Colgong

Colgong
—  city  —
Colgong Location of Colgong in Bihar and India
Coordinates	25°16′N 87°13′E / 25.27°N 87.22°E / 25.27; 87.22Coordinates: 25°16′N 87°13′E / 25.27°N 87.22°E / 25.27; 87.22
Country	India
State	Bihar
District(s)	Bhagalpur
Population	22,110 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 16 metres (52 ft)
Website	bhagalpur.bih.nic.in/

Colgong (Hindi: कोल्गोंग) (also called Kahalgaon) is a city and a municipality in Bhagalpur district in the state of Bihar, India.

Geography

Colgong (locally called Kahalgaon) is located at 25°16′N 87°13′E / 25.27°N 87.22°E / 25.27; 87.22.^[1] It has an average elevation of 16 metres (52 feet). It is located on the bank of the Ganges river.

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[2] Colgong had a population of 22,110. Male constitute 53% of the population and female 47%. Colgong has an average literacy rate of 57%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 63% and, female literacy is 50%. In Colgong, 17% of the population is under 6 years of age. Angika is the local dialect and is spoken by majority. Hindi, Urdu, and English are also spoken by different section of the population.

History

Vikramshila University: Close to Kahalgaon are the remains of the great Vikramshila University, that was famous as a centre of advanced learning across the world in the ancient times. Mahmud Shah's Tomb: Kahalgaon also houses the Tomb of Mahmud Shah, the last independent king of erstwhile Bengal, who died here a few days after his army was defeated by Sher Shah. The SSV college, which is a degree college, was the main stock center of business of indigo(Nil, used for white cloth) at the time of The British rule in India.

NAMING HISTORY: Kahalgaon is named after KAHOL RISHI, the father of the saint named ASTRAVAKRA (popularly known in THE MAHABHARATA). ASTRAVAKRA was one of the greatest saints who got his body VAKARA from eight places so was named as ASTRAVAKRA. He set free his father from jail of the king by winning the a contest on SHASTRA.

MIDDLE AGE HISTORY: KAHALGAON was the education hub in the Middle Ages. Vikramaśīla University was one of the two most important centers of Buddhist learning in India, along with Nālandā University during the Pala dynasty. Vikramaśīla was established by King Dharmapala (783 to 820) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nālandā. Atisha, the renowned pandita, is sometimes listed as a notable abbot.

CURRENT SITUATION: In the vicinity of the town, now stands afirm the thermal power project from NTPC , known as "Kahalgaon Super Thermal Power Project". The project has an approved capacity of 2340 MW in two stages. The present installed capacity of the project is 1840 MW, supplying power to the states in the Eastern, North East, Western and Northern Region. The recent approval for expansion of the additional capacity to the tune of 710MWs is being undertaken in stages. The first stage has four units of 210 MW capacity each and the second expansion stage has three units of 500 MW.

Arrival of NTPC in the town, marked the arrival of world-class infrastructure, healthcare and education, which would have taken years to reach to people otherwise. Kahalgaon now enjoys the luxury of the best. Education has taken a front-runner in the normal routine and the setup has also created enough jobs and businesses around itself. The townships of NTPC are wonderfully-planned, with lush greenery. It has parks, shopping complexes, clubhouses, stadium and transit-camps apart from housing for employees. The peace that Kahalgaon has is remarkable.

Industrial information

The National Thermal Power Corporation, popularly known as NTPC is also set up in Kahalgaon since early 80s. The total capacity of the plant was 2340 megawatts.

NTPC is producing electricity here by thermal power plant. Coal is taken from Lalmatiya coal mine. various other sources of coal is also used to meet the full load requirement. Normally PLF is about 70% here because lack of coal. It has 4X210 MW units of Russian make and 3X500 MW units of German make supplied by BHEL.

References

1. ^ Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Colgong
2. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01.