Raipur
Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chhattisgarh was formed on 1 November 2000., It is a major commercial hub for trade and commerce in the region. It has exponential industrial growth, and has become a major business hub in Central India. It has been ranked as India's 6th cleanest city as per the Swachh Survekshan for the year 2021. Raipur is ranked 7th  in Ease of Living Index 2019 and 7th in Municipal Performance Index 2020 by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Raipur is also regarded as one of the best cities to do business. Raipur is abundantly rich in mineral resources. It is among the biggest markets of steel and iron in the country. There are about 200 steel rolling mills, 195 sponge iron plants, at least 6 steel plants, 60 plywood factories, 35 ferro-alloy plants and 500 agro-industries. Raipur has over 800 rice milling plants. History. The earliest archaeological evidence from old sites and ruins of  the fort indicate the existence of Raipur since the 9th century. However, there is enough literary evidence that defines the history of Raipur since the time of the Maurya Empire. Raipur district was once part of Southern Kosal and considered to be under the Maurya Empire. Raipur had later been the capital of the Haihaya Kings, controlling the traditional forts of Chhattisgarh for a long time. Satawahana Kings ruled this part till the 2nd-3rd century CE. Samudragupta had conquered this region in the fourth century, but the region came under the sway of Sarabhpuri Kings and then Nala Kings in  the 5th and 6th centuries. Later on, Somavanshi kings had taken control over this region and ruled with Sirpur as their capital city. The Kalchuri Kings of Tumman ruled this part for a long time making Ratanpur as capital. It is believed that the King Ramachandra of this dynasty established the city of Raipur and subsequently made it the capital of his kingdom. Another story about Raipur is that King Ramachandra's son Brahmdeo Rai had established Raipur. His capital was Khalwatika (now Khallari). The newly constructed city was named after Brahmdeo Rai as 'Raipur'. It was during his time  in 1402 CE. that the temple of Hatkeshwar Mahadev was constructed on the banks of the river Kharun which still remains one of the oldest landmarks in Raipur. After the death of king Amarsingh Deo, this region had become the domain of Bhonsle Kings of Nagpur. With the death of Raghuji the III, the territory was assumed by the British government from Bhonsle's and Chhattisgarh was declared a separate Commission with its headquarters at Raipur in 1854. After independence, the Raipur district was included in the Central Provinces and Berar. Raipur district became a part of Madhya Pradesh on  1 November 1956 and subsequently became a part of Chhattisgarh on 1 November 2000 with Raipur becoming the capital of the new state. Demographics. 2011 census, Raipur Municipal Corporation had a population of 1,010,087, of which 519,286 are males and 490,801 are females—a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 940 per 1000. 124,471 children are in the age group of 0–6 years, of which 64,522 are boys and 59,949 are girls—a ratio of 929 girls per 1000 boys. There are 769,593 literates (420,155 males, 349,438 females). The effective literacy was  86.90%; male literacy was 92.39% and female literacy was 81.10%, significantly higher than the national average of 73.00%. The urban agglomeration had a population of 1,122,555, of which males constitute 578,339, females constitute 544,216—a sex ratio of 941 females per 1000 males and 142,826 children are in the age group of 0–6 years. There are a total of 846,952 literates with an effective literacy rate of 86.45%. Geography and climate. Geography. Raipur is located near the centre of a large plain, sometimes referred to as the "rice bowl of India", where hundreds of varieties of rice are grown. The  Mahanadi River flows to the east of the city of Raipur, and the southern side has dense forests. The Maikal Hills rise on the north-west of Raipur; on the north, the land rises and merges with the Chota Nagpur Plateau, which extends north-east across Jharkhand state. On the south of Raipur lies the Deccan Plateau. Climate. Raipur has a tropical wet and dry climate, temperatures remain moderate throughout the year, except from March to June, which can be extremely hot. The temperature in April–May sometimes rises above . These summer months also have dry and hot winds. The  city receives about of rain, mostly in the monsoon season from late June to early October. Winters last from November to January and are mild, although lows can fall to making it reasonably cold. Government and politics. Civic administration. Raipur city has a Municipal corporation. It was initially established by the British on 17 May 1867, it was then named Raipur Municipal committee. It was upgraded to Raipur