Dhanbad / धनबाद / ধনবাদ
—  city  —
From top clockwise: Dhanbad Railway Station, Golchakkar, Bank more (both)
Dhanbad / धनबाद / ধনবাদ Location of Dhanbad / धनबाद / ধনবাদ in Jharkhand
Coordinates	23°48′N 86°27′E / 23.8°N 86.45°E / 23.8; 86.45Coordinates: 23°48′N 86°27′E / 23.8°N 86.45°E / 23.8; 86.45
Country	India
State	Jharkhand
District(s)	Dhanbad
Population • Density	1,195,298 (2011[update]) • 1,284 /km2 (3,326 /sq mi)
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	2,052 square kilometres (792 sq mi) • 222 metres (728 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 82 xxxx • Telephone • +91326-XXXX XXXX • Vehicle • JH-10
Website	www.dhanbad.nic.in

Dhanbad (Hindi: धनबाद, Bengali: ধনবাদ) is a city in the state of Jharkhand, and is also known as the Coal Capital of India. Dhanbad is the 96th^[1] fastest growing city in the world.^[2] According to the 2011 census, Dhanbad is among the 53 cities of India with a population of more than one million and is the 42nd largest city.^[3] Among the rail divisions of Indian Railway, Dhanbad Rail Division is the second largest in terms of revenue generation after Mumbai division.

Dhanbad is famous for coal mining. Tata Steel, BCCL, ECL and IISCO (Indian Iron And Steel Company) are some of the companies having coal mines in the district. Coal mining, coal washing, and coke making are the main coal-related industries in the city. IISCO is now owned by SAIL, while BCCL and Eastern Coalfields Limited are subsidiaries of Coal India Limited (CIL); these two companies are the largest operators of coal mines in Dhanbad, and have open cast mines as well as underground mines, whereas Tata Steel has mostly underground mines. These companies have developed townships for their employees. The prestigious Indian School of Mines is located in the heart of the city of Dhanbad.

Etymology[link]

Originally the name of Dhanbad was Dhanbaid which seems to have been derived from the word Dhan (paddy) and baid, i.e., the paddy land. The Dhanbad originated from the district of Manbhum occupied by Mundari or Kolarian races in the wilderness of South undivided Bihar. In the seventh century A.D. some information is available from the account of the travels of Hieun Tsang. These accounts narrate existences of a powerful kingdom which comprised the district and adjoining areas, ruled by Sasanka.^[4]

Geography and climate[link]

Dhanbad has an average elevation of 227 m (745 ft). Its geographical length (extending from North to South) is 15 miles (24 km) and the breadth (stretching across East to West) is 10 miles (16 km). It shares its boundaries with West Bengal in the Eastern and southern part, Dumka & Giridih in the North and Bokaro in the west. Dhanbad comes under the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

Dhanbad features climate that is transitional between a humid subtropical climate and a tropical wet and dry climate. Summer starts from last week of March and ends in mid-June. Peak temperature in summer can reach 47 °C. Dhanbad also receives heavy rainfall. In winter, the minimum temperature remains around 12 °C with a maximum of 22 °C. Damodar River is the main river flowing through the district. Katri, Jamunia, Gobai, Khudia and Irji are the other rivers flowing through the district. The Red soil is found in the area and is not that much fertile for good agricultural produce. Due to presence of two large dams in the district, many people are involved in pisciculture. Forests present in the district are of northern tropical dry deciduous type. In many of these forests, people are engaged in sericulture.

