Pulgaon

Infobox Indian Jurisdiction
native_name = Pulgaon | type = town | latd = 20.73 | longd = 78.33
locator_position = right | state_name = Maharashtra
district = Wardha
official_languages = Marathi, Hindialtitude = 285
population_as_of = 2001
population_total = 36,506| population_density =
area_magnitude= sq. km
area_total =
area_telephone = 07158
postal_code = 442302
vehicle_code_range =
sex_ratio =
unlocode =
website =
footnotes =

Pulgaon is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Location

Pulgaon (Hindi/Marathi: पुलगाव) is located at coord|20.73|N|78.33|E| [ [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/IN/16/Pulgaon.html FallingRain Map - elevation = 284m (Red dots are railways)] ] . It has an average elevation of 285 metres (935 feet). The nearby towns are Nachangaon (2.0 Nautical Miles to south), Kautha (3.7 Nautical Miles to the East), Talni (5.1 Nautical Miles to West) and Gunjkheda on North, out of which Nachangaon & Gunjkheda are almost considered as suburbs of Pulgaon only.

About city

Pulgaon, a small town but one of the major activity centers in Wardha district, after Wardha & Hinganghat, junction on the central railway, with the population of >45000, but still could not receive the Tahsil Status because of the Politics in the area & the CAD camp, even is not easily identifiable through most of the maps. It is at the bank of the Wardha river and easily accessible to three districts, Wardha, Amaravati & Yavatmal. Two companies in the town, Shri Krushna Industries' Cotton Mills erstwhile Pulgaon Cotton Mills Ltd. & the Vidarbha Phosphates.

There are also some ginning and pressing factories. Hand-loom cloth industry is also picking up gradually. Pulgaon has assumed military importance since the establishment of Asia's second largest ammunition depot, CAD camp, here. The town has a rest house too.

The town is built on rocky soil and derives its water supply mainly from the Wardha river, though in recent years quite a few wells have been added to augment the water supply. In dry years when the water runs low a scarcity of water is felt.

Nachangaon & Gunjkheda being the two major adjacent villages, connected to Pulgaon with all the businesses & activities relying on it, making this area bigger than it is said, with a few others villages nearby coming behind. So many temples, Panchadhara in Wardha river, & so on.

"Pulgaon Cotton Mills", founded in 1890 by British, is one of the ancient industries in the central India, serving its 113 yrs of service, was closed by the State Government in Mar'2003, putting almost >2000 families in a big trouble, loosing the major source of income for the people in town & surrounding areas.

The Ganesh Festival in PCM was the biggest in Vidarbha region and the most famous one, is now stopped or is not being offered anymore like the one it used to be before the closure in 2003. That was the real charm & entertainment in the town, for 10 days in Aug-Sept of every year. It is said that, under the high pressure of the Builder Lobby in state and getting a bulk amount of money, Maharashtra Govt closed 11 mills in the State between 2000-2003, and PCM was one of them, leaving bad impacts on minds & scars on the souls of the people in the state.

Nearest Cities

Pulgaon connects two districts namely Wardha and Amravati. Wardha is the nearest city (32 Km, via new Nagpur-Aurangabad-Mumbai express highway) and a district place too. While it's accessible to three cities & districts as well, Amaravati (75 Km) on West, Wardha (32 Km) on East and Yavatmal (50 Km) on Southwest.

Demographics

Pulgaon, with in 1961 a population of 28,063, is a fast growing, Tahsil level municipal town in Wardha district on bank of the Wardha river situated about 19 miles (30 Km) south of Wardha. As of 1991, Pulgaon population was 36,600 and still growing higher, as like in the rest of India. The city limits have already been crossed and majority of the Pulgaon population, which even write Pulgaon as a city & pin 442302, are legally in the limits of either Nachangaon or Gunjkheda and so there is a need of restructuring of the city limits, which might make it a B-grade or even rather A-grade Municipal corporation with the total possible population of >70000. Currently, as of 2005, it is C-grade, with the current boundary limits.

History

It is a railway junction on the Wardha-Badnera section, Arvi narrow-gauge rail link taking off from here northwards. The main town lies south of the railway and is comparatively a new town sprung out of a collection of hutments of workers employed on the railway bridge over the Wardha river near which the town stands. Hence its name "Pul=Bridge_&_gaon=Town => 'Pulgaon' = a Town by the Bridge", sometimes called as the "Bridgetown" just for fun. Its rapid rise in importance is due to the favorable position it occupies in the center of a large cotton growing tract. Again Pulgaon is on the Bombay-Nagpur trunk route and hence can avail itself of the speedy transport. Added to the post and telegraph, is the telephone exchange which highly facilitates commercial transactions.

Pulgaon was created as a municipality in 1901 [ Census Handbook of Wardha District however gives the year as 1902.] and has an area of 5.3 square miles under its jurisdiction. Nineteen elected councilors constitute the municipal committee. A president is elected by the councilors from among themselves to preside over its meetings. In 1961-62 the total municipal receipts were Rs. 2,87,337 of which receipts from municipal taxes amounted to Rs. 1,12,347. [Ibid.]

