Firozabad

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Firozabad
City
Mahavir Digambar Jain temple of Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh
Firozabad Show map of Uttar Pradesh Firozabad Show map of India
Coordinates: 27°09′N 78°25′E / 27.15°N 78.42°E / 27.15; 78.42
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District	Firozabad
Government
• Type	Municipal Corporation
• Body	Firozabad Municipal Corporation
• Member of Parliament (MP)	Dr. Chandrasen Jadon (BJP)
• Mayor	Kamini Rathore (BJP)[1]
• Member of Legislative Council (MLC)	Dr. Dilip Yadav (SP)
• District Magistrate	IAS
Population  (2011 census)
• Total	603,797
Languages
• Official	Hindi Urdu
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	283203
Telephone code	05612
Vehicle registration	UP-83
Website	firozabad.nic.in

Firozabad is a city near Agra in Firozabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the centre of India's glassmaking industry and is known for the quality of the bangles and glassware produced here.

During the reign of Akbar, revenue was brought through the city, which was looted by the Afghans. Akbar sent his army led by the Mansab Dar, Firoz Shah, to make the city a cantonment to collect taxes and the city of Chandrawar was renamed as Firozabad after him. The tomb of Firoz Shah is still present today. From early times, it had glass and bangle works, and small scale industry. The landowners of Firozabad hail from the Siddiqui, Sayed, Manihar, Pathan and the Hindu Rajput castes. Firozabad is located in north central India, in Uttar Pradesh, 37 km (23 mi) from Agra and around 230 km (140 mi) from Delhi, at the northern edge of the Deccan Plateau, at 27°09′N 78°24′E / 27.150°N 78.400°E / 27.150; 78.400. It is located 164 metres (538 ft) above sea level.

The boundaries of Firozabad district touch Etah district in north and Mainpuri and Etawah districts in the east. The Yamuna river makes its southern boundary.

History

The city lies in the cultural region of Braj and was a part of the Surasena Mahajanapada during the Vedic Age. It was subsequently ruled by the bigger kingdoms including the Mauryas, Guptas, Scythians, Kushans, Indo-Greeks, Harsha before falling into the hands of Brahmin Peshwa, Rajput rulers.^[2]

Before the foundation of modern Firozabad, the main city in the area was at Chandwar, on the left bank of the Yamuna a short distance southwest of Firozabad. Chandwar was a stronghold of the Chauhan Rajputs from an early date, which was founded by a ruler named Chandrasen according to tradition. Chandwar was conquered several times by the Delhi Sultanate, but its Chauhan rulers seem to have repeatedly asserted their independence over a period of several centuries. One tradition holds that the final defeat of the king Jayachandra by Muhammad of Ghor took place here, at the Battle of Chandwar. According to family traditions of the Bhadaurias, another conquest of Chandwar happened in 1246, which may be corroborated by the records kept by the Sultanate, which mention the capture of an unnamed Hindu stronghold in that same year. Then, after the Delhi Sultan Khizr Khan came to power in 1414, his general Taj ul-Mulk received submission from "the infidels of Chandwar" and then, in 1420, he sacked and looted Chandwar as punishment of some sort. In 1452, Chandwar was the site of a major battle between the Delhi and Jaunpur Sultanates, which led to a three-year truce between the two empires.^[3]

The modern city of Firozabad was founded c. 1566, when Raja Todar Mal was returning from a pilgrimage to Gaya and stopped at the village of Asafabad (just southeast of modern Firozabad). The villagers insulted him, and when the emperor Akbar heard of this, he sent the eunuch Firoz Khwaja to demolish the town and build a new one. The city was built on lands belonging to several neighboring villages, including Akbarabad, Sukhmalpur, Muhammadpur-Gajmalpur, Rasulpur, and Pempur-Raipur, and it was named Firozabad in honor of its founder. Firoz Khwaja's tomb, built of white marble, is by the road to Agra.^[3]