History[link]

Dhanbad has a rich history of growth, urbanisation and migration of people. The early history of the Dhanbad is shrouded in mystery. Details of even later periods are difficult to trace. The present district used to be a part of Manbhum. In the Settlement Report for Manbhum (1928) it was stated that no rock inscriptions, copper plates or old coins were discovered and not a single document of copper plate or palm leaf was found, during the Survey and Settlement operations. The oldest authentic documents produced were all on paper and barely even a hundred years old.^[5] Dhanbad was in Manbhum district from 1928 up to 1956.^[5] However, on 24 October 1956, Dhanbad was declared a District on the Recommendation of the States Reorganization Commission vide notification 1911. And from 1956 to 14 November 2000 it was under Bihar. At present it is in Jharkhand, after the creation of state on 15 November 2000.^[6]

Demography[link]

As of 2011^[update] India provisional census^[7] Dhanbad had a population of 1,195,298. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. It has a sex ratio of 908. Dhanbad has an average literacy rate of 75.71%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 85.78% and female literacy is 64.70%.^[8] In Dhanbad, 10.57% of the population is under 5 years of age. Majority of the population are people of Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. Besides people of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal followed by Marwari's and Punjabi have also settled in Dhanbad.

Civic administration[link]

Dhanbad is the Headquarter of the District and also the headquarter of DMC (Dhanbad Municipal Corporation). DMC was formed as per the State Government Notification dated 1/02/06 with merger of areas Jharia NAC, Sindri, NAC, Chhatandih NAC, Katras NAC. Dhanbad city elects one Member of Parliament. Also some part of the district comes under Giridih seat of Lok Sabha. There are six Legislative Assembly seat; they are Sindri, Baghmara, Dhanbad, Jharia, Nirsa, Tundi.

Dhanbad has District court and Labour Court-Industrial tribunal. Along with Mumbai, Dhanbad is the only city having two Labour Court-Industrial tribunals. Mineral Area Development Authority (MADA) looks after the development of the district.

Economy[link]

Coal mine

Dhanbad is a coal mining and industrial city and one of the busiest commercial centres in India. It is the second largest city and urban agglomeration in Jharkhand after Jamshedpur.

Dhanbad is famous for its coal mines and industrial establishments; it has 112 coal mines^[9] with a total produce of 27.5 million tonnes and an annual income of 7000 million Rupees through coal business. There are also number of coal washeries present there. The city is also known for its power generation plants. Hydro Power is being generated at Maithon and Panchet. Tata Power and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) are setting up a 1050 MW thermal power plant at Maithon.That project also completed and came to operation. Now one unit is running successfully. ONGC is using CBM (Coal beded methane) for power generation at some of the coal mines.

Sindri is an industrial township situated in Dhanbad district. Sindri is among the first industrial townships of India. ACC Cement factory and Projects & Development India Ltd. (PDIL) are situated there. Many sponge iron factory, refractory and ceramic factory are in Dhanbad district. Dhanbad will also come under Indian Railways Freight Corridor.

Language[link]

Hindi is the language of Dhanbad, kurmali, Santali and Bengali are also widely spoken. English is widespread in business and tourist areas. Additionally, speakers of Bhojpuri, Maithili, Urdu, Tamil, and Punjabi are present in significant numbers. Finally, several tribal languages are also spoken in the city, including Kurukh and Ho.

Famous places[link]

Bank More, Jharia, Bhuli, it is the Asia's largest labour colony, Big Bazar, Fame multiplex, Reliance Trends at Steel Gate, City Centre, Park Market, Birsa Munda park, Luby Circular Road, Koyla Bhawan, the BCCL Headquarter at Koyala Nagar, bansjora, loyabad and katras,pander pala(peepal ghanch),wasseypur,etc.

Government organizations[link]

• DGMS- Directorate General of Mines Safety, DGMS in short, is the Indian government regulatory agency for safety in mines and oil-fields.

• CIMFR, Barwa Road Campus- Erstwhile CMRI, the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR) Dhanbad, is a constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) was aimed to provide R&D inputs for the entire coal-energy chain from mining to Consumption through integration of the Core Competencies of the two (CFRI & CMRI) premier Coal institution of the country.Koyla factory.

• CIMFR, Digwadih Campus. Erstwhile CFRI.

• CMPF- Coal Mines Provident Fund Organization.

• CCWO- Central Coal Washery organization, unit of BCCL is situated at saraidhela. which looks after the works of all coal washeries of Bharat Cocking Coal Limited.

