Gadchiroli
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Gadchiroli ( ¡É™É–t͡ʃiɾoliË is a
city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
and a
municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...
in
Gadchiroli district Gadchiroli district (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, ¡É™É–t͡ʃiɾoliË is an administrative Districts of Maharashtra, district in Maharashtra, India. The city of Gadchiroli is the administrative headquarters of the district. Offic ...
in the state 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 ...
, central
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 ...
. It is located in eastern Maharashtra, and is the administrative headquarters of the district. Gadchiroli is called the
lung The lungs are the primary Organ (biology), organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the Vertebral column, backbone on either side of the heart. Their ...
of Maharashtra as almost 70% of this district is covered by forests having 21% of the total forest cover of the state. The main river flowing through city is the Wainganga River. The landscape is lush and green during the monsoon season which is prone to flooding. Gadchiroli is known for its forests. Teak is grown commercially and bamboos are used for various crafts.


Notable places and Personalities

Some notable places and personalities in the town include: * Chaprala Wildlife Sanctuary"Tourist Places , District Gadchiroli, Government of Maharashtra , India". Retrieved 21 July 2021. *Semana-Hanuman Temple â€“ About from center of town (Gandhi Chowk) * Hemalkasa â€“ Situated in Bhamragarh Block (east side of district), from Gadchiroli. *Allapalli – Known as Teak City of District, where all forest administration offices and the main marketline, educational and other resources. * Markhanda â€“ A temple dedicated to Lord Shiva on the banks of Wainganga. There is a big fair on '' Mahashivratri'' * BILT (Ashti) â€“ A unit of Ballarpur Paper Mills in Ashti. * Gadchiroli lake – located at the centre of the city. *
Vairagad Fort Vairagad is a small fort situated in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, India, at the confluence of rivers Khobragadhi and Satnalas. The small dusty village of same name is adjacent to the fort. The fort is situated 180 km from Nagpur a ...
– Built by the Gond kings as their residence and fortress, near Armori town * Bhandareshwar – An ancient temple to Lord Shiva situated to the west of Vairagad village, high on a mound at the confluence of the Khobragadi and Vainlochna rivers. This shrine is a good example of architecture and the carved walls are believed to be from the Hemadpanth period. * Adishakti Temple – Situated at Vairagad, this temple enshrines an idol of Adishakti Devi, found during a 1986 excavation. The idol has four hands and is an example of the carvings undertaken by the sculptors of the erstwhile era. *Wadadham Fossils Park.


History

In ancient times the region was ruled by the Mauryan empire, Gupta empire, Rashtrakutas, the Chalukyas, the Yadavas of Deogiri and later the Gonds of Gadchiroli. In the 13th century Khandkya Ballal Shah founded Chandrapur and made it his capital. Chandrapur subsequently came under Maratha rule. In 1853 Berar, of which Chandrapur (then called Chanda) was part, was ceded to the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
. In 1854 Chandrapur became an independent district of Berar. In 1905 the British created the ''
tehsil A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a Zila (country subdivision), district including the designated populated place that ser ...
'' of Gadchiroli by transfer of a ''
zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...
i'' estate from Chandrapur and Bramhapuri. It was part of the Central Provinces until 1956 when, with the reorganisation of the states, Chandrapur was transferred to Bombay state. In 1960, when Maharashtra was created, Chandrapur became a district of the new state. On 26 August 1982 Chandrapur was divided, with Gadchiroli tehsil becoming an independent district. Naxalism is highly prevalent in Gadchiroli, with the guerrilla fighters taking to the hills and dense forests, 15 soldiers have been killed in an IED blast at Kurkheda area in 2019. Gadchiroli has also been designated as part of the
Red Corridor Red corridor designates the districts of India which has the presence and influence of Naxalites. As of March 2025, the corridor encompasses 18 districts across seven states, predominantly in Central and East India. History The Naxaliteâ ...
. Settlements are being explored by many social workers.


