Roorkee

Roorkee (Hindi: रुड़की Rūṛkī) is a city and seat of a municipal council in Uttarakhand, in far northern India. It is located on the banks of the Ganges canal on the national highway between Delhi and Dehradun. Roorkee is known for Roorkee Cantonment, one of the country's oldest cantonments, and the headquarters of Bengal Engineer Group (Bengal Sappers) since 1853. The renowned engineering college IIT Roorkee is located in this town.

Etymology

According to one story, Roorkee derives its name from Rurimadi imran, the wife of some local Rajput chieftain. On the othr hand, vernacular belief amongst villagers around Roorkee is that it got its name from "Ror ki", i.e., dwelling of a Ror.

Roorkee is situated in Haridwar district of Uttarakhand state.

History

Watercolor (1863) titled, "The Ganges Canal, Roorkee, Saharanpur District (U.P.)." The canal was the brainchild of Sir Proby Cautley; construction began in 1840, and the canal was opened by Governor-General Lord Dalhousie in April 1854.

Photograph (2008) of an East India Company-era (1854) Ganeshpur bridge (on the Roorkee-Dehradun Highway) above Ganges Canal in Roorkee.

Roorkee was the capital of a Moghul Mahal (similar to a present-day Pargana) during the time of Akbar, as is referred in Ain-e-Akbari, authored by Abul Fazal.

During the 18th century, it came under the rule of Landhaura state, until the death of its Bargujar king, Raja Ramdaval Dev in 1813 and later, became a part of the territories of the British East India Company.

Before 1840, the city was a small village of mud houses on the banks of the Solani rivulet. Digging work on the Upper Ganges Canal formally began in April 1842, under the aegis of Proby Cautley, a British officer. Soon, Roorkee developed into a town. The canal, which was formally opened on 8 April 1854, irrigated over 767,000 acres (3,100 km²) in 5,000 villages.

Another factor that contributed to the city's growth was the inception of the 'Roorkee College', which has its origin in the training classes started in 1845 to train local youth to assist in the civil-engineering works in the making of the Upper Ganges Canal. This was to become the first engineering college established in India. On November 25, 1847, the college was formally constituted, through a proposal by the Sir James Thomason, Lt. Governor of North Western Province (1843–53), and after his death in 1853, the college was rechristened as 'Thomason College of Civil Engineering'. The college later upgraded to University of Roorkee in 1949, and on September 21, 2001, through an Act of Indian parliament, it was made one of the Indian Institutes of Technology, IIT Roorkee.

India's first aqueduct was constructed over the Solani river, near Roorkee, part of the Ganges canal project, which itself was India's first irrigation work in North India, started by the British. The Ganges Canal led to another first for Roorkee - India's first steam engine, Mary Lind, especially shipped from England moved on rails in India, ran in Roorkee on December 22, 1851, between Roorkee and Piran Kaliyar, two years before the first passenger train ran from Bombay to Thane in 1853. Operated by the Bengal Sappers, the railway line was built to carry soil used for the construction of the Upper Ganges Canal aqueduct from Piran Kaliyar, 10 km (6.2 miles) away from the city. The locomotive rail paths are still intact. The steam engine is presently exhibited at Roorkee Railway Station.

The municipality of Roorkee was created in 1868, when it was already home to the Bengal Sappers and Miners since 1853, and two artillery units were stationed there. Today, the Roorkee Cantonment has a large army base. The Bengal Engineering Group and Centre (BEG&C), are still there today.

Later in 1901, when the city had a population of 17,197, it was made headquarters of the Roorkee Tehsil, in Saharanpur district of the United Province of the British Raj; the tehsil included in it 426 villages (of the parganas of Jwalapur, Manglaur and Bhagwanpur) and six towns, most important among them being Haridwar and Manglaur. The Old Cemetery in the city is today a protected monument, by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Roorkee is also famous for the shrine of 13th century, Sufi saint Alauddin Sabir Kaliyari - the dargah is also known as Sarkar Sabir Pak - situated in Piran Kaliyar village, where an annual 15-day spiritual fair (Urs) is held in his. roorkee is the future for the engineers.there are lots of best engineering colleges which have the power to compete with the foreign universities.

