Silchar

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Silchar
(Bengali: শিলচর Shilchôr)
city
Aerial view of the Barak river, Silchar
Silchar
Location in Assam, India
Coordinates: 24°49′N 92°48′E / 24.82°N 92.8°E / 24.82; 92.8Coordinates: 24°49′N 92°48′E / 24.82°N 92.8°E / 24.82; 92.8
Country India
State Assam
District Cachar
Elevation 22 m (72 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 228,985
Languages
 • Official Bengali
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 7880xx
Telephone code 91 (0) 3842
Vehicle registration AS-11
Website www.cachar.nic.in

Silchar (Pron: ˈsɪlˌʧə or ˈʃɪlˌʧə) (Bengali: শিলচর Shilchôr) is the headquarters of Cachar district in the state of Assam in India. It is 343 kilometres (213 mi) south east of Guwahati. It is the 2nd largest town of the state in terms of population and municipal area.[1]

Being politically stable in the otherwise disturbed Northeast earned it the bon mot of "Island of Peace" from India's then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.[2]

During the British rule, ships were docked at the bank of the river "Barak" so a market developed at the bank and became a major place of economic activity. The bank was covered with stones to help dock ships and vessels, and the market developed at a place which was fully covered with stones. People started to refer to the place as "Shiler Chor", meaning a bank of stone. Gradually "Shiler Chor" became "Silchar" for linguistic simplification and, later on, British officials started to use "Silchar" in their official documents referring to the surrounding area of the market. "Silchar" became the official name of the place.[3]

Approximately 90% residents of Silchar are Bengalis who speak the Sylheti dialect, the rest being Dimasa Kachari (Barman), Manipuri (Meitei), Marwaris, Bishnupriya Manipuris, Assamese and some tribal groups like Nagas. Silchar is situated by the banks of the Barak River in what is popularly known as Barak Valley. Rice is the staple cereal. Fish is also available. Shuţki (the local name for dried fish), shidal chutney, and chunga-r peetha are some of the local delicacies.

Economy

Over the past few years, the town has seen an influx of people from nearby States and places due to the Silchar's increasing prospects and other developments in the field of Education, Medical facilities and the more recently booming real estate market and other commercial enterprises, making the town quite over-crowded.

Modern Buildings and Residential complex's dots silchar in every major area. The expansion of Silchar has lead to the creation of New-Silchar Locality. Further more satellite Township "SUN-CITY" has cropped up with Sarala Birlya Gayan Jyoti School. http://www.agsuncity.com/

Geography

Silchar is located in the southern part of Assam.[4][5] Situated on the banks of the Barak River, it is a trade and processing centre for tea, rice and other agricultural products. There is limited industry, principally papermaking and tea-box manufacturing. The city has an airport and lies on both a rail head and national highways connecting to Guwahati, Assam; Agartala, Tripura; Imphal, Manipur and Aizawl in Mizoram state.

The area of Silchar town is 15.75 km2. It has an average elevation of 22 meters (72 feet).

Demographics

As of 2011 India census, Silchar City has a population of around 172,710 of which males are 86,812 and females are 85,897, so maintaining the sex ratio of Silchar city is 989 per 1000 males i.e. way above the national ratio of 940. Silchar Metropolitan Areas( Including Ambicapur Part-X, Kanakpur I, Kanakpur Part-II, Silchar, Silchar Part-X, Silchar XI, Tarapur VII, Tarapur VIII, Uttar Krishnapur Part-I kalain katigorah) has population of 228,985 of which 115,443 are males and 113,542 are females. Silchar has an average literacy rate of 91.74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 93.97%, and female literacy is 89.50%. Total children (0-6) in Silchar city are 15,467 as per figure from Census India report on 2011. There were 7,977 boys while 7,490 are girls. Child sex ratio of girls is 939 per 1000 boys, much lower than the overall sex ratio of 989, which is matter of concern because it indicates that recent trend has been more away from normalcy. Major religions followed are Hinduism & Islam.

Climate

At Silchar, the climate is tropical by nature. The wind generally blows from the northeast in the morning and from the southeast in the afternoon. Summer is hot, humid and interspersed with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. Winter generally starts towards the end of November and lasts till February. Towards the start of the Bengali month of Baishakh (mid-April) rain clouds start covering the skyline. Silchar is inundated frequently due to excessive rainfall and flooding by the River Barak. In the last three decades, Silchar and the Barak Valley have been ravaged by three major floods - one in 1986, followed by 1991 and in 2004.

