Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur

Muzaffarpur

City in Bihar, India


Muzaffarpur (pronunciation) is a city located in Muzaffarpur district in the Tirhut region of the Indian state of Bihar.[5][2] It serves as the headquarters of the Tirhut division, the Muzaffarpur district and the Muzaffarpur Railway District. It is the fourth most populous city in Bihar.

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Muzaffarpur is famous for Shahi lychees and is known as the Lychee Kingdom.[6][7] Shahi lychee is the fourth product from Bihar, after jardalu mango, katarni rice and Magahi paan (betel leaf) to get the Geographical Indication (GI) tag. The city is situated on the banks of the perennial Budhi Gandak River, which flows from the Someshwar Hills[8] of the Himalayas.

Etymology

The current city was established in 1875 during the British Raj for administrative convenience, by dividing the Tirhut district and was named after an aumil, Muzaffar Khan; thus the city came to be known as Muzaffarpur.[9]

History

The city was founded in 18th century during British Raj period and was constituted a municipality in 1864. A major road and rail hub, it is a trade centre on the route between Patna (south) and Nepal (north). Lychee, sweet corn, mango, vegetables, rice and sugar milling alongside cutlery manufacturing are the chief industries.[10]

In 1972, the Sitamarhi and Vaishali districts were split off from Muzaffarpur.[11]

Geography

Muzaffarpur is located at 26°07′N 85°24′E.[12] The city lies in a highly active seismic zone of India. In the disastrous earthquake on 15 January 1934, much of the town suffered severe damage and many people died.[13] It has an average elevation of 47 meters (154 feet). This saucer shaped, low-centered town lies on the great Indo-Gangetic plains of Bihar, over Himalayan silt and sand brought by the glacier-fed and rain-fed meandering rivers of the Himalayas.

Climate

Muzaffarpur has a humid subtropical climate (Cwa) under the Köppen climate classification. The summer, between April and June, is extremely hot and humid (28–40 °C, 90% max). and winter is pleasantly cool, around 06-20 °C. Rainfall in Muzaffarpur City is comparatively less compared to other parts of Bihar.

More information Climate data for Muzaffarpur (1981–2010, extremes 1901–2009), Month ...

Demographics

As of the 2011 India census,[16] Muzaffarpur had a population of 393,724.[2] Males constituted 52.96% (208,509) of the population and females 47.04% (185,215).[2] Muzaffarpur had a literacy rate of 74.74%. Male literacy was 77.99%, and female literacy was 71.08%.[2]

As per 2011 census data, there are total 275,233 Hindus whereas 74,680 Muslims and 1,352 Christians along with other small minorities.[17]

Religion in Muzaffarpur (2011)

  Hinduism (77.65%)
  Islam (21.07%)
  Other (1.28%)

Economy

वसंत पैलेस

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Muzaffarpur one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640).[18] It is one of the 36 districts in Bihar currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).[18]

Lychee

Lychee garden in Muzaffarpur

The lychee crop, which is available from May to June, is mainly cultivated in the districts of Muzaffarpur and surrounding districts. Cultivation of litchi covers approximately an area of about 25,800 hectares producing about 300,000 tonnes every year. Litchi are exported to big cities of India like Mumbai, Kolkata, and even to other countries. India's share in the world litchi market amounts to less than 1%. The names of the litchi produced in Muzaffarpur are Shahi and China. The fruits are known for excellent aroma and quality.[19]

Bihar's contribution in the production of lychee in about 40 percent of lychee produced in India.[20]

Bihar has emerged as a brewery hub with major domestic and foreign firms setting up production units in the state. Vijay Mallya's group, United Breweries Group, is setting up a production unit to make litchi-flavoured wine, in Muzaffarpur in 2012. The company has leased litchi gardens.[21]

Muzaffarpur based Prabhat Zarda Factory is one of the leading tobacco manufacturers of India.[22]

Lahti Bangles

The production and sales of Lahti bangles is also very prominent in city. Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai also wore the Lahti bangles of the city at her marriage. [23]

Transport

Railways

Aerial view of Muzaffarpur Junction with sunset view

Muzaffarpur Junction railway station (MFP)[24] is a main A1 Category railway junction in Sonpur Division of East Central Railway, having total 8 platforms, with three suburban stations, Ram Dayalu Nagar, Narayanpur Anant (Sherpur), Kaparpura and Jubba Sahni. More than 200 trains regularly visits this 136+ year old railway junction.