Industry

Roorkee is also famous for the manufacture of survey and nautical instruments. It started in early 1900, with the repairing of instruments of "The Thomason College of Civil Engineering" (later University of Roorkee, and then IIT Roorkee) and moving on to manufacturing of compasses, levels and other surveying instruments. After getting the state status to Uttarakhand, Roorkee has grown to having 100+ industries and corporate houses under SIDCUL.

Geography

Roorkee is located at 29.87°N 77.88°E / 29.87; 77.88. It has an average elevation of 268 metres (879 feet). Roorkee is 172 kilometres (107 mi) north of the Indian capital, New Delhi and located between the rivers Ganges and Yamuna, close to the foothills of the Himalayas. Before the creation of Uttarakhand on November 9, 2000, Roorkee was a part of the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Climate

Roorkee
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     0     22 2     230     25 6     40     30 7     0     37 10     100     38 16     40     39 21     700     34 20     800     34 22     460     33 22     0     30 12     10     27 7     190     22 4 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm Source: GAIA case studies
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     0     72 36     9.1     77 43     1.6     86 45     0     99 50     3.9     100 61     1.6     102 70     28     93 68     31     93 72     18     91 72     0     86 54     0.4     81 45     7.5     72 39 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

Due to its location away from any major water body and its close proximity to the Himalayas, Roorkee has an extreme and erratic continental climate. Summers start in late March and go on until early July, with average temperatures around 28 °C (82 °F). The monsoon season starts in July and goes on uptil October, with torrential rainfall, due to the blocking of the monsoon clouds by the Himalayas. The post monsoon season starts in October and goes on uptil late November, with average temperatures sliding from 21 °C (70 °F) to 15 °C (59 °F). Winters start in December, with lows close to freezing and frequent cold waves due to the cold katabatic winds blowing from the Himalayas. The total annual rainfall is about 2600 mm (102 in).

Transport

Roorkee comes under Northern Railway region of Indian Railways and is connected to major Indian cities.

The nearest airport is Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun, though the preferred one is Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

Roorkee's major neighbour-cities are Dehradun, Haridwar, Rishikesh, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Ambala and Chandigarh. The National Highway 58 (NH58) (Delhi-Haridwar-Mana Pass) and NH73 (Panchkula/Chandigarh - Yamuna Nagar - Roorkee) pass through the heart of the city.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Roorkee had a population of 2,52,784. Males constituted 53% of the population and females 47%. Roorkee has an average literacy rate of 82%, higher than the national average of 64%: male literacy is 87%, and female literacy is 81%. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. The city has 61% Hindus (29.9% Bhramans, 13.8% Vaish, 17.3% others Hindus Cast), 28% Muslims, 9% Punjabis/Sikhs, 0.3% Christians and 1.7% Jains.

With a population of about 2,52,784 inhabitants, it is the third largest Municipal Council in the state of Uttarakhand, after Haridwar & Haldwani.

Languages spoken are Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi.

Education

IIT Roorkee main building

Roorkee is a centre of education and research. It is best known for Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT), which was formerly called the University of Roorkee and originally known as the Thomason College of Civil Engineering.

The Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh started its operations in India, from a single room in the main building of erstwhile 'Thomason College of Civil Engineering', when it shifted to India from Lahore in Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947; it continued to operate from the premises in Roorkee until 1954, when it shifted to its present premises in Chandigarh.

Roorkee is also home to several government research institutes: Central Building Research Institute (C.B.R.I.), Irrigation Research Institute(I.R.I.), Institution of Engineers Regional Center (I.E.I.), Alternate Hydro Energy Centre (A.H.E.C.), Irrigation Design Organization (I.D.O.) and National Institute of Hydrology (N.I.H.). With the availability of numerous schools, colleges and institutions for higher education and professional degrees, students come for enrollment from all over India and abroad. To read a detailed history of this landmark institution, one can refer two volumes by Prof. KV Mital named "History of Thomason College of Engineering" and "History of Roorkee University" published in 1996, available at Roorkee University alumni office in the main building of the institute campus.

