Kopargaon

This article is about the Kopargaon city in Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. For the tehsil in Ahmednagar district, see Kopargaon tehsil.

Kopargaon
—  village  —
Kopargaon Location of Kopargaon in Maharashtra and India
Coordinates	19°53′N 74°29′E
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District(s)	Ahmadnagar
Population	59,996 (2001)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 493 metres (1,617 ft)

Kopargaon is a town and a municipal council in Ahmednagar district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kopargaon is located some 14 km from the holy town of Shirdi.

Geography

Kopargaon is situated at 19.88°N 74.48°E / 19.88; 74.48. It has an average elevation of 493 metres (1617 feet) and lies at the banks of the Godavari river.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census, Kopargaon had a population of 2.5 lacs. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Kopargaon has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 76%, and female literacy is 62%. In Kopargaon, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Kopargaon is regarded as holy by many saints like Janardhan Maharaj, Jungli Maharaj as it is located on the banks of the river Godavari. It is located 40 km from Manmad railway junction. The famous temple of Sai Baba at Shirdi is 14 km from the town. There are two more famous temples of saibaba in kopargaon itself one of which is known as Saidham. The present population of the town is nearly 63,000.

Politics

Kopargaon is Vidhan Sabha constituency in Maharashtra. For 2009 state assembly elections there are about 214865 voters. Ashok Shankarrao Kale emerged victorious against Bipin Shankarao Kolhe in the recently held Vidhan Sabha Elections (2009). It has the courts of CJJD, CJSD, & ADJ. During the recent Graduate Constituency Election, Kopargaon city & taluka gave a historic lead to the Indian National Congress (INC) candidate Dr.Sudhir Tambe. Till to date, during graduate constituency elections the percentage of votes cast from the Kopargaon City was 20 to 25%. But, during this election, a record 52% votes were cast.

Economy

There are three sugar factories around Kopargaon.In addition to this, there is an industrial estate having 52 small scale industries and dairy.

The economy of the tehsil is driven mainly by agriculture with sugarcane being the major cash crop of the region. The sugar industries in Kopargaon are Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana, The Kopargaon Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana and Takali Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana. Abundance of water due to efficient irrigation system has tempted the farmers to grow sugarcane. Kopargaon has been on the forefront of developments in agriculture with most modern technologies being made available to the farmers for the advantage of cultivation. However, due to increased competition, shortage of water resources in the area and mainly due to politics the agriculture based economy has been on a steep downfall. Different towns around Kopargaon like Yeola, Sangamner, Sinnar, Vaijapur have flourished due to the political stability in their regions. Few decades ago sunflower was also one of the major crops of the region. However, again due to shortage of water resources this crop has lost its existence in this region. The other cash crops in this region are wheat and soyabean.

The major banks that are located in the town are Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Central Bank of India, HDFC and ICICI. There is also a local co-operative bank known as Kopargaon People's co-operative bank & Nagar Urban Co-op Bank Ltd. Besides having many medium to small credit co-operative societies. Due to slack market economy a lot of young professionals are migrating to Pune, Nasik and Aurangabad for job opportunities.

Educational institutions

The Sanjivani College of Engineering is one of the important centers of the town. The college is one of the oldest and famous colleges under University of Pune graded 'A' by the National Board of Accrediction (NBA) and lays under ISO 9001 standards.

There are a few educational institutions like K.B. Rohmare Junior college, S.S.G.M Science,Gautam Arts and Sanjivani Commerce College,Kopargaon. As far as basic education is concerned S.G.Vidyalaya and K.B.P. Vidyalaya are reputed for primary education which are marathi medium schools. Kopargaon also has only a girls school, Dr.C.M. Mehta Kanya Vidya mandir . Besides, the city also have English schools namely ( ranked order ) 1.Shri Sharda English Medium School 2. Seva Niketan Convent School, 3. Sanjivani English Medium School and other few.

References

• kopargaon is also known as daityabhumi(rakshas bhumi)shriman gokulchand vidyalya