Nagbhid

Nagbhid
town
Menhir at Nagbhir hill base
Nagbhid Location in Maharashtra, India
Coordinates:
Country	India
State	Maharashtra
District	Chandrapur
Government
• Body	Grampanchayat
Languages
• Official	Marathi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	441205
Telephone code	07179
Nearest city	Brahmapuri
Lok Sabha constituency	Gadchiroli-Chimur
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Chimur
Civic agency	Grampanchayat

Nagbhid (or Nagbhir) is a town and a tehsil, itself subdivision of Chandrapur district in Nagpur revenue Division in the Vidarbha region in the state of Maharashtra, India.

The town is famous for the Shiv temple which is located on the hills (Mahadeo chi tekdi, called locally) on the western part of the town. Town is a central place on the NH 353D (Nagpur-Nagbhid-Armori) and MSH9 (Nagpur-Umred- Nagbhid-Mul-Chandrapur). Town once upon a time was very famous for very high quality silk(kosa), wool (ghongda-woolen blankets). Now only known for high quality rice. Population of town is above 20000 and is governed by Gram Panchayat.

History

Prehistoric paintings in the caves have been found near Nagbhid-Persagad hills proving the human presence of more than 10,000 years. There are many stone Menhirs in the western part of the town at hill base. Around 30 can be seen in rows. Some researchers have related them to 3000-year-old tribal custom of erecting a stone pillar at the burial place. But these stones need more research and preservation. The oldest documented reference can be seen for the nearby village called as 'Chikumbara' in the stone script which was found in nearby village Devtak, 4 km from the Nagbhir towards east. The stone script, written in prakrit language, tells that the village chikumbara was donated to some bramhin by order of some minister of Samrat Ashok, in 1st century B.C. Still there is village called as chikmara near nagbhir which proves the link with history. The stone is kept in central museum Nagpur.

Nothing much is known about the founder and time of foundation for this place. British records go back till 1850 when it was a famous town, with population of 4000, for its good quality tussar silk which was then exported to Europe. Records of export can be found in British market surveys of that time.

Language

Main language in town is Marathi, however people can understand and speak Hindi and English. The Marathi spoken here is "Zadi" Marathi, widely spoken in Vidarbha region. The communities like Koshti, Koskati, Dhangars have their own languages but can speak Marathi fluently.

Economy

The economy of the town is mainly agriculture based and most of the people in town are either farmers or farm workers. The small portion of the population constitute Government employees in Govt Schools, college, Tahesil office, railway employees, panchayat samitee employees. The part of community is of merchants & Industrialists (Agakhani Muslims e.g. Dhamani family, Sunni Muslims e.g.Pathan Family, Qureshi Family, Shaikh family) Among businesses there are kirana shops, groceries, Medical shop, stationaries, shoe merchants, cloths merchants, etc. Most of the businessman here are of minority communities like Muslims/khoja (Dhamani, Pathan,), Beldar (Shri Ramesh Ballamwar's Family,Contractor Ramchandra Dachewar's Family),Boudhha(e.g. kose, meshram, Shambharkar, Ramteke) Marwadi (Kabra, Maheshwari,),Wani (Chillure) Gujrati (Patel,jain ) Sindhi (Wadhwani, Tahalyani). Also the town has communities of potters (kumbhars), ironsmith (lohar), goldsmiths (sonar e.g. Rakesh kharwade, Gajpure, Kawle family), shepherds (dhangar e.g. Potrajwar), silk workers, koskati (e.g. Vigam, Kamunwar, Bandawar), Kunbi (e.g.Praful Selore,Yashwant Bhoyar,Doijad,Dulase, Rohankar, Nawghade, Deshmukh),Teli(e.g. Amit Amrutkar,Amborkar,Giripunje,Tarvekar,Yerane,Punde, family), Carpenters, Varthis (e.g. shankar and mukesh Dasarwars), Dhiwar (fishermen), also present some thakurs (Rajput) family like rathod(r), Kachwa, baise, rana etc., famous historical kannoj (MP) family i.e. Rathod (R) family.

Some families from kalar community e.g. Dr.Omkar Meshram Dr.Shivankar, Namdeorao Meshram Guruji,Borkar Sir,Raut Sir The presence of these communities and continuation of their ancestral work to date gives this town an essence of old culture.