Education

University

Assam University, a central university, which imparts education in both the general as well as professional streams. The university, which came into existence in 1994, has 16 schools and 35 post-graduate departments under them. The university has 51 affiliated colleges under it.[6]

Colleges in silchar;
Medical college
Engineering college
  • NIT Silchar is one of the oldest engineering colleges in the region which was previously known as Regional Engineering College, Silchar.[citation needed]
  • Department of Computer Science, Assam University offers 5 Years integrated M.S. in Computer Science since 1997 and soon to start M.Tech (Computer Science)
  • School Of Technology(SOT),Assam university offers B.Tech and M.Tech in Information Technology(IT),Electronics and communication and Agricultural Engineering Branches.
  • Silchar Polytechnic, Silchar
Schools
  • Oriental High School,
  • Don Bosco School,
  • Holy Cross School,
  • South Point School,
  • Silchar Collegiate School,
  • Cachar High School,
  • Hiran Prabha Deb Sishu Mandir
  • Adhar Chand Higher Secondary School,
  • Narsing higher secondary School,
  • Govt. Boys higher secondary School,
  • Govt. Girls higher secondary & multipurpose School,
  • Muktashree High School,
  • Pranabananda Holy Child School,
  • Daffodils School, Maharishi Vidya Mandir,
  • Pranabananda Vidya Mandir,
  • Five Kendriya Vidyalayas (K.V. Silchar, Srikona, Masimpur, Kumbhirgram and NIT),
  • Ramanuj Vidyamandir etc.
Others

There is also a B.Ed colleges, two law colleges and one industrial training institute (ITI) in Silchar.

Connectivity

The connectivity of Silchar to other cities has long been a matter of concern. Silchar is connected by road, railways and air to the rest of the country.

Railways

Silchar Railway Station

It is connected by a meter gauge rail network to Lumding and Agartala which is currently being upgraded to broad gauge lines. Although the plan of up-gradation of the meter gauge network to Lumding had been planned many years back[citation needed] and was scheduled to be completed long back, this is still going on. As per latest updates, Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) says the project will be completed by 2015, but in reality it seems doubtful due to too slow work progress. The railway station is in Tarapur, Silchar. The other nearby places connected by railways are Karimganj, Hailakandi, Jiribam and Vairobi.

Roadways

Regular bus services connect it with Guwahati, Jorhat, Dibrugarh, Shillong, Aizawl, Agartala and other places. However during the rainy seasons, heavy rains along the Silchar-Shillong-Guwahati route, particularly the road between Shillong and Silchar,(via kalain) cause frequent landslides which brings communication to a standstill. Although there have been plans to have a permanent solution to this problem,[citation needed] by constructing retaining walls, but nothing much has been done so far. Many believe that the connectivity issues have had a bad impact on the overall development of Silchar. New Inter State Bus and Truck Terminuses have been recently constructed. The under construction east - west corridor will connect Silchar in the east with Saurashtra in the west.

Air Connectivity

The airport is located at Kumbhirgram, about 22 km from Silchar and there are regular flights connecting Silchar with Kolkata, Guwahati, Tezpur, Jorhat, Agartala and Imphal. The airport is being mordernised and is considered the fourth-busiest in north eastern India after Guwahati, Imphal and Agartala in terms of flight movements.[8] Silchar has been selected as one of the towns for the construction of 51 low cost airports across the country recently [9]

In December 1985, Air India operated the first all-woman crew flight in the world from Kolkata to Silchar which was commanded by Captain Saudamini Deshmukh on a Fokker F-27 Friendship aircraft.[10]

History

Cachar district records

In the 1850s, British tea planters re-discovered the game polo in Manipur on the Burmese border with India. The first polo club in the world was formed at Silchar.[citation needed] The first competitive modern form of polo was played in Silchar; the plaque for this feat still stands behind the District Library, Silchar.[citation needed]

Railway link

The Assam Bengal Railway brought Silchar into the Indian railway map in 1899. The railway line from Lumding to Silchar is hailed as one of the most exciting pristine railway tracks of India. Built by the British during the colonial rule, the meter gauge line stands testimony to the grandiose of what was once a highly popular city in the North-East.