Municipal Corporation in the year 1973. The area of the municipal corporation is 226 km (87 sq mi). RMC is governed under the guidelines mentioned in the Chhattisgarh Municipalities Act, 1961. As  per 2011 Census of India urban agglomeration population in Raipur, Durg-Bhilai was 3,186,632. The three urban cities of Raipur, Bhilai and Durg in West central of Chhattisgarh together creates Raipur-Bhilai-Durg Tri City Metro area. The functions under the municipal corporation are the construction of health centres, educational institutes, schools, and periodic maintenance of the houses. In addition to taking the responsibility of constructing basic civic infrastructure, flyovers, and roads, it is also developing recreational centres such as museums, community halls, and parks. Along with basic civic infrastructure, flyovers, and roads. The executive committee consists of the Commissioner , Deputy commissioner, city health officers, executive engineers, zone commissioners, and other staff. The Municipal Commissioner of Raipur is Shri. Saurabh Kumar (I.A.S). The current mayor is Aijaz Dhebar from INC. The Mayor in the council consists of the Mayor who is the ex officio chairperson of the MIC. Among elected councillors, the mayor elects them to the council. There are 70 wards and 8 zones within the Raipur Municipal Corporation. The zonal ward committees are headed by chairpersons who are elected by ward councillors of the respective zone. The recent municipal elections were held on 21 December 2019. The political  parties in the majority at the municipal level are BJP and INC. The estimated municipal budget 2017-2018 Budget is 2,612,667. Key revenue sources are tax income, Fees and charges, Sanitation charges, Grants and donations, and Capital income. The city is a part of Raipur District with S. Bharathi Dasan, IAS/Collector and DM. The collector heads the district administration department. The upper collector, deputy collector and joint deputy assist the Collector. Other governing agencies that are active in the city of Raipur is the Urban Administration And Development, Chhattisgarh. Master plan. Raipur Master Plan 2021 recognizes the need for  planned development to take the pressure off the downtown core and meet the need for green spaces and bodies of water in that area. The plan calls for dense housing in new subdivisions on the outskirts and well-planned high-rise commercial and industrial development along with the NH-6 as well as on the north side of the city. Legislative assembly and state agencies. Raipur is a Lok Sabha/Parliamentary constituency in Central Chhattisgarh of Chhattisgarh and is located in Central India. Raipur Lok Sabha seat is unreserved. Mr.Sunil Kumar Soni, BJP is Raipur City MP. There are three  MLA constituencies in Raipur city and one constituency for Raipur Rural. The respective MLAs of the three constituencies are Raipur City South MLA is Mr. Brijmohan Agrawal, BJP, for Raipur City North it is Mr. Kuldeep Juneja, INC and for Raipur City West it is Mr. Vikas Upadhyay, INC. Economy. Raipur, since being capital city has attracted the industrial development towards itself. Being state capital of Chhattisgarh, the government and service sector makes up a large part of the city's economy and workforce. Manufacturing industries are also well developed in the city with large number of industrial zone. Raipur  is also regarded as one of the best cities to do business. Raipur is abundantly rich in mineral resources. It is among the biggest markets of steel and iron in the country. There are about 200 steel rolling mills, 195 sponge iron plants, at least 6 steel plants, 60 plywood factories, 35 ferro-alloy plants and 500 agro-industries. Raipur has over 800 rice milling plants. Dalmia Cement (Bharat) is planning to set up an integrated cement manufacturing unit with a capacity of 2.5 million TPA Raipur. A South Korean multinational Sung Ha Telecom is planning to setup a plant  in Naya Raipur. JSW Steel have a steel plant in Raipur. APL Apollo’s in joint venture with Singapore company have planned a manufacturing plant in Raipur. Grasim Industries operates a cement plant at Rewan in Raipur. Ambuja Cements have e plant at Bhatapara. Raipur has a large chemical plant which produces and supplies formalin all through the country. LPG bottling plants of Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are also in Raipur. Godavari - E - Mobility is planning to setup a manufacturing plant in Raipur. A heavy machinery plant of Jindal Group in Raipur. An information Technology (IT) and cyber hub , a technology park in Chhattisgarh's new capital city Naya Raipur was built. Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC) will be developing a new industrial area in Tilda near Raipur to provide facilities for small and medium industries. Two new industrial parks for apparel and metal industries are coming up in Raipur. Civic utilities. Transport services. The superintendent of Engineers Executive Engineers, the team of Engineers, and the staff responsible for the related activities of the road department head the Public works department. The respective functions are Planning and designing of road stormwater drain, maintenance of roads and streets, maintain  gardens and parks as well as resurfacing the road, and repairing potholes and bad patches. In the bus transport system of Raipur City there is a total number of 157 Buses plying within the city. Fire service and electricity. The city electricity is supplied by Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited. Fire and Emergency services were set up in the year 2016 to protect fire incidents in the state. As per the directions of the government, the Fire Station of the urban body are being taken under fire and emergency services. Water, drainage and sewerage. The existing source of raw  water is from the Kharun river and about 170 MLD water is treated on a daily basis is 275 mld which is the treatment capacity of the plant. The per capita water supply in the city of Raipur is 135 lpcd. There is a water supply connection to a total of 50,000 households. Along with water from the Kharun River (27 MLD), another source of water is groundwater and the capacity utilized is 22 MLD. There is a total of 1133 handpumps in the city. There is a lack in the sewerage systems of Raipur City. The data for households  with a Sewerage Network is unavailable. But the number of households with Septic tanks are 1,44,882 and the households without any outlets for toilets is 5649. The city has no separate drainage system nor any sewer lines. There is a separate stormwater drainage system is laid as per requirement. Solid waste management. The waste management in the city is entrusted with the city health officer, the in-charge health officer, zonal health officer, and the team of sanitary supervisors and ward supervisors. A total of 356490 households have been successful with source segregation and are covered by the door-to -door collection. Raipur's major waste disposal site is the Sarona site, which is 12 km away from city centre. Transport. Road ways. Some major and famous roads in Raipur are National Highway (NH - 53), National Highway (NH - 30), Great Eastern Road, Pandri Road, Baloda Bazar Road, Nardha Raipur Road, VIP Road, Atal Path Expressway. The Raipur–Naya Raipur Expressway Narrowguage Expressway also known as "Atal Path Expressway Raipur" is an access controlled expressway 12.7-kilometre (7.9 mi) expressway connecting Raipur to Naya Raipur in India. It has been made to ease the traffic in GE road and provide faster  access to Dhamtari road from Raipur railway station. It serves 4 flyovers and 1 elevated corridor crossing over GE road and NH53 in between two ends of expressway. Bus transport. A newly constructed Bus Stand Sri Balaji Swami Trust Sri Dudhadhari Math Inter State Bus Terminal or ISBT Raipur is located at Ravanbhantha is the main Bus Stand of the city. It has replaced the old Minimata Bus Stand or Pandri Stand which was creating traffic problems. The services of ISBT have been started from 15 November 2021. Raipur and Naya Raipur BRTS bus services run between Old Raipur and  Naya Raipur. Railways. Raipur Junction railway station is the primary railway station of the city which is situated on the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Indian Railways (via Bhusawal, Nagpur, Gondia, Bilaspur, Rourkela, Kharagpur) and is connected with most major cities. It is categorized in the A-1 category of railway stations by the Indian Railways. Some small railway stations are also present here for local trains like Sarona, Saraswati Nagar, and WRS Colony railway stations. They also lie on the same Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line. Airport. Swami Vivekananda Airport or Mana Airport is the primary airport serving the state  of Chhattisgarh. The airport is located, 15 km (9.3 mi) south of Raipur near Naya Raipur. Raipur is well connected by daily direct flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Goa, Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Srinagar, Nagpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Prayagraj, Jharsuguda and Jagdalpur operated by Air India, IndiGo and Vistara. Education. Raipur has become a big educational hub of Chhattisgarh due to the presence of many institutes of national importance in engineering, management, medical and law. It is the only city in India which is home to IIM, NIT, AIIMS, Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), CIPET, Raipur , NIPER(Proposed) and IIIT. Media. News channels. Many local news channels are telecast from Raipur in Hindi: Newspapers. Many national and local newspapers are published from Raipur both in Hindi and English: Radio. Raipur city has five FM Radio Stations -