Religion

The town has people of Hindu religion in majority with next major religion Muslims and Buddhist, other communities are very minor restricting to one or two families. Town has good temples of Shiva, Vitthal Mandir,Shri Ganesha temple, Ram Mandir, Chavdeshwari Mandir,Ganga mata temple and small Hanuman temples at various places in town. Also the town has three Mosques one of raza sunni jamat, one of wahabi jamat and one of Agakhani ismaily communities Jamatkhana. There is one Budhha Vihar,and famous Parmatma ek, in Shanti Centre, too.

Trade

Town is central market for agriculture produce. Every Thursday it holds weekly bazaar where in people from surrounding villages bring their agriculture produce like grains, vegetable, fish for sale. There are vegetable, mutton, chicken and fish markets which supply good quality fresh products.

The town is surrounded by fresh water lakes like Nawkhala, Ghodazari, Kasrla which supplies fresh variety of fish (Vaghur, Rohu, Katla, Prawns, botre, katwe etc.).

As a centre place between Nagpur and Chandrapur many people take stop during transit on the State Highway 9 places like GAURI SERVO CENTRE PETROL PUMP AND RAM MANDIR are famous

Transport

Town has now come up over the National highway maps after formation of National highway 353D connecting nagpur to Armori. Nagbhid is equidistant from 6 surrounding district headquarters. It is well connected by roads (Nagpur 97 km, Chandrapur 104 km, Gadchiroli 80 km, Bhandara 80 km, Wardha 120 km and Gondia 130 km) . It forms a centre over both Nagpur-Umered-Chandrapur highway ( formarly MH 9) and Nagpur Gadchiroli highway. Nearest airport is Nagpur and Gondia.

Railway

Nagbhir is an important and very old railway junction. It is a subdivision of railways under south east central railway (Formerly the Satpuda Railway, later called as Bengal-Nagpur Railway. After the regrouping of the Indian Railways in 1952 it was regrouped under the South-Eastern Railway). Nagpur-Nagbhir is a narrow gauge route of 110 km which connects to Gondia- Balharshah (280 km Broad gauge) route at Nagbhir. After broad gauge conversion of Gondia- Balharshah route, Nagbhir now is connected to Chennai, Hyderabad, Bilaspur, Raipur by superfast trains. This is the only station in the region of 100 km circle with stoppage of Chennai-Bilaspur SF and Wainganaga superfast express. There is a beautiful railway colony at Nagbhir which adds to the beauty of the town with a garden, children's park and a good playground. This colony is surrounded by 350 acres empty land belonging to railways which may be useful for railway industry, store or workshop if planned well.

Nagpur-Nagbhir broad gauge conversion- - It has been the neglected issue since 1952. The gauge conversion is now announced in railway budget 2013 but no funds are being allocated. As of 2015, this is the only narrow gauge route remaining in SEC railway. Recently, in 2015 SEC railway has submitted a revised proposal of gauge conversion with electrification which is awaiting approval and budget. This route has a potential to open up development of the region by providing better, cheap and fast access to Nagpur for education, markets, hospitals. It is an alternative option for route for very busy Nagpur-Wardha-Balharshah route (200 km). Balharshah-Nagbhir-Nagpur is also around 210 km if fully broad gauge, Where Balharshah-Nagbhir route Already converted in Broad Gauge, Now only 100 km Nagbhir-Nagpur rout remaining for convert to Broad Gauge. After completion of gauge conversion of Gondia-Jabalpur route, electrification of Gondia- Balharshah and with planned gauge conversion of Nagpur-Nagbhir route, Nagbhir is destined to become one of the major railway stations in Vidarbha and central India. All these infrastructural works will change the face of underdeveloped areas of Chandrapur and Gaddchiroli Districts( which include taluks like Gadchiroli, Dhanora, Chamorshi, Armori, Bramhapuri, Mul, Sindewahi, Wadsa, Chimur etc.

See also: Bilaspur-Nagpur section and Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line

The town has three petrol pumps, one BPCL pump on Bramhapuri Road near old bus stand and other new Indian Oil petrol pump, Gauri Servo Centre on Nagpur Road.

Tourism

The town is slowly catching up as a famous tourist spot as it is surrounded by scenic jungle with lakes and temples. Natural Place Ghodazari Talav: Located just 10 km from Nagbhir and 100km from Nagpur and Chandrapur is Ghodazari, a perfect spot for picnics, jungle trekking, boating over the weekend. Ghodazari is a small lake surrounded by abundance of nature and forest.

