| Jatani Khurda Road |
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| — city — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Orissa |
| District(s) | Khordha |
| Population | 54,550 (2001[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 36 metres (118 ft) |
Jatani or Jatni (Oriya:ଜଟଣୀ, Hindi:जटणी) or Khurda Road is a city and a municipality in Khordha district in the Indian state of Orissa. It is close to Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Orissa. Jatni town is also known as 'Khurda Road' in railways. It is an important railway junction and gateway to the vast tribal hinterland. It has developed as a commercial hub with a number of educational and other institutions. Jatni is famous for Ganesh Chaturti and lots of tourists come here during the festival.
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Jatani is located at .[1] It has an average elevation of 43 metres (118 feet).
As of 2001[update] India census,[2] Jatani had a population of 54,550. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Jatani has an average literacy rate of 78%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 83%, and female literacy is 72%. In Jatani, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
The population of Jatani consists mostly of Oriya & Telugu speaking peoples. Others like Muslim, Marwari, Gujrati, Bengali are also present in good numbers. Good number of Temples, Masjid & Churches are present here. It is also the home of highest number of Anglo-Indian people in Orissa. A variety of communities live here because Jatani has been a very important railway station since the British rule. A major chunk of people living here are railway employees.
Jatani is famous for its celebration of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. Jatani is very crowded during Ganesh Puja as people from nearby places visit in huge numbers for the occasion. People of Jatani maintain communal harmony. Eid ul-Fitr & Christmas Day are also celebrated with religious fervour.
Diwali and Holi are celebrated here with much fanfare.The firecracker shops in Jatani draw a large number of buyers from nearby places like Bhubaneswar,Khurda, Puri etc. reason being there are nearby villages which indulge in making crackers half a year like Padanpur.The success of these shops can be attributed to setting up once again make-shift shops during other festivals like Raksha Bandhan,New Year.
It's a mini India of its own but you can always find some glimpse of evaporating traditions here. Be it the Anglo-Indians celebrating Christmas in open or the Marwari's Garbha in closely guarded community atmosphere or the Bhogi festival of Telugus.
Several weeklong festivals for the goddess Bhagabati Devi are also celebrated mostly in Railway sareas esp. Locoline and Retang colony.On the last day,the procession is carried out in public,followed by a carnival depicting stories from Hindu mythologies like Ramayana, Mahabharath etc.
The town is spread across various Railways settlements akin colonies like Traffic colony, New colony, Accounts colony, Retang colony, Loco line surrounded by private townships like Nuagaun, Hata bazaar, Raja bazaar, Bali Chakka Sahi, Railway Market, Kudiary, Sitaram chhack, Thaana Chhack, Bacharapatna (chhack is the local equivalent for Cross,similarly bazaar is the local equivalent for Market).
There are very good and old temples in around Jatani. Among old temples are Budhapada (Lord Shiva). This is a very old temple and devotees from different places in and around of Jatni visit the temple. Other temples are Chotta Somnath Mandira situated at Kudiary, God Venkateswara Temple, and Maa Damunei or Uttarayani Temple, Maa Mangala and Taleshwar(God Shiva) situated at Barapada.
Dola Jatra is celebrated in Harirajpur (4 km away from Jatni town), which takes place on the 5th day following Holi. It is a very big local gathering where idols of gods from different parts of the district are brought in palaki (palaquin) and placed in jatra(fair). People visit and offer their prayers to gods by applying different colours of Holi. Ganesh puja is the biggest festival for jatni in which more than 3 lakhs people come during the festival to watch the pandels and enjoy the evening in mina bazar with games and end their day with watch Oriya opera known as jatra party.The Most important historical place near jatni is barunei hill.at the British times all the khurdha paiks started there movement from here.
It has excellent railway linkages with most major cities in the country. Jatani Railway Station is known as Khurda Road and is the biggest Railway Junction of the East Coast for the Indian Railways in the state. Trains from different parts of the country are routed to different cities from the Chennai-Kolkata main line.
It is well connected to all other cities in the state. The NH-5 National Highway (connecting Chennai & Kolkata) runs close to Jatani (around 7 km). The state capital, Bhubaneswar, is located at a distance of 25 km.
It is well connected to other cities like Bhubaneswar (19 km), Puri (44 km), Howrah (456 km), Mumbai (1913 km), New Delhi (1819 km), Chennai (1204 km), Hyderabad (1124 km), Bangalore (1606 km) etc. by rail. It is the largest railway junction in Orissa. There is a popular saying here that, "One must come to Khurda Road railway station and one will get a train to any part of this country".
The nearest Airport is at Bhubaneswar, which is 25 km from here.
Kendriya Vidyalaya - The biggest school in the town and arguably the best in terms of infrastructure and educational standards.Popularly known as KV-KUR, it has both Secondary and Senior Secondary level education system. It Provided Facilities like computer Labs, Science Labs(biology lads, chemistry labs,physics labs,junior science labs), Library And a big Playground having cricket ground,football ground, basketball court,volleyball court,badminton court,sketting ground etc. Schools Extra Curricular Activities Dance, Music And Cultural Programme youth parliament,acting/drama, art, drawing, crafing, supw,yoga,sports etc.
Mission School - This is an I.C.S.E. school and located in the heart of the town. Termed as one of the best schools of Jatni. Also popularly known as Bethel Chapel school.
NDRC High School - It is an Oriya medium school (Orissa State Board), which is situated in Retang Colony.
Prananath (P.N.) High School - The oldest school in the town. Situated near Jatni College. Late Prananath Pattnaik build this school. Probably the most well known school in Jatni. It is an Oriya medium school(state board school).
Railway school - A State board school run by the East Coast Railways. It is preferred by Railway employees. Though it's a Orissa state run school it also has Telugu as a medium of instruction. Of late, the teaching is mainly done in English. It's situated near the Traffic colony, near the Railway Hospital.
Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir - It is one of the most successful schools in the locality having a 100% pass rate. It is famous for its quality of education along with cultural and moral teachings. It has produced a number of quality students and artists.
S.D.P Bidyapitha High School - It is an Oriya medium(Orissa State Board) school situated near Bachharapatna. Students from every corner of the town come here. This school has proved itself not only in studies, but also in extracurricular activities.
Some other schools are Shishu Sikshya Niketan, SERWO(South Eastern Railway Women's Organisation) school, St. Xavier High School, A.D.S public school, Girls high school, Boys high school, D.A.V public school, Cristal valley school, etc..
Current MLA from Jatni Assembly Constituency is Bibhuti Balabantaray of BJD from 2009,successor to Sarat Paikaray who won the seat in State elections of 2004. Earlier Sarat Paikary also won in 1990 as JD candidate. Winner of this seat in 2000, 1995, 1985, 1980 and 1977 was Suresh Kumar Routray, who represented INC in 2000, 1995 and 1985, represented INC(I) in 1980 and JNP in 1977.[3]
Jatni is part of Bhubaneswar (Lok Sabha constituency).[4]
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