Bhusawal is a city in the Jalgaon district of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Situated along the

Tapti River The Tapti River (or Tapi) is a river in central India located to the south of the Narmada river that flows westwards before draining into the Arabian Sea. The river has a length of around and flows through the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat ...

, it lies between the

Satpura Range The Satpura Range, formerly also known as the Seeonee Hills, is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range paralle ...

and the Ajanta Hills of the

Deccan plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

. The city is a significant hub for the Central Railway, boasting the largest railway junction in Maharashtra and the second-largest

railway yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or ...

in Asia. Bhusawal also has one of the largest Municipal Councils. It serves as a vital commercial center for the surrounding cotton-growing region and is involved in the trade of

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – berry (botany), botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called pla ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

, and

peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

(groundnuts). The city features a substantial oil-processing industry and is the second-largest city in the Jalgaon district after

Jalgaon Jalgaon () is a city in the state of Maharashtra, India. The city is located in North Maharashtra in the subregion of Khandesh, and serves as the administrative headquarters of its namesake district, the Jalgaon district. In the subregion of ...

. The Bhusaval Junction railway station is one of the busiest railway station in the nation and serves as the headquarters of the

Bhusawal railway division Bhusawal railway division is one of the five railway divisions under the jurisdiction of Central Railway zone of the Indian Railways. It has its headquarters located at Bhusawal in Jalgaon district of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The other r ...

. The railway line and station were constructed in the second half of 19th century by the British government.

History

On 19–23 February 1993, the city hosted its only first class cricket match to date during the 1992-93 Ranji trophy season at the 'Central railway ground'. Maharashtra's SV Jedhe scored a century (168) in the 1st inning and 64 in the 2nd inning. The home team

defeated the

Tamil Nadu cricket team The Tamil Nadu cricket team is a domestic cricket team run by Tamil Nadu Cricket Association representing the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It has been one of the most dominant teams in white-ball domestic cricket in India. The team plays in Ranji ...

by 10 wickets. In the game, 1983 World Cup winning team's member

Krishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari "Kris" Srikkanth (; ; born 21 December 1959), also known as Cheeka, is an Indian former cricketer and coach. He also serves as a cricket commentator. He was a hard-hitting opening batter and an occasional right arm offbreak b ...

played for Tamil Nadu.

Geography and Climate

Bhusawal is situated on the banks of the

Tapti river The Tapti River (or Tapi) is a river in central India located to the south of the Narmada river that flows westwards before draining into the Arabian Sea. The river has a length of around and flows through the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat ...

. It has an average elevation of 209 metres. The total land area of the municipal council is 228.57 km². Bhusawal, being bounded by mountain ranges, has a diverse climate, though the city has dry and hot weather for most of the year.. In summers, the temperature reaches around 46 °C to 49 °C, which is amongst the highest in India. In 2010, the temperature crossed the 49 °C mark, touching 49.8 °C. In winters, the temperature falls down to 15 °C to 16 °C, and receives moderate rainfall during the monsoon.

Demographics

The city has a population of 187,421 (2011 census), with 96,147 males and 91,274 females. The literacy rate is 88.38%; 91.74% for males and 84.87% for females.

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

is the main religion followed by 64.06% of its population, followed by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s (24.40%) and

Buddhists Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth ...

(8.79%).

Transport

The

Ajanta Caves The Ajanta Caves are 30 rock-cut architecture, rock-cut Buddhist caves in India, Buddhist cave monuments dating from the second century Common Era, BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, Aurangabad district of Maharashtra sta ...

are about 63 km (via

Jamner Jamner City is a town and taluka in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra state in India. It is part of the Khandesh region. Politics Former Water resources minister of Maharashtra Girish Mahajan Girish Dattatray Mahajan is a politician from ...

) from Bhusawal. Road Bhusawal is situated near the NH 53 highway. The city is very old and has narrow roads, due to which there is slow movement of traffic.

Rail

Bhusawal Junction Railway Station is a divisional headquarters of the Central Railways. It is on both the Howrah-Allahabad-Mumbai line and the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line. The Bhusawal Railway Yard is the second largest railway yard in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

, after the Pandit Din Dayal Upadhyay Junction Railway Yard,

Mughalsarai Mughalsarai (; English language, English: ''Mughal tribe, Mughal Tavern''), officially known as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar, is a city and a municipal board in the Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh. Located around from Chandauli town ...

. Bhusawal is the closest junction to Ajanta (83 km away).

Air

Jalgaon Airport Jalgaon Airport is a domestic airport serving the city of Jalgaon in Maharashtra, India. It is located in Kusumbe, off National Highway 753F (NH-753F), southeast of the city centre, and away from the Ajanta Caves, for which it is its closes ...

is the closest airport to Bhusawal.

Economy

The Railway Coach Factory has been planned to be built here. The city has 2 ordinance factories, out of the 41 factories in India. Bhusawal has a major military base as well. The city has 5

thermal power station A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

units, out of which 4 are operational together with a capacity of over 1420 MW, thus, making it a major contributor to the state's overall

electricity generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For electric utility, utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its Electricity delivery, delivery (Electric power transm ...

, providing over 12% of Maharashtra's total power output. A 6th new 660 MW unit is proposed to be developed, which would then take the city's power output to over 2000 MW. Major industrial facilities include: * Bhusawal Thermal Power Station (7 km) * Ordnance Factory Bhusawal (8.3 km) * Ordnance Factory Varangaon * Orient Cement Grinding Unit (12 km) *

Indian Oil Corporation Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL or IOC), trading as IndianOil, is an Indian multinational oil and gas company under the ownership of the Government of India and administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is ...

Limited Depot (15 km) * Railway's Zonal Training School * Electric Locomotive Workshop Bhusawal Bhusawal is known for its banana cultivation. The city is a major exporter of bananas, with more than 40% of the state's banana cultivation in the Jalgaon district. Traders visit Bhusawal to buy raw bananas. Bhusawal is also known for its special white

brinjals Eggplant (American English, US, Canadian English, CA, Australian English, AU, Philippine English, PH), aubergine (British English, UK, Hiberno English, IE, New Zealand English, NZ), brinjal (Indian English, IN, Singapore English, SG, Malays ...

(eggplant).

Notes

References

{{Jalgaon district topics , state=collapsed Talukas in Maharashtra Cities and towns in Jalgaon district