Kanpur

Kanpur ; formerly Cawnpore; is the 12th most populous city in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kanpur Nagar district and Kanpur division. It is the second largest industrial town in north India, following Delhi.

The name is believed to have derived from Karnapur (meaning "town of Karna", one of the heroes of the Mahabharata). Another theory is that it came from the nearby town of Makanpur, earlier known as Khairabad, where the Sufi saint of the Madariya Sufi order, Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar, settled.

History

In 1207, Raja Kanh Deo of the Kanhpuria clan established the village of Kanhpur, which later came to be known as Kanpur.

• Kanpur Sangrahalaya is the official museum in Kanpur

1857 uprising

In the 19th century, Kanpur was an important British garrison with barracks for 7,000 soldiers. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, 900 British men, women and children were besieged in the fortifications for 22 days by rebels under Nana Sahib Peshwa. They surrendered on the agreement that they would get safe passage to the nearby Satti Chaura Ghat whereupon they would board barges and be allowed to go by river to Allahabad.

Though controversy surrounds what exactly happened at the Satti Chaura Ghat, and who fired the first shot, it is known that, soon afterwards, the departing British were shot at by the rebel sepoys and were either killed or captured. Some of the British officers later claimed that the rebels had, on purpose, placed the boats as high in the mud as possible, to cause delay. They also claimed that Nana Sahib's camp had previously arranged for the rebels to fire upon and kill all the English. Although the East India Company later accused Nana Sahib of betrayal and murder of innocent people, no evidence has ever been found to prove that Nana Sahib had pre-planned or ordered the massacre. Some historians believe that the Satti Chaura Ghat massacre was the result of confusion, and not of any plan implemented by Nana Sahib and his associates. Lieutenant Mowbray Thomson, one of the four male survivors of the massacre, believed that the rank-and-file sepoys who spoke to him did not know of the killing to come.

Many were killed and the remaining 200 British women and children were brought back to shore and sent to a building called the Bibighar (the ladies' home). After some time, the commanders of the rebels decided to kill their hostages. The rebel soldiers refused to carry out orders and butchers from the nearby town were brought in to kill the hostages three days before the British entered the city on 18 July. The dismembered bodies were thrown into a deep well nearby. The British under General Neill retook the city and committed a series of retaliations against the rebel Sepoys and those civilians caught in the area, including women, children and old men. The Kanpur Massacre, as well as similar events elsewhere, were seen by the British as justification for unrestrained vengeance.

• Ruins of General Wheeler's entrenchment where Nana Sahib's forces besieged them

• 1858 picture of Sati Chaura Ghat where a massacre of the British took place

• Highlanders led by General Havelock fight with Indian rebels to rescue the besieged British troops

• British Forces capture the rebel forces in 1857 near Kanpur, India

Surrounding areas

Lucknow =100 km

Civic administration

Kanpur City officials Divisional Commissioner Mohammad Iftikharuddin District Magistrate Shri Kaushal Raj Sharma Mayor Captain Jagatveer Singh Dron Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Peeyush Pandey Metropolitan Magistrate Pradeep Kumar Jayant

Metropolitan area

The metropolitan region defined under JNNURM by Kanpur Nagar Nigam, includes the Kanpur Nagar Nigam area, 8 kilometre around KNN boundary and newly included 47 villages of Unnao district on the north-eastern side, it extends to Murtaza Nagar, in the west its limit is up to Akbarpur, Kanpur Dehat Nagar Panchayat limit, in the eastern side the limit has been expanded on the road leading to Fatehpur and in extended up to. The metropolitan region area includes the area of Shuklaganj Municipal Committee (Nagar Palika), Unnao Municipal Committee (Nagar Palika), Akbarpur Village Authority (Nagar Panchayat) and Bithoor Village Authority (Nagar Panchayat) area. In 1997-98, total metropolitan region area has increased to 89131.15 hectare out of which 4,743.9 hectare (5.31%) was non-defined (prohibited area) and rest 29,683 hectare and 54,704 hectare (61.39%) was urban and rural area respectively.

Transport

Airways Kanpur Airport has scheduled commercial flights to Delhi. The nearest International Airport is the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at Lucknow, which is around 77.1 km from Kanpur.

Roadways

The city has had chronic problems with maintaining local roads. There are several important National Highways that pass through Kanpur.

NH No Route Total Length NH 2 Delhi » Mathura » Agra » Kanpur » Allahabad » Varanasi » Mohania » Barhi » Palsit » Dankuni (near Kolkata) 2542 NH 25 Lucknow » Kanpur » Jhansi 352 NH 86 Kanpur » Hamirpur » Mahoba » Chhatarpur » Sagar » Bhopal » Indore 674 NH 91 Ghaziabad » Aligarh » Etah » Kannauj » Kanpur 405 NH 157 (Proposed) Kanpur » Raebareli » Sultanpur » Shahganj » Azamgarh » Gaura Barhaj » Siwan » Muzaffarpur 581

The Inter State Bus Station (ISBT) of Kanpur officially named as the "Shaheed Major Salman Khan Bus Station". It is locally known as the "Jhakarkati Bus Station" enquiry number: 0512 2328381. It provides buses to important cities of India. The other bus stations are:

Ring road

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is all set to develop a four-lane outer ring road along the periphery of Kanpur with an aim to prevent traffic congestion in the industrial city caused by long-distance heavy vehicles. The new road, which will help the heavy vehicles to bypass the city, will be developed on a "Built, Operate and Transfer" (BOT) basis under the phase-VII of National Highways Development Programme (NHDP).

Railways

Kanpur Central is the major rail head. Beside, Kanpur Anwarganj, Panki, Govindpuri, Rawatpur and Kalyanpur are major railway halt stations. Kanpur Metro is planned MRTS for the city.

• Upstream view of Ganga from Kanpur railway bridge

• Downstream view of Ganga from Kanpur railway bridge

• Kanpur Central (Platform view)