Muzaffarnagar

Muzaffarnagar
Muzaffarnagar Location of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh and India
Coordinates	29°28′N 77°41′E / 29.47°N 77.68°E / 29.47; 77.68
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District(s)	Muzaffarnagar
Population	316,452 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 232 m (761 ft)

Muzaffarnagar (Hindi: मुज़फ़्फ़रनगर, Urdu: مُظفٌر نگر pronunciation (help·info)) is a city and a municipal board in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the headquarters of the Muzaffarnagar district.

Geography

Muzaffarnagar is located at 29°28′N 77°41′E / 29.47°N 77.68°E / 29.47; 77.68.^[1] The city's total area in 1901 amounted to 1,963,662 acres (7,946.66 km²), or 1,662 square miles (4,300 km²) and in 2000 to 4049 square km. National Highway-58 passes through Muzaffarnagar city and it is situated midway on this Delhi-Roorkee-Dehradun Highway. It is also well connected by roads and the national railway network.

Demographics

According to the 2001 India census,^[2] Muzaffarnagar had a population of 5,08,800 with 14% of the population under 6 years of age. The city has 62% Hindus, 35% Muslims, 03% Sikhs, .05% Christians and .05% Jains; Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Average literacy rate is 72%.

Economy

Muzaffarnagar is an important industrial town with sugar, steel and paper being the major products. It has 11 sugar mills; more than 70% of the region's population is engaged in agriculture and kautoli mill is the largest in Asia. The Muzaffarnagar market of Jaggery (heat-dried sugar-cane juice, called 'Gud' in local language) was once the largest in Asia.

According to Economic Research firm Indicus Analytics Muzaffarnagar has the highest agricultural GDP in Uttar Pradesh.

Education

There are good schools and colleges in the city. Premium schools include: Holy Angels Convent School, S.D Public School, Bhagwanti Saraswati Vidya Mandir, M.G Public School, G.C Public School, S.D Inter College, D.A.V Inter College,B.S Public School etc. The city has a Medical College and also privately funded colleges like S.D. College of Engineering & Technology[1], S.D. College of Management Studies, Shri Ram Group of Colleges, Deen Dayal Group of Colleges, Career Launcher, The Skylark College of Technical Education & Management, Children Academy High School and CMIS (College of Management and Sciences) & colleges like S.D Degree College, D.A.V Degree College, Sir Chotu Ram Degree College, Jain Degree College. A leading national competitive admission tests preparatory company, the 'Career Launcher', has a branch in this city; this branch is preparing students for CAT / MAT and are also guiding students for their career.

Swami Kalyan Devji Maharaj was a unique personality who had dedicated himself to community service and had been serving villagers and others. Due to his efforts, nearly 200 institutions of National importance got established during the last one hundred years. These include: Gandhi Polytechnic, Ayurved Medical College, Ayurved Research Centre, Agriculture College, Agriculture Science Centre, Hospitals, Eye Hospitals, Degree Colleges, Inter Colleges, Senior Secondary Schools, Navodaya School, Girls' Schools, Junior High Schools, Primary Schools, Sanskrit Pathshalas, Dumb Deaf and Blind School, Yoga Training Centre, Ambedkar Hostel, Dharmshalas, Orphanage, Old Persons' Ashram, Old Cow's Protection Centre and several other spiritual and religious centres.

Some important places of Muzaffarnagar

Religious: Shukratal is a well known religious place in Muzaffarnagar just 40 mins from city centre. It hosts sky high statues of Lord Hanuman, Lord Ganesha, Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. It is famous for thousands of years old Vat Vraksha (tree) associated with times of Mahabharata. This tree has great mythological importance and is said to be immortal. Every year lakhs of devotees come to do Parikrama (circling the perimeter of tree on foot) of this ancient tree. Shukratal is also referred to as mini-Haridwar as the river Ganges passes thru it flowing straight from Haridwar.

Bhairo Ka Mandir, the Bhairo Temple, looked after by the Paliwal Family of Brahmins, is situated in the heart of the city on Ansari Road.^[3] It is a very quiet and spiritual place to spend some time, as very few people visit this temple. It is most visited during festival season. This temple is of special significance because it contains Ekadash Shivalinga (eleven Shivlingas).

Sankirtan Bhawan, popularly known as Kirtan Bhawan, is also very famous. It is situated in most prime residential area of New Mandi. A Kirtan (singing of Bhajans in praise of Lord) is conducted daily in evening here. The temple got it's name on this daily activity. It is the only temple in 5 districts nearby to have a statue of Lord Tirupati Balaji (an avatar of Lord Vishnu) in accordance with Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh. A Bhandaara (free distribution of food as Lord's Prasada) is being organised at this temple's "Anna Shetra" (Food Area) daily at 12.00 noon. More than 1,00,000 poor people are being served annually here. It was started by well known philanthropist & businessman of his time Late Giani Ram Gupta in 1979 out of his own funds but by Lord's blessing very soon the initiative received heavy donations and today it supports similar initiatives in areas nearby.

Balaji Dham(an avatar of Lord Hanuman), aka Balaji Temple, is also famous; it is also situated in 'New Mandi' area of Muzaffarnagar. A Bhandaara is also organised here daily at 2.00 PM.

Vahelna - 4 km from the city - is a holy site for Jains. Vahelna is an excellent example of Hindu-Muslim brotherhood as the walls of Mosque, Shiv Mandir and Jain Mandir touch each other.

Two great holy rivers of the Hindus are easily reachable from Muzaffarnagar: in the east there is Ganges and on the west part it is Yamuna.

Commercial: Shiv Chowk (Heart of the City), Bhagat Singh Road (Main Market), Court Road, Lohia Bazaar or Loha Mandi (market of steel and iron products), Ansari Road, Jhansi-ki-Rani Chowk, S.D. Market (of cloth wholesalers), Zila Parishad market (pharmaceutical's wholesalers), Sadar Bazaar (Hospitals, Hoseiry wholesalers, Stock-brokers etc.), Gandhi Colony, Roorkee Road Market (Heavy Engineering Products), Meerut Road (Automobile showrooms) and New Mandi (Most private/public banks, Cloth Retailers showrooms etc.).

Residential: Abupura, Adarsh Colony, Civil Lines, Gandhi Colony,Indira Colony[2], Khaalapar, New Mandi, Patel Nagar, Prem Puri, Saket Colony, Sarwat Gate etc.

Cinema Theaters: Big Cinemas Alankar, Meenakshi, Maya Palace, Brij Talkies, Novelty Cinema (the oldest in the city) etc. total 10.

Sadar Bazaar and New Mandi are the most expensive areas in terms of real estate prices. ASJ Grand plaza mall will soon be a part of city where number of branded shops will be available.Reebok and Levis are opening their stores shortly here.

Nearby Cities

The historical cities of Meerut and Hastinapur are close by. Also in proximity are New Delhi, Ghaziabad, Roorkee, Haridwar, Dehra Dun, Saharanpur and Panipat.

Transport

Muzaffarnagar is well connected with roads to nearby cities and with railways to the major Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Ujjain, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Agra, Jaipur and Patna

References

External links

• Muzaffarnagar Official Web Site