Language martyrs

Main article: Bengali Language Movement (Barak Valley)
Language Martyr's Memorial at Silchar Railway Station

Silchar saw one of the uprisings in favour of the Bengali language. When the Assam government, under Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha, passed a circular to make Assamese mandatory, Bengalis of Barak Valley protested. On 19 May 1961, when Assam police opened fire on unarmed protesters at Silchar Railway Station, 11 agitators died. After the popular revolt, the Assam government had to withdraw the circular and Bengali was ultimately given official status in the three districts of Barak Valley.[11][12][13]

Silchar Railway Station is described as Bhasa Shahid Station

Politics

Silchar is part of the Silchar (Lok Sabha constituency) and the current member of Parliament from Silchar is Kabindra Purkayastha of the Bharatiya Janata Party.[14]

Sports Facilities

Satindra Mohan Dev Stadium,Silchar

Media

Radio

All India Radio, Akashvani Silchar broadcasts on AM and FM.

Television

Doordarshan, DD Silchar.

Local newspapers

  • Janakantha (Bengali daily)
  • Eastern Chronicle (English daily)

Besides the local newspapers, national dailies like The Telegraph, Anandabazar Patrika, The Times of India, The Statesman etc. are available.

Tourism Attractions

Ruins of the Kachari Kingdom, Khaspur.
  • Khaspur:20 k.m. from Silchar stands the ruin of a great Dimasa kingdom, capital of historical time and importance. Khaspur was the capital of the Dimasa Kachari Kings and its construction was completed in 1690 AD. The main attractions are the Lion Gate, the Sun Gate and aged old kings temple. The original palace is in a state of non-existence, but its subsidiaries, the main entrance gate, the `Suryadwar`; `Debalaya` are still there intact. The entrances are of elephant-patterns.
  • Bhubaneshwar Temple:It is the most celebrated temple of Lord Shiva in the entire South Assam. The Bhubeneswar temple situates at a distance of about 50 k.m. from Silchar and is located on the top the Bhuvan hill. This is a place of pilgrimage and during the festival of Shivaratri, thousand of Shivayats march towards the hill top to worship Lord Shiva. This temple by its geographical location attracts a lot of hikers as there are no motor roads to reach the hill top. One has to hike at least 17 k.m. from the plains to the temple.
  • Iskcon Temple :It is lord krishna temple
  • Kancha Kanti Kali Mandir:Located at a distance of 17 k.m. from Silchar stands the historical & most celebrated temple of South Assam, i.e. the temple of Mother Goddess “Kachakanti”. She is said to be amalgamation of 2 powerful Hindu deity, i.e. mother DURGA & mother KALI. The original temple was built in the year 1806 AD by the then Kachari king. Human sacrifices were offered to the Goddess till 1818 AD. The Old temple however is ruined now, and is replaced by new temple.
  • Gandhibag Park:It is located in centre of silchar city
  • Maniharan Tunnel:Maniharan Tunnel is a popular pilgrim spot about 5 km from Bhubaneswar temple. As per legends, this tunnel was once used by Lord Krishna. The holy River Tribeni flows beneath this tunnel. Maniharan temple, dedicated to Lord Krishna, is situated in the premises of this tunnel.

Entertainment

The town has three cinema halls - Devdoot, Oriental and Gold Digital Cinema.

Multiplex chain Eylex is currently constructing a 3 screen multiplex at the Goldighee Shopping Mall.

The Goldighee Shopping Mall is a prominent shopping and entertainment arcade which has a number of eateries as well as supermarket chain Big Bazaar, VLCC, SENCO GOLD, etc.

Entertainment Plaza is another attraction which houses the Gold Digital Cinema, a multi-cuisine vegetarian restaurent as well as a games parlour and a bowling alley.

Notable People

Gallery

  • View of the ceiling from inside Goldighi Mall

  • Silchar Airport, August 2007, on a rainy day with 1000m visibility

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/India2/Table_2_PR_Cities_1Lakh_and_Above.pdf
  2. ↑ "APCC member for nomination of Gaurav Gogoi from Barak Valley". The Sentinel, Assam. 6 June 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012. 
  3. ↑ "Silchar (India) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-08-17. 
  4. ↑ Location of Silchar
  5. ↑ Maps, Weather, and Airports for Silchar, India
  6. ↑ Assam University Homepage
  7. ↑ http://www.smcassam.gov.in
  8. ↑ "TRAFFIC STATISTICS - DOMESTIC AIRCRAFT MOVEMENTS". Retrieved 2012-08-28. 
  9. ↑ http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-51-new-low-cost-airports-to-be-set-up-pmo-1854583
  10. ↑ Times of India, Online Edition
  11. ↑ The Telegraph, Calcutta, India
  12. ↑ Sentinel, Assam
  13. ↑ 'Times of India, Silchar Railway Station to be renamed soon
  14. ↑ "List of Parliamentary & Assembly Constituencies" (PDF). Assam. Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2008-10-05. 

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