Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

🇮🇳 Raipur is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chhattisgarh was formed in 2000. It has exponential industrial growth, and has become a major business hub in central India. Raipur is ranked 7th in Ease of Living Index 2019 and 7th in Municipal Performance Index 2020 by Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

Raipur has been ranked among the top 10 liveable capitals of the country as per a report released by the Center for Science and Environment. According to the Ease of Living Index 2020, Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, is included in the 8th best capital city. Raipur is also included in the top cities for quality governance.

Raipur is also regarded as one of the best cities to do business. It is abundantly rich in mineral resources, and is among the biggest producers of steel and iron in the country. There are about 200 steel rolling mills, 195 sponge iron plants, at least 6 steel plants, 60 plywood factories, 35 ferro-alloy plants and 500 agro-industries in the city. In addition, Raipur also has over 800 rice milling plants.

History Raipur district, like the rest of the Chhattisgarh plain, was once known as Dakshina Kosala and considered to be under Maurya Empire. In Arang near Raipur, a Gupta inscription dated to the 6th century CE shows Gupta hegemony over the region. In the 7th century CE, the region was ruled by a Buddhist kingdom in Bhandak in modern-day Maharashtra and was described by Xuanzang. A branch of this family later migrated to Sirpur in present-day Mahasamund district, and later took control of the entirety of Dakshina Kosala. This kingdom's prosperity reached its height with Tivaradeva. His son inscribed almost all temples in Sirpur. They were later ousted by the Sharabpuriyas, who took control of the rest of Chhattisgarh and ruled for several centuries.

By the early 9th century the Kalachuris gained control of the region. The Kalachuris of Ratnapura ruled Ratnapur until the 13th century. By the 14th century, the Kalachuris of Raipur branch gained power. One king of the Raipur branch conquered 18 garh, or forts, of the enemy - lending an etymology to Chhattisgarh, the 36 forts. By the 18th century Kalachuris became the overlords of entire Chhattisgarh region.

Demographics As of the 2011 census, Raipur Municipal Corporation had a population of 1,010,433, of which 519,286 are males and 490,801 are females—a sex ratio of 945 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 940 per 1000. 124,471 children are in the age group of 0–6 years, of which 64,522 are boys and 59,949 are girls—a ratio of 929 girls per 1000 boys. There are 769,593 literates (420,155 males, 349,438 females). The effective literacy was 86.90%; male literacy was 92.39% and female literacy was 81.10%, significantly higher than the national average of 73.00%.

The urban agglomeration had a population of 1,122,555, of which males constitute 578,339, females constitute 544,216—a sex ratio of 941 females per 1000 males and 142,826 children are in the age group of 0–6 years. There are a total of 846,952 literates with an effective literacy rate of 86.45%.

Geography Raipur is located near the centre of a large plain, sometimes referred to as the "rice bowl of India", where hundreds of varieties of rice are grown. The Mahanadi River flows to the east of the city of Raipur, and the southern side has dense forests. The Maikal Hills rise on the north-west of Raipur; on the north, the land rises and merges with the Chota Nagpur Plateau, which extends north-east across Jharkhand state. On the south of Raipur lies the Deccan Plateau.

Economy Raipur, being the capital city of Chhattisgarh, has attracted large amounts of industrial development. As it is the state capital, the government and service sectors makes up a large part of the city's economy and workforce. Manufacturing industries are also well developed in the city, with a large number of industrial zones. Raipur is also regarded as one of the best cities to do business. It is abundantly rich in mineral resources, and is among the biggest producers of steel and iron in the country. There are about 200 steel rolling mills, 195 sponge iron plants, at least 6 steel plants, 60 plywood factories, 35 ferro-alloy plants and 500 agro-industries in the city. In addition, Raipur also has over 800 rice milling plants.

