Saharanpur

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Saharanpur
Saharanpur is located in Uttar Pradesh
Saharanpur
Saharanpur
Location in Uttar Pradesh, India
Saharanpur is located in India
Saharanpur
Saharanpur
Saharanpur (India)
Coordinates: 29°57′50″N 77°32′46″E / 29.964°N 77.546°E / 29.964; 77.546Coordinates: 29°57′50″N 77°32′46″E / 29.964°N 77.546°E / 29.964; 77.546
Country India
StateUttar Pradesh
DistrictSaharanpur
Government
 • TypeMunicipal Corporation
 • BodySaharanpur Municipal Corporation
 • MayorDr. Ajay Kumar Singh (BJP)[1]
 • Lok Sabha MPHaji Fazlur Rehman (BSP)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total705,478
Languages
 • OfficialHindi, Urdu, Punjabi
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
247001/02
Telephone code0132
Vehicle registrationUP-11
AirportSarsawa Airport
Sex ratio1000/898 /
Websitesaharanpur.nic.in

Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district.

Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti.[2]

Saharanpur is declared as one amongst the 100 Smart Cities by MOUD as a part of Smart Cities Mission of the Government of India.

Historical[edit]

Medieval period[edit]

During the reign of Iltutmish (r 1211–1236), the region became a part of the Delhi Sultanate. At that time, most of the area remained covered with forests and marshlands, through which the Paondhoi, Dhamola, and Ganda Nala rivers flowed. The climate was humid and malaria outbreaks were common. Muhammad bin Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi (1325–1351), undertook a campaign in the northern doab to crush the rebellion of the Shivalik kings in 1340, when according to local tradition he learned of the presence of a sufi saint on the banks of the Paondhoi River. After visiting the sage, he ordered that henceforth this region would be known as 'Shah-Haroonpur', after the Sufi Saint Shah Haroon Chishti.[3] The simple but well-preserved tomb of this saint is situated in the oldest quarter of Saharanpur city, between the Mali Gate/Bazar Dinanath and Halwai Hatta. By the end of the 14th century, the power of the Sultanate had declined and it was attacked by Timur the Lame (1336–1405) of Central Asia. Timur had marched through the Saharanpur region in 1399 to sack Delhi and people of the region fought his army unsuccessfully. A weakened Sultanate was later conquered by the Central Asian Mogul king Babur (1483–1531).

Mughal period[edit]

In the 16th century, Babur, a Timurid descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan from Fergana Valley (modern-day Uzbekistan), invaded across the Khyber Pass and founded the Mughal Empire, covering India, along with modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh[4] The Mughals were descended from Persianised Central Asian Turks (with significant Mongol admixture).

During the Mughal period, Akbar (1542–1605), Saharanpur became an administrative unit under the Province of Delhi. Akbar bestowed the feudal jagir of Saharanpur to the Mughal treasurer, Sah Ranveer Singh, a Hindu Rohilla who laid the foundations of the present-day city on the site of an army cantonment. The nearest settlements at that time were Shekhpura and Malhipur. Saharanpur was a walled city, with four gates: the Sarai Gate, the Mali Gate, the Buria Gate, and the Lakhi Gate. The city was divided into the neighbourhoods named Nakhasa Bazar, Shah Behlol, Rani Bazar and Lakhi Gate. The ruins of Shah Ran Veer Singh's old fort can still be seen in the Chaudharian locality of Saharanpur, not far from the better known 'Bada-Imam-bada'. He also built a large Jain temple in Muhallah/Toli Chaundhariyan,[5] it is now known as the 'Digamber-Jain Panchayati Mandir'.

