Renukoot

Renukoot रेनुकूट Renukut city
city
Nickname(s): power capital Aluminium City
Renukoot रेनुकूट Renukut city Location in Uttar Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 24°12′N 83°02′E / 24.2°N 83.03°E / 24.2; 83.03Coordinates: 24°12′N 83°02′E / 24.2°N 83.03°E / 24.2; 83.03
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District	Sonbhadra
Named for	Renukeshwar
Government
• Body	Renukoot Nagar Panchayat
Elevation	283 m (928 ft)
Population (2012)
• Total	347,524
Languages
• Official	Hindi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	231217
Telephone code	05446
Vehicle registration	UP64
Website	www.renukootwale.com

Renukoot is a city and a nagar panchayat in Sonbhadra district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.Renukoot is 68 km south from the district Headquarter Robertsganj and 158 km from Varanasi. Renukoot is a industrial town.Renukoot is well known for Hindalco Aluminium Plant and Rihand Dam. It is situated in Eastern UP sharing borders with Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. It is about 434 km from the capital city Lucknow and 1010 km from Saharanpur , thus making it only city that have great distances with other cities in one state. When Uttarakhand was a part of Uttar Pradesh , the greatest distance was between Uttarkashi and Renukoot was 1223 Km.

Geography

Renukoot is located at 24°12′N 83°02′E / 24.2°N 83.03°E / 24.2; 83.03.^[1] It has an average elevation of 283 metres (931 feet). Renukoot lies in the southeast-most part of Uttar Pradesh and sits next to Shakti Nagar, Anpara and Obra. Renukoot is in Sonebhadra district. It is the only district in India which borders four states namely Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar.

Rihand Dam, located 6 km from Renukoot, was built over Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar Lake and the Rihand River (a tributary of the Son River). This dam was created in 1960 and was inaugurated by then prime minister of India, Pt. Jawarharlal Nehru.

Renukoot has excellent picnic spots like Lehra, Pokhra, AmvarKanhar River, Chilka lake, Vindhya Nagar, Lekhania Dari,Belwa Dari etc. around it.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,^[2] Renukoot had a population of 3,47,524. Males constitute 57% of the population and females 43%. Renukoot has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 64%. In Renukoot, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.

History

When Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru came for the inauguration of Rihand Dam, Mr GD Birla and JRD Tata accompanied him. He asked them to set up an industry here. Mr. GD Birla agreed and set up Hindalco Industries Limited in 1963[citation needed]. This was the foundation of Renukoot. Renukoot used to be in Mirzapur district which was later split up into Sonebhadra and Mirzapur. Renukoot falls into the Sonebhadra district now. The area of Vindhyachal near the north-western part of the area are also famous for many religious hills and historic caves and temples. The famous Chunar Fort, dating 50 BC, is on the way to Varanasi from Renukoot, less than 5 hours drive. Renukoot has been like most of the industrial town and cities in terms of regular power supply, cosy environment and natural beauty.

Climate and topography

Summers peak in May and June. Rain starts around third week of June. Renukoot is 1,400 feet above sea level, with nearby hills exceeding 2000 feet. This makes the weather in Renukoot much less humid than in the nearby plain cities such as Varanasi and Mirzapur. Renukoot is also surrounded by thick well-preserved forests that keeps the temperatures down- especially after the rain. Temperature tends to fall in the evening after sunset in the summer, making it much more pleasant in May and June as compared to cities such as a Varanasi and Lucknow. Once the rains start in July, the weather becomes much milder than in the plains of U.P, with low humidity, and pleasant temperatures in the evening falling into the low 20s. Day-time summer is very bearable due to guaranteed power-supply from Hindalco to the Hindalco colony, clean roads, lots of shades and trees, and desert coolers that work well in the low humidity environment.

The weather is very pleasant from Dussehra to Holi, with the minimum temperatures between mid-December to mid-January dropping close to freezing (rarely dipping below zero degrees Celsius). Day time maximum in winter tends to be in the high teens in peak winter and low 20s in November and February. Humidity tends to be very low making the winters very pleasant. The lack of many big cities makes the nearby forests ideal for star-gazing.

In the nearby hills that are up to 2000 feet high, the temperatures can be quite pleasant (no more than mid-twenties) as early as July and stay below that until April. Many of these hills have nice forests on them (one of the few forests in Uttar Pradesh outside of the Himalayas), and numerous massive water-falls and streams (e.g. Lehra, Razdhari, Hathi Nala) and resorts/picnic spots that serve as great get-away places during weekends for the locals.

Economy

Renukoot city has the largest fully integrated aluminium plant in Asia, Hindalco.