Geography

Gadchiroli is located at . It has an average elevation of 217 metres (715 feet). Gadchiroli District is one of the largest in Maharashtra by land area. The town and surrounding area is considered to be beautiful during the monsoon season (July to September), and is surrounded by a teak wood forest.


Climate

Located near centre of Indian peninsula, far from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, Gadchiroli has a tropical wet-and-dry climate with dry conditions prevailing for most of the year. It receives an annual rainfall of about , almost entirely from monsoon rains between June and September. Summers are extremely hot lasting from March to June, with maximum temperatures occurring in May.


Demographics

According to the 2001 India
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
, Gadchiroli had a population of 42,464. Males constituted 51% of the population and females 49%. Gadchiroli had an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%. Male literacy was 80%, and female literacy was 67%. 13% of the population was under 6 years of age. The main languages spoken are
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
,
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
, Gondi, Madiya, Bengali and Telugu. The literacy rate is improving with an increase in educational facilities. The people of Gadchiroli celebrate many indigenous festivals. Adivasi peoples celebrate festivals like Mohram, Pola, etc. The Bengali community here celebrate festivals like Durga Pooja, Basanti Pooja, Kali pooja, etc.


Health care

* Abhay and Rani Bang are founders and activists and community health researchers working successfully in the Gadchiroli district. They have developed in about 20 years initiatives and programs aimed at reducing
infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age ...
rates. *
SEARCH Searching may refer to: Music * "Searchin', Searchin", a 1957 song originally performed by The Coasters * Searching (China Black song), "Searching" (China Black song), a 1991 song by China Black * Searchin' (CeCe Peniston song), "Searchin" (C ...
- Society For Education, Action, and Research in Community Health, which is involved in rural health services.


Industrialisation

The Surjagarh region of Gadchiroli is among the largest reserves of iron ore in Maharashtra. Mining activities have been proposed in the region since 2005, but local opposition and conflict kept companies at bay. In 2021, Lloyd's Metals and Energy Limited was granted the rights to restart these operations, this time, with Thriveni Earthmovers Pvt. Ltd., an Indian mining operations company. The Maharashtra Government has been pushing Gadchiroli as the next Steel Hub of Indi
too
In these efforts, the Managing Director of Thriveni Earthmovers, Mr. B. Prabhakaran, seems to be the front runner, often credited with the restart of the mining operations in 2021. The Surjagad Iron Ore Mines is set to ramp up production to 25 MTPA. The mining activities have increased employment in the region, and a slew of community development activities, including the building of a school, helping students with higher education, opening a hospital, a sports academy, organising blood donation camps, has significantly improved the standard of living in the region, keeping internal conflict at bay. Following their footsteps, a number of steel and mining companies are set to enter the region in the next five years.


Administration


Politics

The MP of Gadchiroli-Chimur constituency is dr Namdevrao kirsan. The MLA from different constituencies within are: * Aheri – Dharmarao Baba Atram * Gadchiroli – Dr. Milind Ramji Narote * Armori – Ramdas Maluji Masram


Transport

Gadchiroli is connected by roads to Chandrapur, Nagpur, Bhandara and Gondia. There is rail connection in Gadchiroli .The condition of roadways in the area is being improved to provide improved security against the recent Naxilite insurgency.


Education

All the degree colleges in Gadchiroli are now affiliated with the recently established Gondwana University, Gadchiroli. The government of Maharashtra established Gondwana university by splitting RTM Nagpur University, purported to be a major revolution in education for the tribal youth in the district. Namdeorao Poreddiwar College of Engineering and Technology was a technical college located at Mouza Bodli, Gadchiroli but now is closed due to some administrative reasons. *Chanakya Academy Aheri & Alapalli (Competitive Exam Coaching Center) *Chanakya Academy Police Bharti Physical Ground, Aheri


See also

* Make In Maharashtra


References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Gadchiroli district