The Sayyids and Rohillas[edit]

Mughal emperors Akbar and later Shah Jehan (1592–1666) bestowed the administrative pargana of Sarwat on Muslim Sayyid families. In 1633 one of them founded a city and named it and the surrounding region Muzaffarnagar, in honour of his father, Sayyid Muzaffar Ali Khan. The Sayyids ruled the area until the 1739 invasion by Nadir Shah. After his departure, anarchy prevailed across the entire doab with the region ruled in succession by Jats. Taking advantage of this anarchy, the Rohillas took control of the entire trans-Gangetic region.

Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Afghan ruler who invaded Northwestern and Northern India in the 1750s, conferred the territory of Saharanpur as Jagir on Rohilla chief Najaf Khan, who assumed the title of Nawab Najeeb-ud-Daula and took up residence in Saharanpur in 1754,. He made Gaunsgarh his capital and tried to strengthen his position against Maratha Empire attacks by entering an alliance with the Hindu Gurjar chieftain Manohar Singh. In 1759, Najeeb-ud-Daula issued a Deed of Agreement handing over 550 villages to Manohar Singh, who became the Raja of Landaura.

Maratha period[edit]

In 1757, the Maratha army captured the Saharanpur region, which resulted in Najeeb-ud-Daula losing control of Saharanpur to the Maratha rulers Raghunath Rao and Malharao Holkar. The conflict between Rohillas and Marathas came to an end on 18 December 1788 with the arrest of Ghulam Qadir, the grandson of Najeeb-ud-Daula, who was defeated by the Maratha general Mahadaji Scindia. The most significant contribution of Nawab Ghulam Qadir to Saharanpur city is the Nawab Ganj area and the Ahmedabadi fortress therein, which still stands. The death of Ghulam Qadir put an end to the Rohilla administration in Saharanpur and it became the northernmost district of the Maratha Empire. Ghani Bahadur Banda was appointed its first Maratha governor. The Maratha Regime saw the construction of the Bhuteshwar Temple and Bagheshwar Temple in Saharanpur city. In 1803, following the Second Anglo-Maratha War, when the British East India Company defeated the Maratha Empire, Saharanpur came under British suzerainty.[6]

British colonial period (1803–1947 AD)[edit]

When India rebelled in 1857 against the foreign Company's occupation, now referred to as the First War of Indian Independence, the Saharanpur and the present-day Muzaffarnagar Districts were part of that uprising. The centre of freedom fighters' operations was Shamli, a small town in the Muzaffarnagar region which was liberated for some time. After the uprising failed, British retribution was severe. Death and destruction was particularly directed against the Muslims of the region, whom the British considered as the main instigators of the rebellion. When social reconstruction started, the cultural and political history of Muslims began to revolve around Deoband and Aligarh. Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, both proponents of the reformer Shah Waliullah's ideology for social and political rejuvenation, established a school in Deoband in 1867. It found popularity and global recognition as the Darul Uloom Deoband. Its founders' mission was twofold: to raise and spread a team of scholars able to awaken the religious and social consciousness of Muslims through peaceful methods and to make efforts, through them, to educate Muslims in their faith and culture; and to bring about a feeling of nationalism and national unity by promoting the concept of Hindu-Muslim unity and a united India. Muslim scholars in the city of Saharanpur were active supporters of this ideology and went on to establish the Mazahir Uloom theological seminary six months later.

Geography and climate[edit]

Barbers in Saharanpur, a painting by Edwin Lord Weeks (1849–1903)

Saharanpur is located at 29°58′N 77°33′E / 29.97°N 77.55°E / 29.97; 77.55, about 140 kilometres (87 mi) south-southeast of Chandigarh, 170 kilometres (110 mi) north-northeast of Delhi, 65 kilometres (40 mi) north-northeast of Shamli and about 61 kilometres (38 mi) south-west of Dehradun. It has an average elevation of 269 metres (883 ft). Saharanpur is a part of a geographical doab region. Saharanpur district join four states together Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana.