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) is planning to set up an integrated cement manufacturing unit with a capacity of 2.5 million TPA in Raipur. A South Korean multinational Sung Ha Telecom is also planning to set up a plant in Naya Raipur. JSW Steel has a steel plant in Raipur. APL Apollo's in joint venture with a Singaporean company has planned a manufacturing plant in Raipur. Grasim Industries operates a cement plant at Rewan in Raipur. Ambuja Cements has a plant in Bhatapara. In addition, Raipur has a large chemical plant which produces and supplies formalin all throughout the country. LPG bottling plants owned by Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are also in Raipur. Godavari - E - Mobility is planning to set up a manufacturing plant in the city as well. A heavy machinery plant of Jindal Group is in Raipur.

Functioning as an information technology (IT) and cyber hub, a technology park in Chhattisgarh's new capital city Naya Raipur was built. Chhattisgarh State Industrial Development Corporation (CSIDC) will be developing a new industrial area in Tilda near Raipur to provide facilities for small and medium industries. Two new industrial parks for apparel and metal industries are coming up in Raipur.

Fire service and electricity The city's electricity is supplied by Chhattisgarh State Power Distribution Company Limited. Fire and emergency services were set up in 2016 to protect fire incidents in the state. As per the directions of the government, the Fire Station of the urban body are being taken under fire and emergency services.

Water, drainage, and sewerage The existing source of unfiltered water is the Kharun River, and about 170 million litres of water per day (MLD) is treated on a daily basis, and the plant has a treatment capacity of 275 MLD. The per capita water supply in the city of Raipur is 135 litres per day. There is a water supply connection serving a total of 50,000 households. Along with water from the Kharun River (27 MLD), another source of water is groundwater, and the capacity utilized is 22 MLD. There is a total of 1,133 handpumps in the city.

There is a lack in the sewerage systems of Raipur City. The data for households with a Sewerage Network is unavailable, but the number of households with septic tanks is 1,44,882 and the households without any outlets for toilets is 5,649. The city has no separate drainage system nor any sewer lines. There is a separate stormwater drainage system, laid as per requirement.

Solid waste management The waste management in the city is entrusted to the city health officer, the in-charge health officer, zonal health officer, and the team of sanitary supervisors and ward supervisors. A total of 3,56,490 households have been successful with source segregation and are covered by door-to-door collection. Raipur's major waste disposal site is the Sarona site, which is 12 km away from the city centre.

Transport The superintendent of Engineers Executive Engineers, the team of Engineers, and the staff responsible for the related activities of the road department head the public works department. Their purposes are planning and designing of road stormwater drains, maintenance of roads and streets, maintenance of gardens and parks, resurfacing the roads, and repairing potholes and bad patches.

In the bus transport system of Raipur City there is a total number of 157 buses plying within the city.

Transport: Road Some major and famous roads in Raipur are National Highway (NH - 53), National Highway (NH - 30), Great Eastern Road, Pandri Road, Baloda Bazar Road, Nardha Raipur Road, VIP Road, and Atal Path Expressway.

The Raipur–Naya Raipur Expressway Narrowguage Expressway, also known as "Atal Path Expressway Raipur", is a 12.7-kilometre (7.9 mi) access controlled expressway connecting Raipur to Naya Raipur. It has been made to ease the traffic on the GE road and provide faster access to Dhamtari road from Raipur railway station. It serves 4 flyovers and 1 elevated corridor crossing over GE road and NH53 in between two ends of expressway.

Transport: Bus A newly constructed Bus Stand Sri Balaji Swami Trust Sri Dudhadhari Math Inter State Bus Terminal or ISBT Raipur is located at Ravanbhantha, and is the main Bus Stand of the city. It has replaced the old Minimata Bus Stand or Pandri Stand which was creating traffic problems. The services of ISBT started on 15 November 2021. Raipur and Naya Raipur BRTS bus services run between Old Raipur and Naya Raipur.