• CCSO- Central Coal Supply Organization (CCSO), a unit of SAIL, is situated in Saraidhela, Dhanbad District of Jharkhand and has branch offices at Kolkata, Asansol, Adra and Bilaspur.

Central Coal Supply Organization with its skilled man-power looks after the daily movement of Indigenous washed coking coal and boiler coal to SAIL steel plants; BSP, RSP, DSP, BSL and ISP by continuous follow up and liaison with the CIL subsidiaries such as Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Dhanbad, Central Coalfields Limited(CCL), Ranchi and many other collieries.

• BEML- BEML Limited (formerly Bharat Earth Movers Limited) was established in May 1964 as a Public Sector Undertaking for manufacture of Rail Coaches & Spare Parts and Mining Equipment. At Dhanbad it has its marketing unit near Kola Kusuma, Saraidhela.

• Other Govt. Organizations such as HMT is also situated at Dhanbad near Bhuli.

Education[link]

Indian School of Mines main building

BIT Sindri, Dhanbad

DAV Public School, Koyla Nagar

ISM, The Indian School of Mines, was started by Britishers in 1926. Located in Dhanbad, it draws students from all over India through IIT-JEE, as well as other countries. It is one of the pioneer universities of its kind in Asia. Situated in the heart of the country’s prime coking coal belt, 260 km from Kolkata with a campus spread over 88 hectares, the fully residential ISM has all the facilities of world-class academic institute. What started as an institution to impart mining education has graduated into a full-fledged technical institution of international acclaim offering a host of programmes like B. Tech., M. Tech., M. Sc. Tech., and MBA. In addition the School offers M. Phil. and full as well as part time Ph. D. programmes, while also awarding D.Sc. as the highest degree of academic achievement. Up to 1967 it was a pure government institute where the faculties were recruited through the UPSC Selection Board. ISM had an All India Character and national outlook from the very day of its inception.

The all round achievement by the graduates of Indian School of Mines in nation building was duly recognized and the School was granted university status under the UGC Act in 1967. From 1996–97 the school came directly under the Ministry of HRD.

BIT Sindri, founded in 1949, BIT Sindri is a technical institution offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses in various branches of engineering approved by All India Council of Technical Education, New Delhi. It is wholly owned by the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Jharkhand, Ranchi and affiliated to Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag., known as Birsa Institute of Technology (BIT Sindri).BIT,Sindri was started as College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in 1949 at Patna. After one year it was shifted to Sindri on 17 November 1950 and thus was born BIT Sindri. It is the one of the oldest engineering college in India.

PMCH, Patliputra Medical College and Hospital. Apart from these, there are many other colleges.

Some schools are as follows in Dhanbad.

• De-Nobili School,CFRI/CMRI/Maithon/Mugma/Bhuli/Sijua/Sindri/Chandrapura(CTPS)
• Zila School, Dhanbad.
• P.K. Roy Memorail College, Dhanbad.
• DAV Public School, Koyla Nagar.
• Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Bank More, Dhanbad
• TATA D.A.V SCHOOL, SIJUA/Jamadoba
• Telmocho And Lohapatti,Damodar River
• Delhi Public School, Dhanbad
• Mount Carmel, CFRI/CMRI/Jharudih
• Dhanbad Public School
• Lions Public School, Sindri
• Saraswati Vidya Mandir, Sindri
• Kendriya Vidyalaya, Station Road/Steel Gate/Maithan Dam
• Indian School of Learning, ISM/Jharia
• St. Xavier's International School, Hirak Ring Road
• Rajkamal Saraswati Vidya Mandir, (RSVM), Ashok Nagar/Bhuli
• D.A.V Public School Baniahir (Lodna)/Barora/Koyla Nagar/Dari Muhalla/CFRI (Digwadih)/Lodna/Moonidih/Purana/Sijua/Mahuda
• Doon Public School, Kusum Vihar
• Holy Mother's Academy, Katras
• Kamal Katesaria Montessori, Hirak Road