Climate data for Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 20
(68)
22
(72)
28
(82)
35
(95)
38
(100)
37
(99)
33
(91)
32
(90)
32
(90)
31
(88)
26
(79)
21
(70)
30
(86)
Daily mean °C (°F) 13
(55)
15
(59)
20
(68)
26
(79)
30
(86)
31
(88)
29
(84)
28
(82)
27
(81)
23
(73)
18
(64)
13
(55)
23
(73)
Average low °C (°F) 6
(43)
8
(46)
12
(54)
18
(64)
23
(73)
26
(79)
25
(77)
25
(77)
22
(72)
16
(61)
10
(50)
6
(43)
16
(61)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 30
(1.2)
40
(1.6)
20
(0.8)
10
(0.4)
10
(0.4)
70
(2.8)
240
(9.4)
200
(7.9)
120
(4.7)
20
(0.8)
0
(0)
10
(0.4)
830
(32.7)
Average precipitation days 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.1 1.4 2.8 7.5 7.6 2.7 1.0 0.6 0.9 30.3
Source: Weatherbase[7]

Demographics[edit]

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1901 66,254—    
1911 62,850−5.1%
1921 62,261−0.9%
1931 78,665+26.3%
1941 105,622+34.3%
1951 148,435+40.5%
1961 185,213+24.8%
1971 225,396+21.7%
1981 295,355+31.0%
1991 374,945+26.9%
2001 455,754+21.6%
2011 705,478+54.8%
Source: [8]:470–471

According to the 2011 Indian census, Saharanpur had a population of 705,478, 12.5% of whom were under the age of six, living in 129,856 households within the municipal corporation limits.[9]:26–27 The city is spread over an area of 46.74 km2 (18.05 sq mi) and with a population density of 15,093.67/km2 (39,092.4/sq mi), is the eleventh most populous city in Uttar Pradesh.[10] Saharanpur had a population of 455,754 in 2001 and 374,945 in 1991.[8]

Males constitute of 52.7% of the total population while females constitute of 47.3% of the total population and thus, the city has a sex ratio of 891 females for every 1,000 males. The city has an average literacy rate of 76.32%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes account for 14.2% and 0.1% of the population respectively.[9] There are 233,196 people, constituting about 33% of the total population, who live in slums in the city.[8]

Religions in Saharanpur City (2011)[11]
Religion Percent
Hinduism
50.92%
Islam
45.89%
Sikhism
1.23%
Jainism
1.03%
Others
0.45%

Roughly half of the city's population are Hindus, who form a slight majority, while Muslims constitute about 45 percent of the total population. Sikhs and Jains are also present in smaller numbers.[11]

The most widely spoken language in Saharanpur is Hindi, which along with Urdu is the official language of Uttar Pradesh.[12] There are significant numbers of Urdu and Punjabi speakers, while Haryanvi is also spoken by some people.[13] The standard dialect of Hindi spoken is the Khari Boli dialect.[14]

Government and politics[edit]

Saharanpur city is governed by Saharanpur Municipal Corporation, erstwhile Municipal Council.[15] The city is divided into 4 zones and 70 wards,[16] represented by 70 councillors who were elected by municipal or local elections in 2017 for a five-year term.[17] The head of the administrative wing is the Municipal Commissioner, currently Ms.Gazal Bharadwaj,[18] while the head of the elected wing is the mayor, Dr Ajay Kumar Singh, from the BJP.[19][20]

The city is also part of the Saharanpur Lok Sabha constituency, which elected Haji Fazlur Rehman from the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2019 as the Member of Parliament,[21][22] and part of the Saharanpur Assembly constituency that elected Ashu Malik from the Samajwadi Party in 2022 as the MLA.[23]

Civic utilities[edit]

There is only one sewage treatment plant located in Saharanpur,[24] while most of the waste water is discharged into the Hindon river, further polluting it.[25]

Culture[edit]

Places of interest[edit]

Company Garden[edit]