Transport: Rail Raipur Junction railway station is the primary railway station of the city, which is situated on the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Indian Railways (via Bhusawal, Nagpur, Gondia, Bilaspur, Rourkela, Kharagpur), and is connected with most major cities. It is categorized in the A-1 category of railway stations by the Indian Railways. Some small railway stations are also present here for local trains like Sarona, Saraswati Nagar, and WRS Colony railway stations. They also lie on the same Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line.

Transport: Air Swami Vivekananda Airport or Mana Airport is the primary airport serving the state of Chhattisgarh. The airport is located 15 km (9.3 mi) south of Raipur, near Naya Raipur.

Raipur is well-connected, having daily direct flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Goa, Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Srinagar, Nagpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Prayagraj, Jharsuguda and Jagdalpur, operated by Air India, IndiGo and Vistara.

Points of Interest • Mata Kaushalya Temple is the only temple in the world dedicated to the deity Mata Kaushalya. • Purkhouti Muktangan, Naya Raipur an open-air Cultural garden that exhibits the Culture of Chhattisgarh. • Nandanvan Jungle Safari, Naya Raipur is Asia's largest man-made Jungle Safari. • The Shree Ram temple, VIP square. • The Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum, Ghadi chowk. • Swami Vivekananda Sarowar (Budha Talab). • Telibandha Lake (Marine Drive).

Education Raipur has become a big educational hub of Chhattisgarh due to the presence of many institutes of national importance in engineering, management, medical and law, including IIM, NIT, AIIMS, Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), CIPET, Raipur, NIPER(Proposed) and IIIT.

Premier institutes • All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur (AIIMS) • Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology • Hidayatullah National Law University • Indian Institute of Management Raipur (IIM) • International Institute of Information Technology, Naya Raipur • National Institute of Technology, Raipur(NIT) • National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) (Proposed) at Naya Raipur

Government universities • Chandulal Chandrakar Patrakarita Avam Jansanchar Vishwavidyalaya • Chhattisgarh Kamdhenu Vishwavidyalaya • Chhattisgarh Swami Vivekanand Technical University • Pandit Ravishankar Shukla University • Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay Memorial Health Sciences and Ayush University of Chhattisgarh

Private universities and deemed universities • Amity University • ICFAI University • ITM University • Kalinga University • MATS University

Commerce, engineering, and management colleges • Government Engineering College (GEC) • Pragati College of Engineering and Management • Raipur Institute of Technology • Shri Shankaracharya Institute of Professional Management and Technology (SSIPMT)

Secondary education • Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan • DAV Public School • Kendriya Vidyalaya • Rajkumar College, established in 1882, one of the Chief's Colleges that were set up during the British Raj • Ryan International School • Delhi Public School

Media News channels

Many local news channels are telecast from Raipur in Hindi: CG 24 news channel CG Hindi; IBC24 - Hindi; Khabar Bharti - Hindi; Grand News (Cable Network) - Hindi; News18 MP CG - Hindi; Sadhna News - Hindi; Sahara Samay Channel Hindi; Zee MP CG - Hindi; India News MP CG - Hindi; Bansal News - Hindi; Abhi Tak (Cable Network) - Hindi; Inh News - Hindi.

Media: Print Many national and local newspapers are published from Raipur in both Hindi and English: Dainik Bhaskar - Hindi; Dainik Vishwa Pariwar Hindi; Patrika - Hindi; Nava Bharat - Hindi; Deshbandhu - Hindi; Nai Duniya - Hindi; Haribhoomi - Hindi; The Times of India - English; The Central Chronicle - English; Hindustan Times - English; Hindustan - Hindi; The Hitavada - English; The Pioneer - English; Business Standard - English, Hindi; Business Bhaskar - English, Hindi.

Media: Radio Raipur city has five FM Radio Stations: 94.3 FM MY FM Jio Dil Se; 95.0 FM FM Tadka Sound's Good; 98.3 FM Radio Mirchi Mirchi Sunane Wale Always Khush; 101.6 FM All India Radio Raipur & Vividh Bharti Desh Ki Surili Dhadkan; 104.8 FM Radio Rangila Jamm ke suno;