Some local schools of Dhanbad are as follows:

• Chhotanagpur Academy, Housing Colony
• Kids Garden, Hirapur,Dhanbad
• Abhoya Sundri Girls School,Harimandir Road, Dhanbad
• HE School, Bhisti Para, Dhanbad
• Pran Jivan Academy
• Millat School, Dhanbad
• Imperial school of learning 'bhuli', Dhanbad
• B.S.K.College,Maithon
• saraswati vidya mandir bhuli nagar, Dhanbad

Transport[link]

Road[link]

Anything from cycle rickshaws, auto Rickshaws to all modern means of transportation are available within the city. Private and State buses are available for inter-city traveling. National Highway 2 and National Highway 32 are the major highways passing through Dhanbad. NH 2 has now been converted into Golden Quadrilateral (GQ). Golden Quadrilateral starts from Kolkata and ends at Delhi. From Dhanbad to Kolkata, Golden Quadrilateral will be converted into six lane expressway; NH 32 connects Govindpur to Bokaro-Jamshedpur.- Barbil.

Rail[link]

Dhanbad has a very good rail connectivity with the other major parts of the country such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi, Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Nagpur, Pune, Guwahati etc. Dhanbad Rail Division comes under East Central Railway zone. Grand Chord rail-line passes through Dhanbad junction, it connects Howrah and New Delhi. CIC rail line starts from Dhanbad and ends at Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh. There is one more rail line passing through the district, it starts at Kharagpur and ends at Gomoh, this rail line comes under South Eastern Railway. Dhanbad is connected with almost all states through rail network. Each and every train through this has a stop at Dhanbad,other than the Sealdah New Delhi & Howrah New Delhi Duronto Exp,which also has a Technical Halt,but not to be used for Commercial Purposes.

Double-decker train standing on the platform of Dhanbad railway station

On October 1, 2011, India's first AC double-decker train was flagged off to connect Howrah and Dhanbad. With this India joins the league of Europe and North America that run multi-deck trains.As on Oct 2011, the train runs daily except Sunday, departing from Howrah at 8:30 am to arrive at Dhanbad at 12:45 pm, and on return trip it departs Dhanbad at 6:30 pm to arrive at Howrah at 10:40 pm. It has a maximum permissible speed of 110 kilometres (68 mi) with stops at Bardhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Barakar and Kumardhubi on both legs of the route. This new AC design has several features namely stainless steel body, high-speed Eurofima design bogies with air springs and other safety-features. The coaches have a control discharge toilet system.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Air[link]

Currently there is no air-link though there is an airstrip near Barwa-adda. A commercial Airport was planned to be set up at Barwadda, but no significant progress has been made yet. The nearest airports to Dhanbad are^[14]

1. Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi 140 kilometres (87 mi)
2. Gaya Airport 207 kilometres (129 mi)
3. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata 269 kilometres (167 mi)
4. Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport, Patna 271 kilometres (168 mi)

Politics[link]

Mannan Mallick of Congress won in the 40 Dhanbad assembly constituency defeating Raj Kumar Sinha of BJP in 2009.^[15] Pashupati Nath Singh of BJP defeated Mannan Mallik of Congress in 2005, Prasadi Sao of RJD in 2000, and Ramadhar Yadav of JD in 1995. Surendra Prasad Roy of Congress defeated S.K.Shriva of JD in 1990 and Ram Chander Singh of Janata Party in 1985. Yogeshwar Prasad Yogesh of Congress defeated Gopi Kant Bakshi of CPI(M) in 1980 and Kalawati Devi of Janata Party.^[16][17]

Dhanbad assembly constituency is part of Dhanbad (Lok Sabha constituency).^[18]

There are number of Student Union is positively participating like ISU (Indian Student Union), NSUI, ABVP, CYJM (Chhatra Yuva Jagran Manch, AJSU, etc.

Media and sports[link]