Renukoot lies in one of the most important industrial belts of India, which consists of the cement, aluminium, and chemical industries, as well as hydropower and thermal power projects. To name a few there exists Hindalco, India's largest aluminium company. The aluminium mill was built in 1963 and 1964 as a joint venture between Hindalco (Hindustan Aluminium Co.) and Kaiser Engineers of Oakland, California USA, with Mr. Kothari of Hindalco and Ray Fullerton of Kaiser as executive engineers.In the same belt about 40 km away is India's largest NTPC plant. Another major factory within the suburbs of the Renukoot city include Aditya Birla Chemicals plant and Hi-Tech Carbon unit of Aditya Birla Nuvo's Birla Carbon.

Most of the economy of Renukoot revolves around Hindalco. More of the people live in Hindalco colony and almost all the businesses depends on these people.

Hindalco Ramlila Prishad, Renukoot stablisted in 1962 and This Ramlila stage is a biggest ramlila in India.

Hindalco Manoranjanalya is an important center of all the sports and cultural activities of the city with many prominent sportsman hailing from this Club .Indian Cycle Polo team mostly practice here only and there are several tournaments like Askaran Agrawal All India Open Volleyball Tournament which are taken in this compound only.

Education

Renukoot has four major English medium high schools, and three of them follow the CBSE board. They are Nirmala Convent Senior Secondary School, Aditya Birla Public School, previously known as Hindalco Vidya Niketan, Bhavan's K.D.K. Vidya Mandir, and D.C.Lewis Memorial School follows ICSE. Renukoot also has two schools where the medium of education is Hindi and which follow the Uttar Pradesh Board standards - Aditya Birla Intermediate College previously known as Hindalco Intermediate College, Maharishi Dayanand Inter College, GIC Pipri. Renukoot also has Degree college named Babu Ram Singh Degree College, situated at Khaarpaathar. There are many big universities within 4 to 5 hours distance, including Banaras Hindu University and Allahabad University. Recently the town is developing few colleges.

Place of interest

Renukoot have many picnic spots like Gagar mein Sagar, River side, Chilika lake, Rimjhim Vatika, Technology park(Myorpur), children's park. Renukoot also have great temples which include Radha Krishna Temple(murdhawa), Renukeshwar Mahadev Temple(in colony), Vaishnodevi Temple(near Dala), Jwala Devi Temple(near Shaktinagar), Vandevi Temple(near Rihand Dam) and Hanuman Mandir(in colony Mitali club), Ram mandir(in Abcl premises) and one shopping mall is present with hil cinema theatre near ramlila ground (hindalco colony ).

Travel

Renukoot railway station is a railway station which is connected to major cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Jammu, Ranchi, Patna, Jabalpur, and Bhopal. Following are the major train to and from Renukoot (Train No., Train name, From, To and Departure time):-

• 11447 - Shaktipunj Exp - Jabalpur → Howrah Jn @ 11:00
• 11448 - Shaktipunj Exp - Howrah Jn → Jabalpur @ 04:45
• 12873 - Jharkhand Exp - Hatia → Anand Vihar @ 22:09
• 12874 - Jharkhand Exp - Anand Vihar → Hatia @ 10:32
• 13025 - Hwh Bpl Express - Howrah Jn → Bhopal Jn @ 01:20
• 13026 - Bpl Howrah Exp - Bhopal Jn → Howrah Jn @ 00:10
• 14370 - Triveni Exp - Bareilly → Barwadih Jn @ 07:12
• 18101 - Tata Jat Exp - Tatanagar Jn → Jammu Tawi @ 01:50
• 18102 - Muri Express - Jammu Tawi → Tatanagar Jn @ 22:53
• 18601 - Hte Jat Exp - Hatia → Jammu Tawi @ 01:50
• 23347 - Sgrl Ghd Exp - Singrauli → Patna Jn @ 18:40
• 23348 - Pnbe Sgrl Exp - Patna Jn → Singrauli @ 07:37
• 24370 - Triveni Exp - Bareilly → Barwadih Jn @ 07:12
• 84369 - Tribeni Express - Barwadih Jn → Bareilly @ 19:01

Bilaspur, Nagpur direct train connectivity is much needed of this area.

Renukoot also has its own airport at Muirpur but the airport is currently used only for charter flights. The airport is going under construction and is going to be open for national flights. The closest commercial airport is Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport situated close to Varanasi a four hours drive from Renukoot.

Renukoot being an industrial hub is well connected with roads to Ranchi, Varanasi and Singrauli. State Highway 5-A (UP) and National Highway No. 75 (Gwalior, Madhya pradesh to parsora,Orrisa), Via Jhansi - Rewa - Daltonganj - Ranchi, passes through Renukoot.

References