Shiv Tekdi

Shiva temple at the hill is now declared as Govt category C tourist center, which gives a religious peace of mind. Beautiful view of town can be seen from the temple over the hill. some other smaller temples and a huge statue of Lord Shiva is being built here. Now it is taking a shape of temple complex with good garden around it.

Facilities for tourists

Nagbhir is well connected to nearby cities by roads and railways and is always peaceful. Good hotel and restaurants are now available at nagbhir. Local cars from tourist services can also be hired.

The town has Government offices like Tahsil Office, Panchayat Samiti, Railway office, R&B, PWD office, Irrigation department, Banks like Bank of India, Maharashtra bank, State Bank of India, Chandrapur District Co-operative banks and Grihalaxmi mahila sahkari bank & other small co-operative banks for finance.

Town has a police station, the crime rate is very low and good law and order is maintained in the town for years together.

Town has an old Cinema hall near Bank Of India.

Medical facilities

The town has tradition of good ayurvedic vaidyas in 19th and 20th century like shri Nagorao Vigam, Shri Ganpatrao Vaidya, Shri Shridhar Vaidya. At present town has a good general surgeon Dr Pramod Khobragade, Gynaecologist Dr Selokar, pediatrician Dr Kale and physician Dr Shivankar. Good Allopathic general practitioners are available like Dr Nabatosh Biswas, Dr Harish Bagade, Dr Vijay Akhade with practices of more than 30 years. Some good Homeopathic practitioners like Dr Anant Dachewar, DrAzeez [Azam] Dhamani and some new practitioners are also working.Recently some dentists and opticians has started their well-equipped hospitals here. The town has a Government Rural Hospital and pathalogical diagnosis centres with an updated infrastructure. The town has number of good medical stores. Few of them are quite old in the town like Kabra, Pandharinath,Dev, Warjurkar and Singh medical stores.All these facilities grab the interest of nearby villagers. But still people has to go to nearby bramhapuri or to nagpur for specialised treatment.

Education

Nagbhid has three primary schools: Basic primary School for boys, Kanya Shala for girls and Saraswati Vidya Mandir for boys and girls from 1st to 4th standard. There are three convents: Twinkle English school, Little rose convent, and Royal public school & recently started Janata english Convent,imparting semi-English medium education. From 5th to 12th town has three schools, junior high schools, Janata Vidhyalay/junior college.for Boys/Girls, Janata Kanya for only Girls, Karmveer Vidhyalaya with co-education. Nagbhid has Industrial training Institute (ITI) and two senior college in the name of Shri Govindrao Warzurkar which imparts Graduation course in Arts and commerce and Mahatma Gandhi arts and science college. Town is also having two D.Ed and B.Ed colleges too. Recently a school for the mentally retarded and for deaf and dumb has been started here with hostel facility. People in the town have good knowledge in Marathi literature. However for higher education in Science, Engineering, Medical or medicine, law the students have to go to nearby cities like Bramahapuri, Nagpur or Chandrapur.

There is one Dance school also-MANJIRI NRITYAKALA PRASHIKSHAN KENDRA,Opposite Dhanshri co-op.bank, It is run by Miss Bhagyashree Ramesh Ballamwar.

Governance

Nagbhid comes under Chimur-Gadchiroli Constituency, Mr Ashok Nete (BJP) is Member of Parliament for the area. For state legislature. Nagbhid comes under Chimur-Nagbhid constituency and Mr. Bunty Bhangadiya represents to state legislation. Town is politically active and have mix of supporters for Indian National Congress, NCP, BJP, Shivsena, Republican party. The town could never elect the local person to represent in the Vidhansabha or Loksabha. Always the people from nearby towns have dominated political elections. This is one of the major reasons for the poor development of the town which deserves the development because of its central location and population. Bus depot, subdivisional office, forest dept divisional offices, LIC offices, electricity divisional office have all been pulled away by nearby towns and Nagbhir remains deprived of good facilities because of poor public representation.

Agriculture

Mr Dadaji khobragade whose name has been listed in the FORBES magazine for his contribution for research for rice varieties is from nanded village in nagbhir tehsil. He is the only person in the area to have been awarded by President of India. The main crop in the area is rice due to suitable climate for paddy Cultivator like, Shree Vasantrao Ramchandra Dachewar n Shree Haribhau Amritkar, farmer with past experience of handling government farms produces different varieties of wheat, gram, pulses (like tuvar, lakhori, mung, udid), vegetables, fruits like berries, mangos, guava in his sai farmhouse on Chandrapur Road.