Mr. Peter, a businessman working for the Dutch East India Company visited Firozabad on 9 August 1632, and found the town in good condition. It is written in the gazetteer of Agra and Mathura that in 1596 Faraz was upgraded to a pargana. Faraz was bestowed to Nawab Sadulla Khan as jagir, in the regime of Shahjahan. Jahangir ruled here from 1605 to 1627. Etawah, Budaun, Mainpuri, Faraz were under first class mansabdar of emperor Farrukhsiar. Baji Rao I looted Firozabad and Etmadpur in 1737 in the regime of Mohammad Shah. Jats of Mahawan attacked Faujdar Hakim Kajim ali bahadur jang at Firozabad and killed him on 9 May 1739. Jats ruled Firozabad for 30 years. Gajuddin, Hidayat Vaksh son of Alamgir second his nephew and Mirza baba the son in law, came to Firozabad. Mirza Nabab Khan stayed here until 1782. In the end of the 18th century, Firozabad was ruled by Himmat Bahadur with co-operation of Marathas. The French Army chief of Marathas, D. Wayan, established an ordnance factory in November 1794. Mr. Thomas Traving also mentioned this fact in his book Travels in India. Marathas appointed his subedar Lakwadads here who made a fort near old tehsil, known at present as garie.

General Lek and General Vellajally attacked Firozabad in 1802. In the beginning of British regime Firozabad was in Etawah district but after some time it was attached to Aligarh district. When Sadabad was created as a new district in 1832, Firozabad was attached to it. Later on, in 1833 Firozabad was attached to Agra district. In 1847, the business of lac was flourishing at Firozabad.

In 1857, Zamindar of Firozabad with local public took active parts in freedom struggle. Urdu poet Munir Shikohabadi was sentenced to Kala pani by the British East India Company. People of this city took part in "Khilafat Movement", "Quit India Movement", and "Namak Satyagrah" and went to the jail during these national movements. In 1929, Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi, in 1935 Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, in 1937 Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and in 1940 Subhas Chandra Bose visited Pandit Banarasi Das Chaturvedi, a two time member of Parliament - said to be the father of Hindi Journalism and the recipient of Padma Bushan. Firozabad district was finally established on 5 February 1989. In 2015 it became a Nagar Nigam.

Geography

Firozabad is located at 27°09′N 78°25′E / 27.15°N 78.42°E / 27.15; 78.42.^[4]

Climate

The lowest recorded temperature in Firozabad was −1 °C (30 °F) and the highest was 48 °C (118 °F).

Demographics

As of 2011^[update] India census, Firozabad City had a population of 603,797. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Firozabad has an average literacy rate of 75.01% higher than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 85.32%, and female literacy is 63%. In Firozabad, 16% of the population is under 6 years of age. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 16.55% and 0.39% of the population respectively.^[6]

The city lies in the cultural region of Braj and the local language is Brajbhasha.

Economy

Glass industry

Firozabad is the largest glass manufacturing centre in India,^[8]: 3 accounting for about 70% of the total glass production in the unorganised sector in India.^[9]: 10 It is estimated that over 50% of the city's population is employed "directly or indirectly" in the glass industry,^[9]: 10 with bangle manufacturing alone employing about 100,000 people.^{[10]: 28 [note 1]} Firozabad is the single largest producer of bangles in India,^[10]: 28 accounting for 46% of India's total production.^[8]: 5 Other products include things like glass tableware, laboratory glassware, glass containers, automotive glass, vases, chandeliers, and numerous decorative items.^{[9]: 10–11} As of 2011, the total production of finished glass items in Firozabad is about 1,230 megatons per day.^[8]: 5 The percent of this that gets exported internationally is variously estimated to be about 35%^[9]: 10 or about 50%.^[8]: 5 As of 2011, the total annual revenue from Firozabad's glass industry was Rs. 23.26 billion.^[8]: 5

Working conditions for Firozabad glassworkers are often very poor. Workers are often forced to work 12-to-14-hour days or risk losing their jobs, workplace injuries are common, and the intense heat in glass furnaces often causes dehydration and heat exhaustion in workers, who often then have to borrow money for medical treatment. As of 1986, it was reported that the combination of heat, dust, and noise led to tuberculosis being widespread, and the average lifespan of glassworkers was reduced by 10 to 15 years. Child labour is also very common, with Neera Burra estimating that almost 50,000 children under the age of 14 were working in glass production in Firozabad as of 1986.^{[11]: 1983–4}

Transport

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Firozabad railway station served by the Delhi-Howrah trunk route of the Indian Railways. Several trains serve the city connecting it to long and short distanced destinations including New Delhi, Howrah, Mumbai, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Jammu Tawi, Amritsar, Jamshedpur, Patna, Aligarh, Agra, Hathras, Puri, Ajmer, Ambala, Bareilly, Mathura, Etawah, Basti, Gorakhpur and Tundla.