Education & Facilities Available

Previously, in past until around 12-15 yrs back, Pulgaon had educational facilities only up to the higher secondary school stage, with the primary education being solely conducted by the municipality. But the recent evolutions & developments made it a city with almost all facilities, comparable to other Tier IV cities or the other cities/towns of its type. This town now has the Jr. & Sr. Colleges of all the streams viz., Science, Commerce, & Arts. The degrees offered in those colleges are BA, MA, BCom, MCom, BSc, DEd, with BEd, BCS/BCA, DFarm and some other diploma & academic degree colleges in the Science, Education and Medical & Pharmaceuticals fields coming up in nearer future (Src.: news in the daily news papers in the area, published from Nagpur & Wardha, in Jun-Jul' 2005).

Also, the Primary Schools are not solely the Municipal dominations now. There are more Marathi, Hindi, English & Urdu medium schools shaping up in Pulgaon Town, and which are the way better than these old schools, offering a high quality education to build tomorrow's youth. The R. K. High School & Jr. College being the Top ranked school in town and the oldest of its kind, with almost 85-90% of the town's doctors, engineers, managers & teachers of tomorrow coming out from the school every year. This school has the highest record of the number of the "Passing" candidates every year of an average of >82%, followed by other schools & Jr. colleges in town, namely, Aadarsh High School & Jr. College, Laber Camp High School, St. John High School, Central School, etc.

A city library is conducted by the Neo-Buddhist youths. The municipality conducts a civil hospital together with a family planning centre. There are also a veterinary dispensary and a leprosy eradication center. A club known as Liberty Club established in 1952, besides providing most of the indoor games, has been doing fine work in social and cultural fields also. In 1961 the efforts of its members materialized in the shape of a Manila Mandal, tailoring classes and a vyayamshala or gymnasium. It also brings out a weekly magazine both in Hindi and Marathi captioned 'Shiv Prerana' for which a press was set up in 1962.

Religion & Culture

The town has temples dedicated to all religions Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Christian, Muslim and Buddhist. The major Hindu temples in the town being Madan Mohan, Balaji, Shiva, Maruti, Ram, Datta, Bhavani-Mata, Katheen-Mata, Bhairav-Baba and Vitthal. Of these, Balaji temple is reported to be 80 years old and is looked after by a trust and the Shiva temple at the Panchdhara is one of the oldest too. The first temple to be built in Pulgaon is of Goddess Bhavani near CAD camp, built at the time of Shivaji Maharaj.

The Jain temple in town is one of the oldest too and is the only for all the Jains in town & nearby. the Mahavir Jayanti Utsav is celebrated every year, with a huge procession through the town. The Buddha temple in the town containing a bronze bust of the Buddha, has a spacious Sabhamandap and is built by the neo-Buddhists of Pulgaon. The Statue is reported to have been brought from Thailand. Madan Mohan temple was built some 60 years ago by Sivdasji Mohota. Krishnalila in Shravana is celebrated there.

Pulgaon is one of the leading cotton trade centers in the district, there being a large cotton market. The Pulgaon spinning Mills were opened in 1890. The PCM (Pulgaon Cotton Mills) was the oldest one, which was closed in 2003. There are also some ginning and pressing factories. Hand-loom cloth industry is also picking up gradually. Pulgaon has assumed military importance since the establishment of Asia's second largest ammunition depot, CAD camp, here. The town has a rest house too.

Transport

There are both the major transportations available. There is an MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation) Bus-Depot & workshop in Pulgaon with the capacity of 38 buses as of Mar'2007. Major bus routes passing through Pulgaon are Nagpur-Gondia, Mahur-Yevatmal-Arvi-Katol, Shegaon-Akola-Amaravati-Wardha-Chandrapur, etc. with connecting other major cities & towns around or further ahead. The bus stop & railway station both are located at the Camp road, Pulgaon.

Railway And Roadways are the main modes of transportation. Pulgaon is on the Central railways route, 105 km (66 Miles) from Nagpur & 32km (20 Miles) from Wardha towards West. Pulgaon is a small junction too, connecting Arvi to the main central route by a narrow guage line.

The National level Highways, North-to-South from Bhopal to Hyderabad and East-to-West via Nagpur-Aurangabad-Mumbai express highway crossing at Pulgaon. This route, once done will connect many cities & important activity centers in Maharashtra via the same link, reducing the distance between Nagpur & Mumbai by almost >8 hrs. as compared to NH_6, as the sources said.

Nagpur - Butibori - Wardha - Pulgaon - - Talegaon - Karanja - Malegaon - Mehkar - - Sindhkhedraja - Jalna - Aurangabad - Vaijapur - - Sawantsar - Pun-tamba - Zagade - Sinnar - Ghoti - Mumbai

References