In addition to the university, the notable colleges and schools in Roorkee are:

COLLEGES

• SSDPC GIRLS (PG) COLLEGE
• DAV (PG) COLLEGE
• BSM (PG)COLLEGE

Private enngineering colleges

• Roorkee College of Engineering, Roorkee
• Phonics School of Engineering, Roorkee
• College of Engineering Roorkee (COER)
• Quantum Global Campus, Mandawar, Roorkee
• Roorkee Institute of Technology, Roorkee
• Institute of Technology Roorkee, Rooekee
• Tech Words, Roorkee
• B.S.M. College of Engineering, Roorkee
• C.A.T, Polytecnic college, Roorkee
• Bishamber Sahai Group of institute, Roorkee.
• Hermes college of Engineering & Management

Management colleges

• Quantum School of Business
• Quantum School of Management
• Hermes college of Engineering & Management
• Phonics School of Business Administration, Roorkee
• Institute of Management Studies, Roorkee - (I.M.S Roorkee)
• Phonics School of Business Administration, Roorkee
• Roorkee Institute of Management Sciences (R.I.M.S.)
• Roorkee Adventist College (R.A.C)

Schools

• St. Gabriel's Academy, Roorkee Cantt, Roorkee
• Montfort School Roorkee
• Delhi Public School(DPS - Roorkee), Dehradun Road, Roorkee
• St. Ann's Senior Secondary, Civil Lines, Roorkee
• Adarsh Bal Niketan, IIT-R, Rooorkee
• Army School, Cantt Area, Roorkee City
• St. John's, CBSE, Dehradun Road, Roorkee
• St. John's, ICSE, Civil Lines, Roorkee
• Greenway Public School, Haridwar Road, Roorkee
• Seventh Day Adventist School, Delhi Road, Roorkee
• Childrens Senior Academy, Delhi Road, Roorkee
• Sargya Public School, Roorkee
• Doon Public School, Near Mandi, Roorkee
• Roorkee Public School, Haridwar Road, Roorkee
• St. Marks, Delhi Road, opp. Hotel Godawari, Roorkee
• Shemford, Roorkee (CBSE) 10+2 School
• Kendriya Vidhyalaya Roorkee (Central School) (CBSE)
• Yoganand Sishu Mandir, Roorkee
• Bhartiya academy ( Soni foundation trust), roorkee.

Advertisement Agencies

Summit Media Solutions, Roorkee (Prop. Sumit Kumar Bhardwaj)

Neighbourhoods

Roorkee has expanded considerably in recent times. At present, the city's posh residential and commercial areas include:

Posh residential areas: Civil Linesa, Parbhu Dayal Bagh, Chaw Mandi, Saraswati Kunj, Jadugar Road, Rajputana West, Bhagirathi Kunj, Solani Puram, Ashok Nagar, Adarsh Nagar, Niti Nagar, Ram Nagar Outer, New Avas Vikas township, Salman Colony, Zohra Bagh, New Nehru Nagar, Ganeshpur, Geetanjali Vihar, Maqtoolpuri, Railway Road, Defence Colony, Akashdeep Enclave, Pradeep Vihar, Colonel's Enclave, Ganges Enclave, RajVihar Colony, Preet Vihar, Purwa deen dayal, Purvali, Saket colony, Sanjay Gandhi Colony, South Civil Lines, Ashoka Puram, Green Park Colony, Rajendra Nagar, Subhash Nagar.

Main commercial areas: Civil-lines Market, Vishal Mega Mart, Main Bazar,Tyagi Market, Sultan Tower, Nehar Kinara (Canal View Road), B.T. Ganj, Chaw Mandi, Old Railway Road, Amber Talab, MaktoolPuri, Roorkee Cantt. (Sapper Market I and II, Lalkurti), Ramnagar camp, Delhi Road, Easy Day, Tyagi Dairy Civil lines.

A full-fledged developed village, Mazri lies 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) outside Roorkee, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) away from Piran Kaliyar. Since the British rule, Mazri is a leading village in the education sector, has a remarkable literacy rate of 98%, and many engineers of the Roorkee region originate from here. The village Sunehrah had a major presence in the struggle for freedom against the British. The ashram of Asha Ram Bapu Ji is located at Sunehra.

External links

• Roorkee Official website
• Template:Wikitravel
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Roorkee" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |W1EC= ignored (help)
• MyRoorkee.com