The Saharanpur Botanical Gardens, known as the Company Garden and once the preserve of British East India Company, is one of the oldest existing gardens in India, dating to before 1750. Then named Farahat-Bakhsh, it was originally a pleasure ground set out by a local chief, Intazam ud-ullah. In 1817, it was acquired by the British East India Company[26] and placed under the authority of the District Surgeon. Joseph Dalton Hooker says of this Botanical Garden that "Amongst its greatest triumphs may be considered the introduction of the tea-plant from China, a fact I allude to, as many of my English readers may not be aware that the establishment of the tea-trade in the Himalaya and Assam is almost entirely the work of the superintendents of the gardens of Calcutta and Seharunpore."[27]

In 1887, when the Botanical Survey of India was set up to reform the country's botanical sciences, Saharanpur became the centre for the survey of the northern Indian flora. The Garden is seen historically as being second only to the Calcutta Gardens for its contribution to science and economy in India. Under private auspices today, it is full of greenery and has many different kinds of plants and flowers.[28]

Shakumbari Devi Temple[edit]

Siddhpeeth Shri Shakumbhari Devi Temple is an important and ancient Hindu temple. It is situated in the Shivalik hills in Behat tehsil, 40 km from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.[29] It is one of the most visited pilgrimage centers in India. Every year lakhs of visitors visit the temple. Shakumbhari devi is a famous Shaktipeeth of maa Durga.[30]

Transport[edit]

Two major National Highways pass through Saharanpur – NH 709B and NH 344. The NH 709B originates in Saharanpur and connects it to Delhi via Shamli and Baghpat,[31] while the NH 344 connects Saharanpur with Ambala, Yamunanagar and Roorkee.[32] Uttar Pradesh State Highway 57, commonly known as Delhi-Yamunotri highway, also passes through the city.[33] The Delhi–Saharanpur–Dehradun Expressway has also been proposed, which will be ready by March 2024.[34][35]

Saharanpur Junction is the primary railway station serving the city. The station is under the administrative control of Ambala railway division of the Northern Railways,[36] and is located at the junction of Moradabad–Ambala line, Delhi–Meerut–Saharanpur line and the Delhi–Shamli–Saharanpur line. Saharanpur was connected with rail lines when the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railway completed the 483-kilometre-long (300 mi) AmritsarAmbalaSaharanpurGhaziabad line in 1870 connecting Multan (now in Pakistan) with Delhi.[37] Another line connecting Saharanpur with Moradabad was completed in 1886.[38][39]

