Paonta Sahib is an industrial town of

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

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 the south of

Sirmaur district Sirmaur district is the southernmost district of Himachal Pradesh, northern India. It is largely mountainous and rural, with 90% of its population living in villages. Some of its towns include the capital Nahan, Paonta Sahib, Lana palar, T ...

, on National Highway 72 (New NH 7). Paonta Sahib is an important place of worship for

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

s, hosting a large

Gurdwara A gurdwara or gurudwara () is a place of assembly and place of worship, worship in Sikhism, but its normal meaning is "place of guru" or "home of guru". Sikhism, Sikhs also refer to gurdwaras as ''Gurdwara Sahib''. People from all faiths and rel ...

named

Gurudwara Paonta Sahib Gurdwara Paonta Sahib is a noted gurdwara in Paonta Sahib, district of Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. History This Gurdwara was built in memory of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru of sikhs. The gurdwara enjoys a high historic and religious imp ...

, on the banks of the river

Yamuna The Yamuna (; ) is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of Bandarpunch peaks of the Low ...

. The river is the boundary between the states of

and

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

History

The town was founded by Sikh Guru Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. The

has linkages to the tenth Sikh Guru, Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and the Sikh leader

Banda Singh Bahadur Banda Singh Bahadur, born Lachman Dev (27 October 1670 – 9 June 1716), was a Sikh warrior and a Jathedar, general of the Khalsa Fauj, Khalsa Army. At age 15, he left home to become an Sannyasa, ascetic, and was given the name Madho Das Baira ...

. Its original name was Paontika. In

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 ...

language, ''Paon'' means "feet" and ''tika'' means "became stable". It is believed that Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji and his horse stopped at this place, and he decided to stay here. He lived here for four and a half years, having never stayed so long at any other place in his entire life. He wrote many Sikh religious books during the stay and moved to

Anandpur Sahib Anandpur Sahib, also referred simply as Anandpur (), is a city in Rupnagar district (Ropar), on the edge of Shivalik Hills, in the Indian state of Punjab. Located near the Sutlej River, the city is one of the most sacred religious places in Si ...

to establish the

Khalsa Panth The term ''Khalsa'' refers to both a community that follows Sikhism as its religion,Khalsa: Sikhism< ...

. The Gurudwara houses a museum containing antiques and weapons used by Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Paonta Sahib is the birthplace of Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji, the eldest son of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji. PaontaSahib

Geography

Paonta Sahib is located at . It has an average elevation of 389 metres (1,276 feet). It is on the bank of the river Yamuna, the river being the boundary between the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It is situated near the towns of

Nahan Nahan is a town located in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and serves as the administrative headquarters of the Sirmaur district. It was formerly the capital of the princely state of Sirmur State, Sirmur. Nahan is also known as the "Tow ...

in Himachal Pradesh,

Yamunanagar Yamunanagar () is a city and a municipal corporation in Yamunanagar district in the Indian state of Haryana. This town is known for the cluster of plywood units and paper factories. It provides timber to larger industries. The older town is ...

in Haryana,

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the public administration, administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Sain ...

Western Uttar Pradesh Western Uttar Pradesh is a region in India that comprises the western districts of Uttar Pradesh state, including the areas of Rohilkhand and Upper Doab those where Hindi, Urdu and Braj are spoken; it is in the region of Western Uttar Pradesh ...

and

Dehradun Dehradun (), also known as Dehra Doon, is the winter capital and the List of cities in Uttarakhand by population, most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Dehradun district, d ...

in Uttarakhand. It is on the western extreme of the

Doon Valley The Doon Valley is an unusually wide, long valley within the Sivalik Hills and the Lesser Himalayas, in the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. Within the valley lies the city of Dehradun, the winter capital of Uttar ...

, which is at a distance of about 44 km from Dehradun.

Kalesar National Park Kalesar National Park () and adjacent Kalesar Wildlife Sanctuary ( are protected areas in Kalesar of Yamunanagar district of Haryana state in India, 46 kilometres from Yamunanagar city, from Chandigarh. Kalesar National Park was established ...

is 12 km from Paonta Sahib. Colonel Sher Jung National Park is around 7 km from the main town. Some luxury hotels to stay in Paonta Sahib are Hotel Guru Surbhi, Hotel Yamuna, and Hotel Paonta Valley.

Climate

Paonta Sahib has a

sub-tropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones immediately to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 3 ...

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

climate characterised by a seasonal rhythm, hot summers, slightly cold winters, unreliable rainfall and great variation in temperature (1 °C to 40 °C). In winter, frost sometimes occurs during December and January. It also receives occasional winter rains from the western disturbance. Average temperatures: * Summer: Temperatures may rise to a maximum of 44 °C. The temperature generally remains 35 °C to 40 °C. * Autumn: The temperature may go to a maximum of 36 °C. The temperature usually remains between 16 °C and 27 °C in autumn. The lowest temperature may go to 13 °C. * Winter: Temperatures are cool and sometimes chilly. Average temperature in winters (November to February) remains at (max.) 2 °C to 7 °C and (min.) 0 °C to 5 °C. * Spring: The climate remains quite pleasant. The temperature remains (max.) 16 °C to 25 °C and (min.) 9 °C to 18 °C. Paonta Sahib has been ranked 40th best “National Clean Air City” under (Category 3 population under 3 lakhs cities) in India.

Demographics

As of the 2011 Census of India, Paonta Sahib had a population of 25,183. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Paonta Sahib has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than National average of 74.04% (2011 figure).: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 72%. In Paonta Sahib, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. Paonta Sahib is 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 ...

which has 13 wards. This council looks after the development of the city, maintenance of roads, streets, cleanliness etc. The election takes place every five years to elect ward members and a chairman. The Paonta Sahib tehsil comprises 141 villages, among which

Bain Kuan Bain Kuan is a small village in Tehsil Paonta sahib, district Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh, India. It is situated at Paonta-Jamniwala road which is further connected to NH-72 at Majra. This village comes under the Jamniwala '' Gram Panchayat''. Thi ...

Industries

Major industries are cement (

Cement Corporation of India Cement Corporation of India Limited (CCI) is the only cement manufacturing Public Sector Undertaking of Government of India. The company was incorporated as a wholly government-owned corporation on 18 January 1965, with the objective of settin ...

Rajban Rajban is a small town near Paonta Sahib in the Sirmaur district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Rajban is home to one of the oldest cement factories (Cement Corporation of India) in Himachal Pradesh. It is located on the river bank, ...

), power generation - renewable energy (

Power Group Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

), aviation (

Air Himalayas An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

), pharmaceutical (

Sun Pharmaceutical Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (Trade name, d/b/a Sun Pharma) is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Mumbai. It manufactures and sells Pharmaceutical formulation, pharmaceutical formu ...

, Mankind Pharma Limited), textiles, and chemicals. Apart from these, Asia's biggest limestone marketJustification for Locating the Project , NIC
/ref> is located at Sataun. Apart, Pharma Industry includes Tirupati Medicare Limited, Tirupati Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd., Tirupati Wellness Pvt. Ltd. and Pontika Aerotech Limited, all 4 are part of 'The Tirupati Group' in Paonta Sahib on Nahan Road.

References

External links

* *{{cite web, url=https://hpsirmaur.nic.in/, title=District Sirmaur, Government of Himachal Pradesh - Dev Bhoomi, website=Hpsirmaur.nic.in, access-date=22 April 2019 Cities and towns in Sirmaur district Sikh places