Balrampur

This article is about the municipality in Uttar Pradesh, India. For its namesake district, see Balrampur district. For disambiguation, see Balarampur.

Template:Infobox Indian jurisdiction Balrampur (Hindi: बलरामपुर, Urdu: بلرام پور) is a city and a municipal board in Balrampur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is situated on the bank of river Rapti and is the district headquarters of Balarampur district. According to Government of India, the district Balrampur is one of the Minority Concentrated District in India on the basis of the 2001 census data on population, socio-economic indicators and basic amenities indicators.

According to census of March 2001, it has a population of 1,684,567 persons, in which rural population is 1549293 (Males 817298 and Females 731995). In Urban Population is 135274 (number of Males are 71261 and number of Females are 64013) and Number of Educated person is 470632 (Males 333632 and Females 137000). In which Rural Educated Person is 398261 (Males 290802 and Females 107459). In Urban Educated Person is 72371 (males 42830 and Females 29541).
Former Prime Minister of India Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was first elected for the parliament from Balrampur constituency.
Famous Institution M. L. K. P. G. College is situated in Balrampur. In last few years it has been highly affected by floods. The district is almost 17 kilometres from the Shravasti where Lord Gautam Buddha displayed his supernatural powers.

Geography

Balrampur is located at 27.43°N 82.18°E / 27.43; 82.18. It has an average elevation of 106 metres (347 feet). It is situated on the border side of Indo-Nepal.

Tourism and culture

The district has very rich literary heritage. Famous Urdu poet Ali Sardar Jafri was born here in the year 1913. He is among the only four urdu poets who got the prestigious Jnanpith award (other three are Firak Gorakhpuri, Kurtulain Hyder and Shaharyar). Apart from that the birthplace of Mohd Shafi Khan also known as Bekal Utsahi is Balrampur. He has the distinction of being a former member of Rajya Sabha . In the year 1976 he got Padmashree Award in the field of literature. During a visit to the Mazar of Hazrat Vaaris Ali Shah of Devan-Sharif in 1945 Shah Hafiz Pyari Miyan quoted, "Bedam Gaya Bekal aaya". After that incident Mohammad Shafi Khan converted his name as "Bekal Varsi".During the period of Pandit Nehru in 1952 an interesting event happened, which resulted in to the emergence of Bekal Utsahi. There was a election programme of congress party in Gonda at that time. Bekal Varsi welcomed Pandit Nehru by his poetry "Kisan Bharat Ka". Nehru was very much impressed and said,"Yeh hamara utsahi shayar hai".Finally he is renowned as Bekal Utsahi in the literary world. One of the most popular Hindu worship place is situated in Tulsipur about 27 kilometers from the district Headquarter. It is known as Devi Patan. The temple has the distinction of having included in 51 "Shaktipeethas" of Goddess Durga according to Hindu mythology. Millions of pilgrims visit this place throughout the year. A Grand festival has been organized at the time of Durga Puja. During the month of chaitra a "Mela" has also been organized every year. One of the salient feature of this event is "Shobha Yatra" of Peer Ratan Nath. Every year devotees from Dang district of Nepal used to come here as an integral part of yatra. Apart from that Bijleshwari Devi temple is also famous among the local people. The area where the temple is situated is known as Bijlipur. It has the distance of about 6 kilometers from Balrampur city. Jharkhandi Temple on the opposite side of Jharkhandi Railway Station of Gonda-Gorakhpur loop line attract the attention of Balrampurites as well as other people too. The Festival of "Moharram" is celebrated with full enthusiasm.It is the landmark amongst the Moharram of whole country. During British period Balrampur riyasat was one of the important states of Avadh area. The amazing Neel Bagh Palace is also situated inside the city. It is One of the most frequently visited place by the tourists. Presently Dharmendra Prasad Singh is the member of former monarchy. He is also the curator of famous Maharani Lal Kunwari Post Graduate College, Balrampur.

Politics

Before delimitation the parliamentary constituency was known as Balrampur. Presently Vinay Kumar Pandey alias Vinnu Bhaiyya (Congress) is representing the Shrawasti parliamentary constituency. During 2009 Lok Sabha Election Vinay Kumar Pandey defeated two times former MP Rizwan Zaheer Khan of Bahujan Samaj Party. Dheerendra Pratap Singh alias Dheeru is the current MLA from Balrampur seat. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was declared elected for the first time from Balrampur Loksabha seat in the year 1957. Although in 1962 he lost the election to Subhadra Joshi (Congress). But in the year 1967 once again Vajpayee emerged as a winner. During Janta party wave (Janta Lahar) in the year 1977 Nanaji Deshmukh (Jansangh) won the Loksabha seat.

Industry

BCM- Balrampur Chini Mills Limited (Sugar Factory). During British Period it was owned by BIC (British India Corporation). Padmashree Minakshi Sarawagi is the Managing Director and owner of BCM.BCM is the second largest sugar production unit after Bajaj in INDIA