Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India

🇮🇳 Muzaffarnagar is a city under Muzaffarnagar district in the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated midway on the Delhi - Haridwar/Dehradun National Highway (NH 58) and is also well connected with the national railway network. It is known as the sugarbowl of Uttar Pradesh.

The city previously called Sarwat and is located in the middle of the highly fertile upper Ganga-Yamuna Doab region and is very near to New Delhi and Saharanpur, making it one of the most developed and prosperous cities of Uttar Pradesh. It comes under the Saharanpur division. This city is part of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and Amritsar Delhi Kolkata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC). It shares its border with the state of Uttarakhand and it is the principal commercial, industrial and educational hub of Western Uttar Pradesh.

History The town was established in 1633 by the son of a Mughal Commander Sayyid Muzaffar Khan Barha, otherwise known as Khan-i-Jahan, during the reign of Shah Jahan. At the time Muzaffarnagar was part of the Barah country as it was intimately connected with the Indian Muslim kinship group called the Barah Sayyids, who controlled the upper Doab. From Muzaffarnagar, the influential Sayyid brothers became de-facto rulers of the Mughal empire in the 1710s. The Indian Muslim inhabitants of Barha especially from near the town of Jansath were heavily recruited in the Mughal army and in the personal cavalry of the Sayyid Brothers.

In 1901, during the British Raj, it was a district in the Meerut Division in United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. In 1947, when the country got independence Indian flag was hoisted for the first time in the Muzaffarnagar City.

On 18 October 1976, during "The Emergency, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's suspension of democracy in India, between 25 and 30 people protesting against compulsory sterilisation were killed when Uttar Pradesh police fired into the crowd.

2013 riots The 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots between Hindus and Muslims resulted in 62 deaths.

According to a May 2015 report in India Today: Shamli and adjoining Muzaffarnagar districts are considered sensitive ever since large-scale communal violence erupted in August and September 2013. More than 50 people had died and over 50,000 were rendered homeless… The riot that ensued had engulfed many districts of western UP.

Some politicians have demanded that the city name be changed from Muzaffarnagar to Lakshminagar.

Geography: Topography Muzaffarnagar is 272 meters above sea level in the Doab region of Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is 125 km north east of the national capital, New Delhi, and 200 km south east of Chandigarh, and near to Roorkee, Saharanpur, Meerut & Bijnor.

Religion The city has 55.79% Hindus, 41.39% Muslims, 1.7% Jains, 0.67% Sikhs, 0.67% Buddhists and 0.17% Christians

Language The Khariboli dialect is the native tongue of the city which resembles the Haryanvi dialect of adjoining Haryana. The official languages of Hindi, Urdu and English are also widely understood.

Economy Sugar and jaggery production are important industries in the district. As a result of the farming activities around, the city is an important hub of jaggery trading business.

Muzaffarnagar is an industrial city with sugar, steel and paper being the major industries. District Muzaffarnagar has 8 sugar mills. More than 40% of the region's population is engaged in agriculture. According to Economic Research firm Indicus Analytics, Muzaffarnagar has the highest agricultural GDP in Uttar Pradesh, as well as UP's largest granary.

Healthcare Muzaffaranagar has both public and private healthcare system. The District hospital is the major government hospital in the city along with several general practitioners in the city. The city is also catered by a private medical college (Muzaffarnagar Medical College) on the outskirts of the city.

Transport Muzaffarnagar connected by road and railway networks. The Ghaziabad - Saharanpur line passes through the city. Indian Railways provides connections to New Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, South India, and other parts of the country. Dehradun Shatabdi Express and Dehradun Jan Shatabdi Express trains pass through and halt at the Muzaffarnagar station.

The National Highway - 58 (NH-58) passes through Muzaffarnagar city. This highway provides connections towards Delhi on the southern direction and upper reaches of the Himalayas in the Uttarakhand state in the northern direction. The highway is the backbone of road transportation for the Muzaffarnagar city as well as the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. Cities and areas of Hardwar, Rishikesh, Dehradun as well as Badrinath and Kedarnath are served by this highway.

City transportation mostly consists of tricycles and 3-wheeled vehicles, rickshaws. An international airport, Muzaffarnagar International Airport, was proposed in the city in order to reduce the traffic at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, however, the same was transferred to the Jewar Airport.

Environmental concerns Muzaffarnagar lies approximately halfway on the road from Delhi to Uttarakhand Rishikesh (the NH-58). As a result, many roadside resorts and eateries have sprung up on the highway near the city. Especially, the town of Khatauli is famed for its canal side forest park named "Cheetal". Once visited for the sight of deer and rabbits and other wild animals, the Cheetal is now encroached by privately owned dhabas and resorts thus sidelining the animals.