Paonta Sahib

Paonta Sahib
पांवटा साहिब
ਮੰਡੀ
City
Paonta Sahib

Location in Himachal Pradesh

Coordinates: 30°26′17″N 77°37′26″E / 30.438°N 77.624°E / 30.438; 77.624Coordinates: 30°26′17″N 77°37′26″E / 30.438°N 77.624°E / 30.438; 77.624
Country India
State Himachal Pradesh
District Sirmour
Municipality Sirmour
Elevation 389 m (1,276 ft)
Population (2001)
  Total 19,087
Languages
  Official Hindi
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)

Paonta Sahib पांवटा साहिब (पांवटा साहिब) (ਪਾਂਉਟਾ ਸਾਹਿਬ) is a small industrial town in the south of Sirmour district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. National Highway 72 goes through this town. It is an important religious spot for Sikhs. Major industries are cement production (Cement Corporation of India, Rajban), power generation and renewable energy, pharmaceuticals Sun Pharmaceutical industries Limited, Mankind Pharma Limited, Zee Laboratories Limited), textiles (Malwa cotton and spinning mills of Oswal group), chemicals and food. Some of the major Hotels and Resorts to stay there are Hotel Guru Surbhi, Hotel Yammuna, The city has a large Gurdwara, named Gurudwara Paonta Sahib, on the banks of the river Yamuna. The river is the boundary between the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

History

The town was founded by Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh. The Gurudwara Paonta Sahib has linkages to the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh and the Sikh leader Banda Bahadur. Its original name was Paontika. "Paon" in Hindi means feet and "tika" in Hindi means became stable. It is believed that Guru Gobind Singh and his horse stopped at this place and he decided to stay here. He wrote many Sikh religious books here and then went to Anandpur Sahib to establish the Khalsa Panth. The Gurudwara also houses a museum which contains a lot of antiques and weapons used by Guru Gobind Singh during his stay.

Paonta Sahib as seen from Baba Bhure Shah's Dargah on the Uttarakhand Himachal border.

Geography

Paonta Sahib is located at 30°26′17″N 77°37′26″E / 30.438°N 77.624°E / 30.438; 77.624.[1] It has an average elevation of 389 metres (1,276 feet). It is on the bank of the river Yamuna, the river being the boundary between the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It is situated near the towns of Nahan in Himachal Pradesh, Yamunanagar in Haryana, Saharanpur in Western Uttar Pradesh and Dehradun in Uttarakhand. It is on the western extreme of the Doon Valley a distance of about 44 km from Dehradun. Kalesar National Park is 12 km from Paonta Sahib.

Inside the Gurudwara Paonta Sahib, Paonta Sahib, dist. Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh.
Writers' Festival – India 2006 in Gurudwara Paonta Sahib

Climate

Paonta Sahib has a sub-tropical continental monsoon climate characterised by a seasonal rhythm, hot summers, slightly cold winters, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature (0 °C to 40 °C). In winters, frost sometimes occurs during December and January. It also receives occasional winter rains from the western disturbance.

Average temperatures

35 °C to 40 °C.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,[2] Paonta Sahib had a population of 1,58,268 (urban 25,172/ rural 1,33,096). Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%.[3] Paonta Sahib has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 72%. In Paonta Sahib, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Paonta Sahib is a municipal council which has 11 wards. This council looks after the development of the city, maintenance of roads, streets, cleanliness etc. The election takes place every five years to elect ward members & Chairman.

Education

Schools In Paonta Sahib

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.