Roorkee Totally Explained

Everything about Roorkee totally explained

Roorkee is a town and a Municipal council in Haridwar District in the Indian state of Uttarakhand.
It is located on the banks of the Ganga canal on the National highway-58 between Delhi and Manna Pass, at a distance of 30 km from the Hindu pilgrimage city of Haridwar.

Etymology

Roorkee derives its name from Ruri, the wife of a Rajput tribal chieftain, and earlier it was even spelled as 'urki'

History

Roorkee was the capital of a Moghul Mahal (similar to a present day Pargana) during the time of Akbar, as is referred in Ain-e-Akbari, authored by Abul Fazal .
During the 18th century, it came under the rule of Landaura state, till the death of its Gujjar king, Raja Ramdaval in 1813 . Digging work on the Upper Ganga Canal formally began in April 1842, and soon this village started developing into a city. The canal was formally opened in April 8, 1854 . On November 25 1847, the college was formally constituted, through a proposal by the Sir James Thomason, Lt. Governor of North Western Province (1843-53) .
The municipality of Roorkee was created in 1868 . The locomotive rail paths are still intact.

India's first aqueduct was constructed over the Solani river, near Roorkee, part of the Ganga canal project, which itself was India's first irrigation work in North India, started by the British .

India's first Hydro-Power Station became operational in 1913 at Pathri near Bahadrabad on the Upper Ganga Canal

Geography

Roorkee is 172 km north of the Indian capital New Delhi and located between the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, close to the foot hills of Himalayas. Before the creation of Uttarakhand on November 9 2000, Roorkee was a part of the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Transport

Roorkee comes under Northern Railway region of Indian Railways and is connected to major Indian cities.
The nearest airport is Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun, though the preferred one is Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Roorkee's major neighbour-cities are Dehradun, Ambala, Chandigarh, Meerut, Haridwar, Saharanpur and Rishikesh. The National Highway NH58 (Delhi-Haridwar-Mana Pass) and NH73 (Panchkula/Chandigarh - Yamuna Nagar - Roorkee) pass through the heart of the city.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Roorkee had a population of 140,000. Males constituted 53% of the population and females 47%. Roorkee has an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 64%: male literacy is 92%, and female literacy is 72%. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.
With a population of about 140,000 inhabitants, it's the third largest Municipal Council in the state of Uttarakhand, after Haridwar & Haldwani.
Languages spoken are Hindi, Urdu, English and Punjabi.

Education in Roorkee

Roorkee is a well known centre of education and research. It is best known for Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (formerly University of Roorkee and originally the Thomason College of Civil Engineering).
The Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh started its operations in India, from a single room in the main building of erstwhile 'Thomason College of Civil Engineering', when it shifted to India from Lahore in Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947; it continued to operate from the premises in Roorkee, till 1954, when it shifted to its present premises in Chandigarh.
Roorkee is also home to several government research institutes: Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Irrigation Research Institute (IRI), Irrigation Design Organization (IDO) and National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) (External Link

).
With the availability of numerous schools, colleges and institutions for higher education and professional degrees, students come for enrollment from all over India and abroad. In addition to the university, the notable colleges and schools in Roorkee are:

Indian Institute Of Technology

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee

Colleges

College of Engineering Roorkee

(COER)

Roorkee Institute of Technology (RIT)

Bishambhar Sahai Law Institute

Roorkee College of Pharmacy

Roorkee Institute of Management Sciences (RIMS)

Institute of Management Studies--(IMS)

Roorkee School for the Deaf

BSM Law College

KLDAV College

BSM College

SDPC Girls' College

Methodist Girls' Degree College

Roorkee Degree College

Seventh Day Adventist Degree College

District Institute of Education & Training

Schools

St. Gabriel's Academy

St. Ann's Sr. Sec. School

Army School

Knox Memorial School

St. Joseph School

Kendriya Vidyalaya - I

Kendriya Vidyalaya - II

Adarsh Bal Niketen

Flora Dale Public School (Children's Sr. Sec. School)

St. John's Senior Secondary School - CBSE

St. John's Senior Secondary School - ICSE

Montfort School

Sarvagya Public School

Greenways Modern School

Saraswati Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School

Roorkee Public School

Doon Public School - Roorkee

St. Mark's Academyhfnbgthbtr

KLDAV Intermediate College

Arya Kanya Pathshala Intermediate College

Moolraj Girls' Intermediate College

Sofia Girls' School

Government Boys' Intermediate College

Government Girls' Intermediate College

Methodist Girls' Intermediate College

Sri Gandhi Mahila Shilpa Mahavidyalya Intermediate College

Marwari Intermediate College

Important areas of the city

Roorkee has expanded considerably in recent times. At present, the city's posh residential areas include: Civil-lines Residential area, Bhagirathi Kunj, Solani Puram, Adarsh Nagar, Niti Nagar, Ram Nagar, New Avas Vikas township, Salman Colony, New Nehru Nagar, Defence Colony, Akashdeep Enclave, Colonel's Enclave, Ganga Enclave,Maktulpuri etc.
Main commercial areas are: Civil-lines Market, Jadugar Road, Neher Kinara (Canal View Road), B.T. Ganj, Chaw Mandi, Railway Road, Delhi Road etc.

Further Information

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