Khurja is a city (and a

municipal board A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

) in

Bulandshahr district Bulandshahr district (also spelled Bulandshahar) is a district in the Meerut region in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), situated between the two rivers Ganga and Yamuna. It is a part of the National Capital Region of India, and Bula ...

in the Indian

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. It is situated around 20 km from

Bulandshahr Bulandshahr, formerly Baran, is a city and a municipal board in Bulandshahr district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Bulandshahr district and part of Delhi NCR region. According to the Government ...

, 85 km from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. Khurja supplies a large portion of the ceramics used in the country, hence it is sometimes called ''The Ceramics City''. The city is also famous for its special sweet, known as "khurchan". Khurja Pottery

The principal inhabitants of Khurja are the

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

, mainly members from the Kheshgi Dynasty of Timur's army. The name ''Khurja'' is derived from the

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

works, its skyline is dotted with

chimneys A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typic ...

Geography

Khurja is located at . It has an average elevation of 197 metres (646 foot).

Demographics

As per provisional data of 2011 census, Khurja urban agglomeration had a population of 142,636, out of which males were 75,384 and females were 67,252. The literacy rate was 72%. This compares with the 2001 India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, when Khurja had a population of 98,403. Males constituted 53% of the population and females 47%. Khurja had an average literacy rate of 57%, lower than the national average of 60.5%: male literacy was 65%, and female literacy was 55%. In Khurja, 16% of the population was under 6 years of age.

History

The history of

Khurja pottery Khurja is a city (and a municipal board) in Bulandshahr district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated around 20 km from Bulandshahr, 85 km from Delhi. Khurja supplies a large portion of the ceramics used in the country, henc ...

goes back to around 14th century, when some retreating (wounded) soldiers and commanders from

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

's army decided to remain. They had officially established Khurja as a town. These men were mainly from the imperial Kheshgi Dynasty of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, descendants of the

Kheshig Kheshig ( Mongolian: Khishig, Keshik, Khishigten for "favored", "blessed") were the imperial guard for Mongol royalty in the Mongol Empire, particularly for rulers like Genghis Khan and his wife Börte. Their primary purpose was to act as bodyguards ...

s, who were senior officials throughout the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

. A number of these soldiers were potters and they brought this craft with them. Starting with red clay pottery they moved on to blue glaze and on red clay articles with a white

engobe A slip is a clay slurry used to produce pottery and other ceramic wares. Liquified clay, in which there is no fixed ratio of water and clay, is called slip or clay slurry which is used either for joining leather-hard (semi-hardened) clay body (pi ...

, painted floral designs with cupric oxide and applying a soft glaze containing glass and borax etc. During World War II, ban was imposed on various metals for making household utensils and import of ceramic goods was drastically curtailed. To meet the demand of ceramic wares mainly for war hospitals, the Government of Uttar Pradesh established a ceramic unit. After the war, the factory was closed in 1946 due to lack of demand of its products. The factory was equipped with three small kilns, two chimneys and three ball mills. Instead of closing the factory completely the Government of Uttar Pradesh converted it into a Pottery Development Centre. CGCRI Case Study

Industry

The development activities of U.P. Small Industrial Corporation Ltd. resulted in setting up of UPSIC Potteries Ltd. in 1976–77. There was a widespread complaint about the efficiency of the UPSIC Potteries Ltd., primarily because of high costs. The Government of Uttar Pradesh set up a panel in Nov.1990 to examine the working of the corporation and to consider the proposal of the passing of the commercial activities back to the Pottery Development Centre (Local Office of Directorate of fisheries.) Though an industrial region, Khurja lacks the infrastructure for good industry by European standards. Since there are often power cuts lasting around eight hours, all factories and most homes have private generators. The municipality water supply is insufficient or everybody's need so many have water pumps to extract groundwater.

Higher education

NREC College The National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) is an operating unit within the Robotics Institute (RI) of Carnegie Mellon University. NREC works closely with government and industry clients to apply robotic technologies to real-world processes ...

- Originally called Natthimal Ramsahay Edward Coronation, and now called Natthimal Ramsahay Educational Courses, it is one of the oldest colleges in India and offers courses up to PhD level including bachelor and master degrees along with LLB and B.Ed. It has also conducted NCC training programs for several decades. The College is affiliated to

Meerut University Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCS University), formerly Meerut University, is a public state university located in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India. The university was established in 1965. It was later renamed to its current name after Chaud ...

and is one of the largest institutes of that university. * AKP (PG) College - Arya Kanya Pathshala Post Graduate College is a girls' college offering graduate and post graduate degrees. The College is affiliated to

. The subjects offered for the degree are: - Graduate: Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Economics, History, Home Science, Music, Political Science - Post Graduate: Hindi and Political Science. * Seth Gangasagar Jatia Polytechnic - The Polytechnic provides diploma in various fields e.g. Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Glass & Ceramic Engineering etc. It is the only institute in Uttar Pradesh which facilitates diploma engineering in Glass and Ceramic Engineering. * Vaidya Yagyadutta Sharma Ayurvaidik Mahavidyalaya - The college provides education in practice of ancient Indian medicine Ayurveda. It offers a Degree course in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery, After

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

, Khurja is the largest educational centre in India for the study of

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

language. It has many Sanskrit colleges, such as: * Radha Krishna Sanskrit Mahavidayalaya * Seth Ganga Sagar Sanskrit Vidyalaya * Sanskrit Manishi

Secondary Education

Khurja also has several government Secondary Education colleges including JAS Inter College, AKP (Girls) Inter College, SMJEC Inter College, Mahadevi (Girls) Inter College, Dayanand (High School) Vidyalaya, and Rifah-e-Aam Inter College.

