Jogindernagar

For the village in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, see Joginder Nagar, Great Nicobar.
Jogindernagar
जोगिन्दर नगर
The Electric City
town
Jogindernagar

Location in Himachal Pradesh, India

Coordinates: 31°59′19″N 76°47′30″E / 31.988723°N 76.79155°E / 31.988723; 76.79155Coordinates: 31°59′19″N 76°47′30″E / 31.988723°N 76.79155°E / 31.988723; 76.79155
Country  India
State Himachal Pradesh
District Mandi
Named for shiva temple
Government
 • MLA Ram Sawaroop Sharma
Elevation 1,010 m (3,310 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 5,335
Languages
 • Official Hindi,Mandyali
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 175015[1]
Telephone code 1908[2]
Vehicle registration HP 29
Climate Humid subtropical (Köppen)

Joginder Nagar or Jogindar Nagar ([dʒoːˈɡɪnd̪ər nəˈɡər]) is a hill station and a nagar panchayat in Mandi district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Named after Raja Joginder Sen, Joginder Nagar is terminal point of 163 km long Kangra Valley Narrow gauge railhead. Joginder Nagar is the only town in Asia to have three hydro-electric power stations, and hence it is popularly known as The City of Powerhouses. The town packs good options for sightseeing, picnicking, angling and adventure sports like paragliding and trekking. The town is known for three T's namely Trolley, Trout and Train.Joginder Nagar is also the first free Wi-Fi city of Himachal Pradesh.

Etymology

Jogindernagar has been named after the king of Mandi, Raja Joginder Singh. The name of the original village was Sukrahatti.

History

In 1925, Raja Joginder Sen and Col. B. C. Batty planned a hydel power scheme near the village of Sukrahatti. A narrow-gauge railway track was laid from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar (1,220 m) to carry the heavy machinery transported from Britain. A Haulage-way system was laid from the site of Shanan Power House to Barot, where the reservoir was constructed on Uhl river. After tunneling and piping the water over several kilometres from the river Uhl to Joginder nagar, the Shanan Power House (110 MW) was built by a team of engineers headed by Colonel Batty. Shanan Power House was the only hydroelectric project in northern India which fed undivided Punjab and Delhi.

The vision of the hydel project scheme was to construct five power stations using the same water that is drawn from the Uhl river. The used water of Shanan Power House was taken through various tunnels in adjoining Siyuri Dhar, to a distance of 8 km. A reservoir was constructed at the village Chapprot that would be used for driving turbines in stage 2 of project at the base of Chapprot hill. However, the plan could not be executed following the death of Colonel Batty.

Later in 1960s, the HP State Electricity Board decided to proceed further with the plan. In 1970, another set of turbines were added at Bassi, a small village situated at the bottom of Chapprot hill and Bassi Power House (66 MW) came into existence.

Despite the fact that Bassi Power House was producer of cheapest hydro-electricity (since the project was based on tail-water of Shanan project), no further development was seen till the beginning of 21st century. The construction of third stage of project, Uhl Stage III (100 MW), was inaugurated at village Chulla near Tullah with two reservoir, one near the Machhyal Lake and another at Raktal village near Chulla, is currently under progress.

Geography

Jogindernagar is at north-east corner of the Joginder Nagar Valley located in the north-western ranges of the Himalayas 31°59′N 76°46′E / 31.98°N 76.77°E / 31.98; 76.77.[3] The city is situated at the north-east corner of the valley surrounded by mountains on all sides. It has an average elevation of 1,010 metres (3,314 feet).

The surrounding mountains are covered with thick forests of Pine. Rhododendron (Burans or locally known as Brah ka fool) and Deodar trees can be found at high altitude peaks like Winch Camp.

Joginder Nagar is a Zone V (Very High Damage Risk Zone) as per Earthquake hazard zoning of India. The after-effects of the earthquake of 1905 are still visible at nearby fort Kila Karanpur.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,[4] Joginder Nagar had a population of 5,046. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Joginder Nagar has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 84%, and female literacy is 74%. In Joginder Nagar, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

The majority of Joginder Nagar's population consists of natives of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab who work in Shanan Power House currently under charge of Punjab State Electricity Board. The major religions followed in the town are Hinduism, Sikhism and Tibetan Buddhism, along with a small percentage of Christians and Muslims. A majority of Tibetan Buddhists and monks live in the settlements near village Chauntra. The major languages spoken in the area are Hindi and dialects of Pahari. The dialect of western pahari used in the region varies from Mandyali to Kangri because of closeness to Kangra district. The other languages spoken and understood by majority of population are Punjabi and English.

Access

The narrow-gauge Kangra Valley Railway connects Jogindernagar to Pathankot and thereby to the rest of the Indian railway network.

Education

The town and neighbouring villages have easy access to education. The oldest schools in the town are Government Senior Secondary School, Government Senior Secondary School (Girls) and Dayanand Bhartiya Public Senior Secondary School (earlier Bhartiya Public High School andArya Samaj Mandir).

There have been several advances in education since 2003 and many new private schools have come up in area, some noteworthy being Ascent Public Senior Secondary School, Joginder Nagar[5] Shanti Niketan Senior Secondary School, Gurukul Public Senior Secondary School, Crescent Senior Secondary School, New Crescent Senior Secondary School and Mount Maurya International School. Mount Maurya International School is first and only CBSE pattern school in the region. The increase in competition between schools has led to increase in facilities provided by schools (e.g. Commution) and hence children in a much wider region now have access to better education. But MMIS (Mount Maurya International School)is only CBSE affiliated school come in existence at Joginder Nagar.

There has been reasonable progress in the higher education sector in the area and but most of higher education aspirants prefer to move to bigger cities and other states for graduation and post-graduation due to lack of Professional colleges and courses in the local institutes.

A university has been established under Tibetan Children's Villages project near the Tibetan settlement in village Chauntra, exclusively for Tibetan students in exile. The university provides education for Tibetan students in various disciplines including Tibetan language, Tibetan culture and various forms of arts and science.

Important institutions are

Places of interest

Main article: Joginder Nagar Valley
Haulage

References

  1. ↑ India Post. (EN) Pincode search - Joginder Nagar
  2. ↑ Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. STD Codes for cities in Himachal Pradesh
  3. ↑ Nagar.html Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Joginder Nagar
  4. ↑ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
  5. 1 2 Ascent Public Senior Secondary School, Joginder Nagar ...
  6. ↑ http://www.jogindernagar.com/home/4-places-of-interest/968-tarangri-mahadev-yora-joginder-nagar-a-documentary.html

External links

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