Chhapar is a small town and a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

in Churu district in the state of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Chhapar and Tal chhapar is located in the Churu district of Northwestern

in the

Shekhawati Shekhawati is a semi-arid historical region located in the northeast part of Rajasthan, India. The region was ruled by Shekhawat Rajputs. Shekhawati is located in North Rajasthan, comprising the districts of Jhunjhunu, parts of Sikar that li ...

region of

. It is 210 km from

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had a population of 3.1 million, making it the tenth most populous city in the country. Jaipur is also known a ...

and situated on the road from Ratangarh to

Sujangarh Sujangarh is a city in the Churu district in the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan, India. Sujangarh lies on the Churu city-Pali Highway (NH 65) and Hanumangarh-Kishangarh Mega Highway. The town is well known for a second Tirupati Balaji Temple. ...

. The Tal Chappar lies in the

Tehsil of Churu district. It lies on the Nokha-

state highway and is situated at a distance of 85 km from Churu and about 132 km from

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. Bikaner city is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Formerly the capital o ...

. The nearest railway station is Chappar which lies on Degana-Churu-Rewari broad gauge line of Northern Western Railways. The nearest Airport is

Jaipur International Airport Jaipur International Airport is an international airport serving Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan. Jaipur International Airport has been declared as the 'World's Best Airport' in the category of 2 to 5 million passengers per annum for 2015 & 2 ...

(Sanganer) which is at a distance of 215 km from Chappar. It is known for

black buck The blackbuck (''Antilope cervicapra''), also known as the Indian antelope, is an antelope native to India and Nepal. It inhabits grassy plains and lightly forested areas with perennial water sources. It stands up to high at the shoulder. Ma ...

s but it is also home to a variety of birds. Here is a famous sanctuary known as Tal Chhapar Sanctuary The Tal Chhapar Sanctuary is located on the fringe of the Great Indian Desert. Tal Chhapar nestles a unique refuge of the most elegant antelope encountered in India, "the Black buck". Tal Chhaper sanctuary, with almost flat tract and interspersed shallow, low-lying areas, has open grassland with scattered Acacia and prosopis trees which give it an appearance of a typical Savanna. The word "Tal" means plane land. The rain water flows through shallow, low-lying areas and collect in the small seasonal water ponds. The geology of the zone is obscured by the wind blown over-burden. Some small hillocks and exposed rocks of slate and quartzite are found in the western side of the sanctuary. Area between hillocks and the sanctuary constitutes the watershed area of the sanctuary. The whole sanctuary used to be flooded by water during the heavy rains but with salt mining going on, rain water from the hillocks hardly reaches the sanctuary.

Geography

Chhapar is located at . The sanctuary is named after Chhapar village which is located at 27°-50' North and 74°-25' East. It is a flat saline depression locally known as "Tal" that has a unique ecosystem in the heart of the Thar Desert, Perched at a height of 302 meters (990 feet) above sea level.

Demographics

Chhapar is a Municipality city in district of Churu, Rajasthan. The Chhapar city is divided into 20 wards for which elections are held every 5 years. The Chhapar Municipality has population of 19,744 of which 10,066 are males while 9,678 are females as per report released by Census India 2011. Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 2985 which is 15.12 % of total population of Chhapar (M). In Chhapar Municipality, Female Sex Ratio is of 961 against state average of 928. Moreover Child Sex Ratio in Chhapar is around 871 compared to Rajasthan state average of 888. Literacy rate of Chhapar city is 68.61 % higher than state average of 66.11 %. In Chhapar, Male literacy is around 79.93 % while female literacy rate is 57.05 %.

Roads

Chhapar is well connected by roads with almost all major cities of Rajasthan and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

. National Highway 65 passes through Chhapar that connects it to

Jodhpur Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the ...

and

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

. Other than this, Rajasthan Mega Highway also passes from the town which connects it to

Ajmer Ajmer is one of the major and oldest cities in the Indian state of Rajasthan and the centre of the eponymous Ajmer District. It is located at the centre of Rajasthan. It is also known as heart of Rajasthan. The city was established as "' ...

and Hanumangarh. The direct bus service is available for Delhi, Surat,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per ...

Udaipur Udaipur () ( ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic ...

, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Kota, Ajmer, Bikaner, Ganganagar, Hisar,

Roorkee Roorkee (Rūṛkī) is a city and a municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is from Haridwar city, the district headquarter. It is spread over a flat terrain under Sivalik Hills of Himalayas. The ...

Haridwar Haridwar (; ) is a city and municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of Uttarakhand, India. With a population of 228,832 in 2011, it is the second-largest city in the state and the largest in the district. The city is situated on the ri ...

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

and many other near and far towns.

Heritage on Wheels: Tal Chhapar/ Shekhawati

The next destination of the Heritage on Wheels sojourn is Shekhawati region. Shekhawati is one of the richest regions, in terms of art and crafts, of Rajasthan. Creating beautiful images with vibrant colors is a way of life of the artists of the Shekhawati region. The best exponents of Shekhawati art and paintings are the Havelis of the Shekhawati. Mandawa and Nawalgarh display some of the best Shekhawati paintings on the walls of their Havelis. The same artistic tradition of frescoes is visible in other less known towns of the Shekhawati region. It is just amazing to see the plethora of murals in a land otherwise known as impoverished desert. Besides the tour of various places of Shekhawati, you will be taken to the Tal Chappar Wildlife Sanctuary as well. It is all because of The Tal Chhapar Sanctuary, and is famous for its black bucks. It is a flat saline depression, with a unique ecosystem. During September, the Tal Chappar wild life sanctuary comes alive with the chirping of various migratory birds including montagur's, marsh harrier, pale harrier, imperial eagle, tawny eagle, short toed eagle, sparrow hawk, skylark, crested lark, ring drove, brown dove, blue jay, green bee eaters, black ibis and demoiselle cranes.

Schools, Colleges, Hospitals, Banks, Dharamshalas, Mandir and mosque

Schools *Boys High Secondary School *Girls High secondary School *Saraswati Vidha Mandir Madhaymik Vidhalay, Chhapar *Tolaram Bhansali Bal Vidya Mandir *Adarsh Vidya Mandir Secondary School *Adarsh Vidya Mandir P *ary School *Anuvrat Vidya Mandir *Shri Ram Bal Vidya Mandir *Tagore Public School *Marudhar Sikshan Sansthan *Vivekanand Sikshan Sansthan *Ramgopal Periwal Middle School *Govt.primary School No-1 *Govt.primary School No-2 *Govt.primary School No-3 *Govt.primary Girls School *zakir husen shikchhan sansthan

References

{{Churu district Cities and towns in Churu district