Tundla Junction railway station in the Tundla town (20 km west of Firozabad city on National Highway 2) of the Firozabad District is a major railway station of North Central Railways. Due to its proximity to Agra several trains on the Delhi Howrah route which don't stop at Firozabad station make a stop at Tundla Junction hence serving Firozabad as well as Agra cities.

• 20801/02 Magadh Express
• 14217/18 Unchahar Express
• 15483/84 Sikkim Mahananda Express
• 12311/12 Kalka Mail
• 12419/20 Gomti Express
• 14163/64 Sangam Express
• 13483/84 Farakka Express
• 15707/08 Amrapali Express
• 14723/24 Kalindi Express
• 12875/76 Neelachal Express
• 12395/96 Ziyarat Express
• 12179/08 Lucknow Intercity Express
• 19037/38 Bandra Terminus Gorakhpur Avadh Express

The city is 45 km (28 mi) east from Agra on National Highway 19 which makes it an important stopover for the transport vehicles on this highway. Firozabad hence is connected to several bus services to the Western and Eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh state. Due to proximity to Agra and hence the borders of Uttar Pradesh with Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh states several inter-state bus services also serve the city. Intra-city transport typically consists of Rickshaws and 3-wheelers

The city is well connected with Yamuna Expressway and Taj Expressway to national capital New Delhi and state capital Lucknow respectively.

Water pollution

Since few years, Firozabad has been suffering with a severe water pollution problem. The water has been polluted by the indiscriminate discharge of wastes by the industries. The water has been rendered practically unusable. Citizens have no option but to install water purifiers at home and use packaged drinking water for consumption.^[12][13][14]

Tourist attractions

Lord Bahubali Jain Temple

In Suhag Nagari, holy center of "Jain Nagar" was established by Lt. Seth Chhadamilal. The temple has a 45-foot granite idol of Bahubali, the largest in North India, weighing more than 3500 tonnes. There are many Jain temples near this temple.^[15]

Villages

The following 89 villages are counted as part of Firozabad CD block:^{[16]: 117–9}

1. Alampur Anandipur
2. Alampur Kaneta
3. Alampura Jarkhi
4. Alinagar Kenjra
5. Allahdadpur
6. Anandipur Karkauli
7. Aquil Pur Damodarpur
8. Baindi
9. Balchandarpur
10. Baramai
11. Barkatpur
12. Basaimohammadpur
13. Basudeopur
14. Bazidpur Kutubpur
15. Bhikan Pur Sadasukh
16. Bhikanpur Annadipur
17. Bhondela
18. Bijaipur Bhikanpur
19. Bilahna
20. Chandwar
21. Daragpur
22. Datauli
23. Dhakpura
24. Donkeli
25. Fatehpur Anandipur
26. Garhi Chhatrapat
27. Gazipur
28. Gudun
29. Hamirpura
30. Hardashpur Nisfi
31. Hirangaon
32. Itora
33. Jahagirpur
34. Jaindamai
35. Jalalpur
36. Jamalpur
37. Jarauli Kalan
38. Jarauli Khurd
39. Jilupura
40. Khagerai
41. Khalilganj
42. Khamkaranpur
43. Kharsoli
44. Khera Ganeshpur
45. Kinharpur
46. Kolamai
47. Kurrikupa
48. Ladupur Chakarpur
49. Lalau
50. Latura
51. Lohari
52. Mandua
53. Matamai
54. Matsena
55. Milikhan Jahanpur
56. Mondha
57. Muhammadpur Biharipur
58. Nagau
59. Naglamulla
60. Nagria
61. Nanpi Pithani
62. Nargapur
63. Nasirpur
64. Nurpur Kutubpur
65. Paharpur
66. Pharaul Nagaria
67. Phulaichi
68. Pilua
69. Prempur Anandipur
70. Ranipur
71. Rasidpur Kaneta
72. Rupaspur
73. Salempur Anandipur
74. Salempur Naglakhar
75. Saragawan
76. Saramai
77. Satgai
78. Sengai
79. Shankarpur
80. Sherpur Anandipur
81. Sikahra Hardaspur
82. Sufipur
83. Ulau
84. Undani
85. Usaini
86. Usmanpur
87. Vijaypurnagla Bhavesingh
88. Wazirpur Anandipur
89. Wazirpur Jihalpur

Notes

References

External links

• Firozabad City E-Portal
• Firozabad District Homepage
• Firozabad City Post Offices