The Shahdara–Saharanpur light railway connecting Shahdara in Delhi with Saharanpur was opened to traffic in 1907. The railway was built in 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge and total length was 94.24 miles (151.66 km).[40][41][42] However, due to increasing losses, the railway was closed in 1970. It was later converted to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge and was repopened in the late 1970s.[41][42][43] Saharanpur falls on the route of the proposed 1,839-kilometre (1,143 mi) Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor project.[44]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. "BJP's Ajay Kumar Singh wins by huge margin against Khadija Masood of BSP". ET Now News. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  2. "History | District Saharanpur, Government of Uttar Pradesh | India".
  3. History The Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 21, p. 369. 1909.
  4. The Islamic World to 1600: Rise of the Islamic Empires (The Mughal Empire) Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Madhu Jain, O. C. Handa, and Omacanda Handa, Wood Handicraft: A Study of Its Origin and Development in Saharanpur, Indus Publishing (2000), pp. 22–24. ISBN 81-7387-103-5
  6. Mayaram, Shail. Against history, against state: counterperspectives from the margins Cultures of history. Columbia University Press, 2003. ISBN 978-0-231-12731-8.
  7. "Saharanpur, India Travel Weather Averages (Weatherbase)". Weatherbase.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 District Census Handbook Saharanpur Part-A (PDF). Lucknow: Directorate of Census Operations, Uttar Pradesh.
  9. 9.0 9.1 District Census Handbook Saharanpur Part-B (PDF). Lucknow: Directorate of Census Operations, Uttar Pradesh.
  10. "Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 1 lakh and above" (PDF). Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
  11. 11.0 11.1 "Saharanpur Religion Census 2011". Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India.
  12. "52nd Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  13. 2011 Census of India, Population By Mother Tongue
  14. Syed Abdul Latif (1958), An Outline of the cultural history of India, Oriental Books, 1979, ... Khari Boli is spoken as mother-tongue in the following areas: (1) East of the Ganges, in the districts of Rampur, Bijnor and Moradabad,Bareilly, (2) between the Ganges and the Jamuna, in the districts of Meerut, Muzaffar Nagar, Azamgarh, Varanasi, May, Saharanpur and in the plain district of Dehradun, and (3) West of the Jamuna, in the urban areas of Delhi and Karnal and the eastern part of Ambala district ...
  15. "Municipalities | District Saharanpur, Government of Uttar Pradesh | India". Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  16. "Ward Map". Saharanpur Nagar Nigam. Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  17. Desk, India com News (2 December 2017). "Saharanpur Municipal Corporation Election 2017 Results Winners' List". India News, Breaking News, Entertainment News | India.com. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  18. "UP's unique ATMs installed to sensitize hands and discharge Masks for only ₹5, initiative receives praises". The Youth. 10 September 2020. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  19. "Dr Ajay Kumar Singh (Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP)):Constituency- SAHARANPUR(SAHARANPUR) – Affidavit Information of Candidate".
  20. "Saharanpur Mayor Election Result 2023: BJP's Dr Ajay Kumar Singh wins by 8000 votes". livehindustan. 18 April 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  21. "BSP announces first list of candidates, banks on Gujjar-Jat-Muslim support". Hindustan Times. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  22. "Members : Lok Sabha". loksabhaph.nic.in. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  23. "Ashu-malik in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022".
  24. "Untapped drains, under-used STPs continue to pollute Hindon, Yamuna rivers". Hindustan Times. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  25. "New plan on the anvil to restore polluted stretches of Hindon river". Hindustan Times. 16 August 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  26. Sharad Singh Negi, Biodiversity and its conservation in India 2nd revised ed. New Delhi, Indus Publishing (2008) ISBN 978-81-7387-211-2
  27. "Joseph Dalton Hooker, Himalayan Journals, or Notes of a Naturalist ..., Kew (1854), vol. I, p. 5.
  28. Saharanpur Botanic Garden
  29. "Shakumbhari Devi Temple | District Saharanpur, Government of Uttar Pradesh | India".
  30. "मां शाकम्भरी मन्दिर पर उमड़ा श्रद्धा का सैलाब, जानिए सिद्ध पीठ का पौराणिक महत्‍व".
  31. "New National Highway 709B notification – GOI" (PDF). The Gazette of India. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  32. "Rationalisation of Numbering Systems of Indian National Highways" (PDF). Department of Road Transport and Highways. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  33. "Complete Road_Detail's_SH" (PDF). Public Works Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh. 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  34. goyal, raghav (25 February 2020). "Centre Gives In-Principle Approval For Dehradun-Delhi Expressway". TheQuint. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  35. K. Dash, Dipak. "23 new expressways and highways coming up in next 5 years | India News – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  36. Ambala Division map and history.
  37. "IR History: Early Days II (1870–1899)". Retrieved 7 March 2014.
  38. "Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway". Management Ebooks. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  39. "IR History – Early Days II (1870–1899)". IRFCA. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  40. "Shahdara–Saharanpur light railway". fibis. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  41. 41.0 41.1 R. Sivaramakrishnan. "Shahdara–Saharanpur light railway". IRFCA. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  42. 42.0 42.1 "IR History Part V (1970–1995)". IRFCA. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  43. "Speech of Shri Lalit Narayan Mishra introducing the Railway Budget for 1973–74, on 20th February 1973" (PDF). Light Railways. Indian Railways. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  44. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor Archived 8 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine

External links[edit]