The largest city in central India, Nagpur is a rapidly growing metropolis. It’s one of India’s most industrialized cities, besides being the 13th largest urban agglomeration and the 13th most populous city in India. During the winters, Nagpur is the seat of the annual winter session of the Maharashtra state assembly. Politically, it’s an important city as it lies in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra and forms its commercial and political center. Famous for the Nagpur Orange and being a major trade center for oranges cultivated in the region, Nagpur is also called the Orange City. It also has a lush cover of green, which often helps it rank highly among cities in environmental preservation. Fruit and greenery aside, infrastructure development in Nagpur is on the rise. The Multi-Modal International Cargo Hub and Airport at Nagpur is a major development project in the pipeline. In the Nagpur real estate segment, the MIHAN project, construction of a residential zone extending across 40 sq. km., holds plenty of promise.
Facts And Figures The population of Nagpur as per the provisional reports of Census India, 2011 stands at 2,405,421. The urban/metropolitan population, on the other hand, is 2,497,777.
Sex ratio in Nagpur is 961 per 1000 males. Child sex ratio is 921 per 1000 boys. Both sex ratio and child sex ratio are above the national average of 940 per 1000 males and 914 per 1000 boys, as per the Population Census of 2011.
Nagpur’s average literacy rate is 93.13%. Literacy rates in males and females are 96.16% and 89.99% respectively.
The city has a strong education base, with over 8,600 engineers, 1,000 MBA students and 800 MCA students graduating every year.
Gond King Bakht Buland Shah of Devagad founded Nagpur in 1702 AD.
It was made the capital of the central province under British Raj in the 19th century.
Today, Nagpur’s real estate landscape perfectly blends the old world charm with the modernity of the present times.
Besides the oranges, Nagpur is also famous for its cotton production.
Nagpur has also been called the Tiger Capital of India because of the large number of wildlife sanctuaries and national parks situated in and around the district.
In March 2013, ABP News, in its Best City Awards Survey, pronounced Nagpur as the best city to live in India. It was proclaimed as the greenest city, and one with the best public transport and healthcare services.
Industrial Sector The Butibori industrial area, which is the largest industrial area in Asia, forms the backbone of Nagpur’s economy.
Synthetic polyester yarn is the major produce in the Butibori industrial area.
The prominent industrial companies in Nagpur are KEC, Hyundai Unitech, ACC Nijon Casting Limited, Videocon Washing Machine plants, and major textile units.
The Hingna Industrial Estate located to the west of the city, hosts as many as 900 small and medium-scale plants, including Bajaj Auto Group, Mahindra and Mahindra, Vicco Laboratories and Ajanta Toothbrushes.
Nagpur is rich in natural resources, therefore mining is a major activity in this region. One of Coal India’s eight fully-owned subsidiaries, Western Coalfield Limited has its head office in Nagpur.
Connectivity Nagpur connects to major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad, and to prominent international cities like Sharjah, Doha and Bangkok through the Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport. The airport is situated just 7 km from the city center.
Being centrally located, Nagpur is connected to the four major Indian metropolises, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Kolkata by road as well. A total of 160 trains are known to halt at Nagpur.
Two major national highways, Hajira-Kolkata (NH 6) and Kanyakumari-Varanasi (NH 7) pass through the city. Nagpur also lies at the junction of two Asian highways, AH43 and AH46. The Nagpur-Aurangabad-Mumbai expressway is a new state highway, which significantly reduces the distance travelled through NH 3 and NH 6.
The Nagpur metro rail project has already been sanctioned by the state government. The project will be executed by Nagpur Metro Transport Co Ltd (NMTCL), which is formed under the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT).
Nagpur Mahanagar Parivahan Ltd. (NMPL) is responsible for providing public transport in the city. It has a fleet of 470 low-floor StarBuses, of which are 88 low-floor MiniBuses and 382 low-floor 50-seater
StarBuses. Nagpur Civic Administration Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is responsible for the civic administration in Nagpur. It works in partnership with Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) and develops and maintains civic infrastructure and new urban areas.
The corporation is headed by the Mayor of the NMC.
The city of Nagpur is divided into 13 talukas and 1874 villages. There are 13 panchayat samitis, 778 gram panchayats, 10 nagar parishads and 1 katak mandal.
The city is divided into 10 zones comprising 145 wards. A corporator heads each ward.
Nagpur has 59 police stations and 121 police outposts.
Nagpur Infrastructure Although Nagpur is a Tier II city, its urban infrastructure is comparable to many of the Tier I cities. The excellent IT infrastructure in Nagpur, besides its convenient geographic location, has made it one of the favorable IT destinations in the country. Recognizing this, the city’s development plans indicate a shift in focus to the creation of ICT infrastructure. There is a lot of potential, therefore, in terms of IT, ITES and healthcare services.
The water supply system in Nagpur is robust. The per-capita availability of water in Nagpur is high as well, at 200 lpcd. The city is moving towards 100% availability of water on every day of the week. A water and energy audit process has been planned for this purpose. Plans for the reuse of water in Nagpur are underway.
Defining measures are being taken to manage solid wastes. An NGO initiative called Swatchata Doot Aplya Dari – translates in English as ‘sanitation worker at your doorstep’ – is a door-to-door scheme for solid waste management. Approximately 75% of all waste is collected through this scheme.