Festival and specialities

Nagbhid being mixed of all religions celebrates all festivals of Hindus, Muslims and Bhudhism. People get involve in celebrations of these festivals. The major festivals like Diwali, Dushera, Holi, Janmashtami (Birthday of lord Krishna) pola, Id Muhrram are celebrated in the town. Special festivals like Mahashivratri, Ganesh Chaturdashi, Navratri (Durga Puja), Sharda Puja, Nagpanchami, Sankrant are also celebrated in the town. Also Ganeshchaturthi is one of the great festivals celebrated in Nagbhid. There are several Ganesh Mandals in Nagbhid who celebrate this festival with huge response. Also Ganeshchaturti is celebrated at many homes in this village.

Ganesha during Ganesh Chaturthi Festival, a popular festival in the Nagbhid.

Burning of effigy of 'Ravana' on the occasion of Dushera is a tradition of the town for years together.

On Holi, on day one holika dahan takes places at many places on in the town and next day is celebrated as Rangpanchami i.e. festival of colours.

Pola is one of the major festival in the town which is generally celebrated in Vidharbha region of Maharashtra. This is the festivals of bullucks which are used by farmers in the farms and are integral part of the life of farmers. Bullocks are decorated, worshiped on the day. The pair of bullocks are displayed in the local market. Next day is celebrated as tanna Pola, in early hours of morning procession of a 'Marbat', symbol of evil spirits taken all along the street of the town and then dispersed outside the town, indicating removal of bad habits and evil spirits.

Tanna Pola, i.e. Pola for children wherein children display small bullocks toys made of wood also called as Nandi bail and a procession is taken all around the town.

Nagbhid is among the few places where Mahashivratri is celebrated on a large scale. In the morning hours people in the town go to the Shiva Temple which is located on the hills on the outskirt for worship. At the bottom of the hill there is a fair. In the evening a procession of "Nandi" (10–12 feet tall effigy of a bull on wheeled chariot) also called Nadi Rath, who is worshiped as carrier of Lord Shiva starts from the house of late Shri Gajananrao Kamunwar to the base of Shiva hills (Mahadeo chi tekdi, called locally) and kept there for display for two weeks, during these two weeks the weekly bazaar is held at the base of the hill. There are some festivals called 'Jivti' which might have lost relevance in today's world but is still celebrated in Nagbhid. Dushera festival is a typical celebration where GOLD is distributed by the people, surprised, The leaves of tree called SHAMI, or 'shamipatras' are exchanged as gold on the occasion of Dushera after burning effigy of Ravana or Ravan Dahan, as a symbol of conquer over capital of Ravana Shri Lanka, supposed to be made of gold, by Shri Rama a Hindu deity. The other part of the story is that when Pandavas in Mahabaharta went for Vanvas they hid their weapons on the tree called shami hence shami patras.

Janmashtami – Birth day of lord Krishna is also celebrated in most of the homes. In the Janmastami people buying the idol (Murti or Stachu) of Lord Krishna and Radha from the market and installed (sthapana) in home in this auspicious event the next day people arrange the small Dahi handi programme and sing the devotional song of Lord Krishna. After completion of the Dahi Handi event the idol of Lord Krishna is immersed in water.

Famous people

1. Shri Nagoraoji vigam famous vaidyaraj in British period)
2. Shri Rajan jaiswal (famous marathi poet)
3. Shri Wamanrao vigam ( famous marathi poet, wrote 5 children kavyasangrah)
4. Shri Rahul Gawande ( Ist IAS from the town)
5. Shri Rahul Fating ( passes both IPS and IAS)
6. Shri Dadaji Khobragade ( named in Forbes list for inventing rice variety)
7. Dr Jagdish Botkawar ( famous Homeopath psychologist )
8. Shri Manoharrao Chilbule (first sessions court Judge from the town)

10 Sangita Mohite first lady TC in MUMBAI local railway Dr. Bhaskar S.Atram M.D. Medicine & Dr. Rakesh N.Atram BHMS,PGDEMS. Both are from Nanded,Small village near Talodhi of the Taluka presently practising at Saswad Tal.Purandar Dist. Pune since 7 years having own 100 beded Hospital named as Chintamani Hospital.