# Bade Bacheli

Bade Bacheli is a town and a Nagar Palika in Dantewada district in the state of Chhattisgarh, India. It is now very well known as NMDC Township with nature all around to explore and witness. It is situated roughly 400 km from Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh. The way to travel is by Road with frequent bus service from Raipur, Bhilai, Jagdalpur, and Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam or by train from Jagdalpur and Vishakhapatnam.

## Demographics

As of 2011 India census, Bade Bacheli had a population of 21,435 of which 11,071 are males while 10,364 are females as per the report released by Census India 2011.
The population of children aged 0–6 is 2796, or 13.04% of the total population of Bade Bacheli (M). In Bade Bacheli Municipality, the female sex ratio is 936 against the state average of 991. Moreover, the child sex ratio in Bade Bacheli is around 1028 compared with the Chhattisgarh state average of 969. The literacy rate of Bade Bacheli city is around 68.05%, 14,587 total literates, of which 8,373 are male and 6,214 female (2011 census). In Bade Bacheli, male literacy is around 75.63% while the female literacy rate is 59.96%.
Bade Bacheli Municipality has total administration over 5,398 houses to which it supplies basic amenities like water and sewerage. It is also authorized to build roads within the Municipality limits and impose taxes on properties coming under its jurisdiction.
The population has raised primarily after the commissioning of the National Mineral Development Corporation (Government Organization)project here.

## Points of interest

Local points of interest include:
* Ghadi Chowk, which showcases the "tribal and cultural wealth" of Bastar, situated in the centre of Bacheli town.
* HighTech Park (Baludyan) and Ambedkar park with amusement activities and decoration in the city.
* Iron ore deposits (10&11A,5) under National Mineral Development Corporation, hills and unique technique to crush iron to extract the ore.
* Akashnagar, a small residential place in the hills.
* Lingeswar Temple known for its architectural structure and history.
* The Essar Steel Slurry beneficiation plant situated in Kirandul is 10 km away from Bacheli Township and is used to transport iron ore through Slurry pipeline to Essar Steel’s pellet plant facility in Visakhapatnam. It has its own helipad.
* Ramabooti Temple is situated in Kirandul 11B Deposit, 10 km away from Bacheli Township.
* The local mountain range is known for its deposits of iron ore. Total 14 reserves have been discovered in this range out of which the mining activities are going on in 3 deposits.
* Palnar -the first cashless village in Chhattisgarh is some 34 km away from Bacheli.

## Transport

Kirandul is easily accessible and well connected to Raipur, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad by all-weather roads. It can also be reached by rail from Visakhapatnam. There is regular iron ore movement from this sector to Visakhapatnam port by rail.

### Rail Transport

The Kothavalasa–Kirandul line of East Coast Railway from Kirandul to Visakhapatnam via Koraput is laid through the Eastern Ghats. Up to Araku station, it has many tunnels. Also it pass through the highest elevation Broad gauge station in the Eastern ghats, Semiliguda, just before the Borra caves. Kirandul - Kottavalasa Railroad is the record high Broad Gauge line in the Eastern Ghats. The KK Line has the distinction of being the second highest broad gauge railway line in the country after the one in Jammu. Bacheli has a railway station with the station code BCHL and connects Bacheli to Vishakhapatnam. Indian Railways operate two trains between Kirandul and Vishakhapatnam via Bacheli - Train No: 08552/08551 - Vishakhapatnam (VSKP) - Kirandul (KDL) Special and Train No: 18513/18514 - Vishakhapatnam (VSKP) - Kirandul (KDL) Express. The 18513/18514 inaugural train was flagged off on Wed 15 Aug 2018.
A line from Kirandul to Visakhapatnam via Jagdalpur is in place mainly for the purposes of evacuation of iron ore by National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) from Kirandul with limited passenger trains. Plans were underway for doubling the railway line from Kirandul to Jagdalpur. As of November 2023, the work has already started for doubling the railway line from Kirandul. Indian Railways has undertaken expansion work. The cost of this is projected to be about INR 870 crore which is proposed to be initially borne by NMDC and NMDC will in turn get a rebate in the freight from Indian Railways towards the initial cost incurred by NMDC.

### Air transport

There is an domestic airport at Jagdalpur where until recent years no scheduled services were run to or from here. This changed with the inauguration of flight services by Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel in 2020 thereby giving Jagdalpur the privilege of having the second civil airport in the State. Although several attempts were made earlier in 2018 for flights to Bhubhaneshwar and Raipur, the project was not successful and was discontinued. Maa Danteshwari Airport in Jagdalpur has flights operated by Alliance Air to Raipur and Hyderabad where the travel time is 45 minutes and 75 minutes respectively. This is in contrast to the travel time by roadways of 7 hours and 12 hours respectively to the destinations thereby saving a considerable amount of time. Indigo started weekly thrice flights to Delhi via Raipur for paramilitary forces.
The airport was predominantly used by political leaders and insurgency operation-related activities by the army and the police. With the recent developments, the airport will serve the population of the nearby districts well and would act as a means of promoting tourism in the State. The airport also helped in boosting the vaccination programme against COVID-19 as the various medical equipment and medicines were conveniently transported. The other nearest airports are Raipur Airport in the capital city of Raipur and Visakhapatnam Airport, Andhra Pradesh.
Further, a new International Airport with the name Y J Gabriel International Airport, is being constructed at Bade Bacheli by Om Sai Airports Private Limited, a leading Airport Infrastructure company as per the press release released on 15 November 2023 and will be the second international airport in Chhattisgarh after Raipur Airport. The project was first announced on 1 August 2023. The project is currently in approval phase and the Environmental Clearance has been submitted on 22 November 2023 as per the proposal and associated documents submitted to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of India by Om Sai Airports Private Limited. Spread across 750 Acres, is being built by Om Sai Airports Private Limited at a Cost of 5000 Crores INR (US$600 Million Dollars) and the project is expected to be completed by 2025. The site is located 10 km from Kirandul (Bailadila), 30 km from the District - Dantewada, and 120 km from nearest Airport - Maa Danteshwari Airport, Jagdalpur, Chhattisgarh. The Airport will be a private commercial airport. Employees of NMDC and Indian Railways would be the major customers utilizing the airport along with armed forces (CRPF, CISF) which are active in the district. The Airport will be opened using 1 Runway presently in Phase-1 and is being designed to have 3 Runways in total post completion of construction. The airport is being built in consultation with Airports Authority of India and the runway can accommodate Code C Aircraft (ATR-72, Airbus A320 and Boeing 737-800). The tendering process for the Design consultant and EPC contractor selection is yet to be initiated.