Markets and fairs

Khurja is a small town, with shops open until 21:00 in the Bindawala Chowk and Tareenan. There are many small markets which are important for the residents. Some markets are: Anaj mandi, Bindawala Chawk, Sabzi Mandi (town's biggest and main Vegetable Market), subhash road, Shaheed Dataram marg, Gandhi Road, Raniwala Chawk, Kabadi Bazar (timber and hardware market), Jewar Adda, Moodha-Kheda, Bajaja Bazar (town's biggest textile market), Nayi Basti, Shaheed Dataram Chowk, Bus Adda (Bus Terminus) etc. The city has a cyber market called Sri Ram Complex, near NREC Degree College. The weekly market called ''Budh Bazar'' or The Wednesday Market is popular, There is Sunday(Itwaar Bazar) market also on Navalty Road and the surrounding area is closed to traffic to become a pedestrian zone. Khurja annually holds a town fair called

Ramlila Ramlila (Rāmlīlā) (literally 'Rama's lila or play') is any dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Rama according to the ancient Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' or secondary literature based on it such as the ''Ramcharitmanas''. It particularly ...

during the festive season of Diwali which goes through the whole festive season and each day of the festival there is theatrical portrayal of the religious stories by various drama groups along with the town's biggest fair, the location of this fair is called the ''Panchvati'' which is mainly a group of agricultural farms which is transformed into the fair ground during the season. The second biggest annual fair of Khurja is held during the Hindu festival of Navratri after the establishment of a new temple ''Nav Durga Shakti Mandir''.

Heritage buildings

(Devi mandir) Khurja has a beautiful countryside with old buildings and houses along the road. You can find houses more than 100 years old in many parts of the town which are considered as the heritage of the town but now are the victims of negligence. Some of the famous buildings are: ''Lala Mewaram ka Kamra'' (the room of Mr. Mewaram, is taken over by some residents), ''Seth Gangaram Bhawan'' (which now has been converted into a banquet hall), the building of J.A.S. Inter college is also said to be a piece of art and Diwan JI Ka Mandir Near by Padam Singh gate it is very old Temple like 100-150 year old.

Khurja Super Thermal Power Project

Towards diversification of the company into other energy sectors, THDCIL has entered into a MoU on 31 December 2010 with Govt. of U.P and UPPCL for setting up 2 x 660 MW Super critical Thermal Power Project in Tehsil Khurja, District Bulandshahar, U.P. About 1,200 acres of land was acquired by UPSIDC earlier at Khurja for industrial use which shall be utilized for construction of the project. As per MOU, GoUP / UPPCL will assist in transfer of this land.

Khurja Logistic Park

Khurja is a meeting point of eastern and western dedicated freight rail corridor. Arshiya International Ltd's upcoming FTWZ (Free Trade and Warehousing Zone) in Khurja is strategically located connecting the Western and Eastern freight corridors with the manufacturing hub of India in the NCR. These special zones offer customized warehousing facilities to help add value or store, before organized shipment. As part of a fully integrated infrastructure, Arshiya plans to additionally invest in creating a dedicated Rail Terminal with the FTWZ in Khurja that would allow pan-India connections for its customers through its Rail Infrastructure service.

How to get to Khurja

Khurja being a significant town is linked by rail on the

–

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

line and via the old GT Road to many major cities in India. There are two train stations, Khurja Junction which is on the main Delhi – Calcutta line and Khurja City which serves to district headquarter

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

. Khurja can be reached by road or train. A drive from Delhi on a direct route has heavy traffic and takes about two and a half hours. Time can be saved by taking the expressway from Delhi to Noida, then the Dankaur station road to Sikandrabad, which is 37 km from Khurja. Khurja has three bus terminals: Bus Adda; which is the main bus terminus, Jewar Adda; the second terminus and Pahansu Adda; the third terminus. The latter 2 terminals are named after their locations and the routes of buses which they provide. Apart from these Bus terminals, this town has two railways stations one of which is the Khurja Junction (the main station linking Khurja with the major routes of the country) and the other is called Khurja City(a station established for most of the local routes to take off the rail traffic from the main junction).

External links

Bulandshahar district website

References

{{Authority control Cities and towns in Bulandshahr district Cities in Uttar Pradesh Khurja