Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the North, West and South boundaries of district. Founded in 1866, the town is now an important centre for the cotton trade. It was an important part of Gandhian Era.
Geography
Wardha is located at 20.75°N 78.60°E. It has an average elevation of 234 metres (767 feet).
Demographics
Wardha city is administered by a municipal council(category-A). According to census 2011, its population is nearly 105,543. But this figure is number of inhabitants within municipal boundaries. Urbanization has crossed municipal boundaries and neighboring villages viz. sindi(meghe), sawangi(meghe), borgaon(meghe), pipri(meghe),mhasala, nalwadi and chitoda have become part of urban agglomeration having population nearing 2 lacs.
As of 2011 India census, Wardha district had a population of 1,296,157 Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Wardha has an average literacy rate of 80%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 83%, and female literacy is 76%. In Wardha, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. Wardha is the largest city in wardha district.
History
It was included in the empire of the Mauryas, Shungas, Satavahanas and Vakatakas. Pravarapura, modern Pavnar, was once the capital of the Vakataka dynasty. Vakatakas were contemporary of Imperial Guptas. Prabhavatigupta, the daughter of Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya), was married with Vakataka ruler Rudrasena. The period of Vakatakas was 2nd to 5th century CE. The empire stretched from the Arabian sea in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east, and from the Narmada river in the north to the Krishna-Godavari delta in south.
Later on, Wardha was ruled by the Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Yadavas, the Delhi Sultanate, the Bahamani Sultanate, Muslim ruler of Berar, Gonds and Marathas. Raja Buland Shaha of Gonds, Raghuji of Bhonsale were the prominent rulers in the Medieval period.
During the 1850s Wardha, (then a part of Nagpur) fell into the hands of British. They included Wardha in the Central Provenance.
Wardha is a sister city for Sevagram, and both were used as major centers for the Indian Independence Movement, especially as headquarters for an annual meet of the Indian National Congress in 1934, and Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram.
The existing Wardha district was part of Nagpur district till 1862. Further it was separated for convenient administrative purposes and Kawatha near Pulgaon was the district headquarters. In 1866, the district headquarters moved at Palakwadi village. The huts in village were destroyed and new city was constructed by English town-planner Sir Bachlor and Crawdok. This new city was given name "Wardha". In Wardha district there is a village called Pavanar where Acharya Vinoba Bhave lived.
Transport
Wardha city is well connected to most of the parts of India by railways. Wardha city has two railway stations i.e. Wardha and Sewagram railway stations. Wardha railway station is an important rail junction on Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line. This town is also connected to southern part of country through Sevagram station. After Nagpur, Wardha is only city through which Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Kolkata railway routes pass, actually meet together. Traffic on Mumbai-Kolkata route is mainly dealt with at Wardha station and traffic on Delhi-Chennai route is dealt with at Sewagram station (former Wardha East station).
A new line joining Wardha to Nanded via Yavatmal, pusad, deoli etc. is being constructed. A new fifth platform is proposed to deal with increased passenger traffic. Both Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Kolkata railway routes are already having heavy traffic and both routes get combined between Sewagram and Nagpur stations. A new third line is under construction between Sewagram and Nagpur stations to cater for heavy traffic. Sewagram station is having five platforms.
On outskirts of city there are two more railway stations, i.e. Warud station (former Sewagram station) and Chitoda junction, which deal with local passenger traffic. Chitoda junction is situated on southbound lines from Wardha and Sewagram stations. Warud station is halt station near doctor colony at Sewagram.
Wardha city is equally well connected by roads to other cities of maharashtra. A newly declared National Highway No.361(Nagpur-Wardha-Yavatmal-Nanded-Latur-Tuljapur) pass through this city. Also Nagpur-Aurangabad-Mumbai Express Highway pass through it.
The Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport at Nagpur is the nearest airport with scheduled air services.