Roads

Road connecting New Zero Mile with NH-57

National Highway 57 (India) comes via Gorakhpur, Motihari, Mehsi and crosses Muzaffarpur and National Highway 57 (India) goes to Darbhanga, Purnia. The East–West Corridor crosses Muzaffarpur thus connecting it to all the major towns and cities in India. National Highway 22 (India) starting from Hajipur passes through Muzaffarpur and connects Muzaffarpur to Sitamarhi. National Highway 28 (India) connects Mehsi and Muzaffarpur to Barauni, all 6 National Highways having junction there.

Airport

Muzaffarpur Airport (IATA: MZU, ICAO: VEMZ)[25] is located in Patahi of Muzaffarpur city (besides NH 722 Muzaffarpur - Chhapra (Rewa Ghat)) in the state of Bihar, India. It was operable from 1967 to 1982, on a regular basis. Currently it is not in operations, commercially.[26]

Darbhanga Airport is the nearest domestic airport roughly 64 km away by road. Patna Airport is the nearest customs airport roughly 70 km from the city.

Education

University

Colleges

Schools

  • St. Joseph's Senior Secondary School[31]
  • St. Xavier International School, Adarsh Gram[32]
  • Shanti Niketan Awasiya Bal Vidyalaya, Shantinagar, Ahiyapur,[33]

Notable people

Rambriksh Benipuri: freedom fighter, Socialist Leader, editor and Hindi writer

See also


References

  1. "Muzaffarpurchunav 2020: क्या इस बार मंत्री जी लगाएंगे हैट्रिक या पूर्व विधायक विजेंद्र चौधरी करेंगे वापसी?". Dainik Jagran (in Hindi). 1 November 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  2. "Urban Agglomerations/Cities having population 3 lakh and above" (PDF). Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. Government of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  3. "second Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities in India" (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  4. "Cities having population 3 lakh and above" (PDF). Provisional Population Totals, Census of India 2011. Government of India. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 May 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  5. Destinations :: Vaishali ::Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation Archived 22 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Bstdc.bih.nic.in. Retrieved on 9 January 2011.
  6. "bihar". Scribd.com. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  7. Faizi, Amir Afaque Ahmad (2009). Self-help Groups and Marginalised Communities. Concept Publishing Company. p. 6. ISBN 978-81-8069-621-3. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  8. Law, Gwillim (25 September 2011). "Districts of India". Statoids. Archived from the original on 17 October 2011. Retrieved 11 October 2011.
  9. "Maps, Weather, and Airports for Muzaffarpur, India". fallingrain.com. Archived from the original on 21 March 2008.
  10. Bihar India Earthquake Movie, 15 January 1934 Archived 6 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Harappa.com (15 January 1934). Retrieved on 9 January 2011.
  11. "Station: Muzaffarpur Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. pp. 513–514. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  12. "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M36. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  13. "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 16 June 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  14. Ministry of Panchayati Raj (8 September 2009). "A Note on the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme" (PDF). National Institute of Rural Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 27 September 2011.
  15. "7. LYCHEE PRODUCTION IN INDIA". Fao.org. 31 May 1992. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  16. "Bihar emerging as brewery hub". Economic Times. 16 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 May 2014. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
  17. Sinha, Nishant (20 July 2016). "Sale of tobacco products legal". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  18. "Aishwarya Rai's Muzaffarpur connection". The Times of India. 18 October 2012. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  19. "Muzaffarpur Jn". www.railyatri.in. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  20. "Muzaffarpur Airport". centreforaviation.com. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  21. "Muzaffarpur Airport (Bihar)". www.aai.aero. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  22. "DAV Public School". school.careers360.com. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  23. "D.A.V. Ppublic School". schools.org.in. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  24. "Holy Mission Senior Secondary School". school.career360.com. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  25. "OXFORD SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL". school.career360.com. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  26. "St. Joseph's Senior Secondary School". school.careers360.com. Retrieved 13 August 2022.
  27. "St. Xavier International School". school.careers360.com. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  28. "Shanti Niketan Awasiya Bal Vidyalaya". school.career360.com. Retrieved 30 September 2022.

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