steel city is often called "Mini India" because of the multi-province, multi-religion population.
The Maitri Bagh- A zoo and a park established by the Bhilai Steel Plant. Right next to Maitri Bagh are two huge man-made water lakes. One is used to supply water to the township. The other is used for the Steel Plant's applications. Right across Maitri Bagh is Bhilai Water Works, a facility used to provide clean water to the Bhilai Township. Maitri Bagh literally means the "friendship garden" and was established as a symbol of India-USSR friendship.
Civic Center - Started as a shopping center consisting of two rows of shops and stores arranged in an L-shape, initially it had tata (textiles) on one end and bata (shoes) on the other end. This was the only hub for lots of social activities, entertainment and shopping for a long time before Bhilai expanded beyond its boundaries when shopping complex like Gangotri & Akash Ganga started in Supela in the late 1980s. Lots of changes happened after that in the Civic Center and nearby area. The L-shape Civic Center had a children's garden with a toy-train which used to be open on every 14 November on Children's Day. The toy-train is no longer there, and garden is decorated to teach traffic-sign and signals to children. There was also a dome supermarket which is now used for art-exhibitions. To the east of the Civic Center, there is an open place with stage, which is known as 'Open-Air-Theatre' and used for various cultural activities including musical nights. Right next to the Civic Center is Kala Mandir theater, used for various purposes. Initially it was a movie theater known as Chitra Mandir. For a long time, this was the only air-conditioned movie theater in the area for entertainment of Bhilaians. But in nineties with television and cable TV popularity, demand and use of this theater reduced, and management decided to close the movie theater. The theater was then converted to a multi-purpose community center and named as Kala Mandir. South of Kala Mandir is a huge field used for Ramleela and Dashehara festivals. In this field, there used to be a high rock stage which was constructed to welcome Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962. The new Civic Center started its operation in the 1980s, an became a major IT hub in Bhilai. This is a new commercial complex and also has a movie theater - Geet Talkies which is closed now.
Surapati "Satsang" Vihar is one of the most famous places of Bhilai. It also considered Wapian mandir.
Kali Bari in Sector 6.
Each sector has a community hall, schools, health centers and market. For sports, there are two major stadiums Pant stadium in Sector 1 and Jayanti Stadium in Indira Place.
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