Faridabad

[fuh-ree-duh-bahd]

Faridabad, (फरीदाबाद) is a city and a municipal corporation in Faridabad district in the state of Haryana, India. It is a major industrial city and population centre. The city was founded in 1607 by Shaikh Farid, treasurer of Jahangir, with the object of protecting the highway which passed through the town. He built a fort, a tank and a mosque which are now in ruins. It also had a sarai, a travelers' lodge, that served as a last stop for travelers to Delhi. Later, it became the headquarters of a pargana which was held in jagir by the Ballabgarh ruler. Faridabad became the 12th district of in Haryana on 15 August 1979.

Overview

Faridabad is about 25 Kilometres south of Delhi at 28° 25' 16" North and 77° 18' 28" East. It is bounded by the National Capital Territory of Delhi on its north, Gurgaon District on the west, and Uttar Pradesh State on its east and south. Delhi-Mathura National Highway-2 (Shershah Suri Marg) passes through the centre of the district. The city has many Railway Stations on the Delhi-Mathura double track broad-gauge line of the North Central Railway.

Faridabad is now the most populated city of Haryana. 50% of the income tax collected in Haryana, is from Faridabad and Gurgaon. The Tribune. .

Faridabad is famous for Henna Production on agriculture sector while tractors, motorcycles, switch gears, refrigerators, shoes and tyres are other famous industrial products of the city.

Badkhal Lake tourist complex, Suraj Kund Tourist Complex, Aravalli Golf Club, Raja Nahar Singh Palace and Dabchick are the famous tourist spots.

For the purposes of civil administration, Faridabad District is divided into five sub divisions, viz., Faridabad, Ballabgarh, Palwal, Hodal and Hathin. Each subdivision is headed by a sub-divisional officer.

To know more about Faridabad, visit www.FaridabadYellowPages.com

Geography

Faridabad is located at . It has an average elevation of 198 metres (649 ft).

The City is located on the plains of river Yamuna. It is bordered by the Yamuna to the east and Aravalli Hills towards the west and southwest. Today, virtually all of the land has been developed with residential housing as the population of the city swelled during the mid 90s.

Much like the rest of India, the people of Faridabad rely on ground water for their basic needs which is the gift of good monsoon season.

Sports

Adequate facilities for sports are available in Nahar Singh Stadium, which is a common One Day International venue in India.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Faridabad had a population of 1,054,981. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Faridabad has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 60%. In Faridabad, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.

People of Faridabad share different ethnicities depending on when they or their ancestors moved to the area. Old Faridabad, as the northern and oldest part of the city is known, is home to people whose families might have been living in the area for centuries. The ancestry of people is mostly baniya ,Jat, Gujars and people from the state of Uttar Pradesh and villages in Haryana.

The western part of the city is called New Industrial Town (abbreviated as NIT). It was built after 1947 for the people who were relocating in India from Pakistan after the Partition. Thus most of the people here share their ancestry with modern day Pakistan's regions of Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bannu, and Kohat.

The main communities are: like JATS .The Jat people are one of the most prosperous groups in the region. JATS holds the major agriculture land in the region and enjoys being the most powerful group in the region.

The rapid growth of the city also brought immigrants to the city from other parts of the country. People from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Delhi, Bengal. It is said that city was initially planned only for 300,000 people but the total population of the city is well over 2 million today.

The city comes alive during the Winter Navratras, especially during the Vijay Dashami/Dusshera day when scores of Maa Durga Idols leave for the immersion. Immersion is done at Okhla Barrage at the border of Delhi-UP. In all there are about 10-12 Durga Puja's held every year in the main city, district count easily surpassing 30. The hard working community has added to the considerable growth of the city. Many of them commute to nearby Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad.

People of Faridabad are very modern owing to an industrialized economy. A reflection of the modern day lifestyle can be seen. A Recent India-Today survey showed that people here are among top ten buyers of health care and beauty products in India.

District Administration

Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF),
Commissioner MCF(R. K. Khullar)
Deputy Commissioner (Brijender Singh).
Sr. Superintendent of Police (Shrikant Jadhav).
Deputy Conservator of Forests.
District & Sessions Judge (Currently Sh. L. N. Mittal)
HUDA Administrator (Brijender Singh)
Sectoral development is looked after by the district head/officer of each development department such as PWD, Health, Mines, Education, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, etc. These officers are from various Haryana state services.

Economy

Faridabad is a massive economic engine for Haryana. Faridabad and Gurgaon generate over 50% of the income tax to the Haryana government.

Agriculture

Wheat was grown in Faridabad before but the agriculture has since moved towards the villages of Haryana as Faridabad saw a boom in the population in the early 90s. Almost all of agricultural land has been taken over by the residential housing. However, the 'Anaaj Mandi' (Grain Market) of heritage value still exists in Old Faridabad.

Central Government Offices

Faridabad has benefited from plans of Union Government to decongest Delhi by shifting a number of Central Government Offices to Faridabad. Many directorates of different union government ministries are headquartered in Faridabad. Prominent among them are Central Water Commission, Department of Plant Quarantine, and Central Insecticide Lab. A number of Union Government Offices for Haryana are based here such as Department of Explosives, Department of Labour, etc.

Manufacturing

Faridabad is the industrial heart of Haryana. It is home to hundreds of large scale companies like Orient fans (C.K.Birla Group), JCB India Limited, Alpine Apparels Pvt. Ltd. Nirigemes, Agri Machinery Group (Escorts Limited), Yamaha Motor India Pvt. Ltd., Whirlpool, ABB Ltd., Goodyear Tyres, JBM, Knorr Bremse India Pvt. Ltd., Tata Ryerson Ltd (Nano parts), BCH Electric Ltd., Hindustan Syringes (dispovan), Thomson Press, Havells, L&T, Tide Water Oil Co.(India) Limited, Faridabad. There are thousands of medium and small scale units as well.

Financial

Faridabad contributes 51 percent of the income of Haryana. This engineering cluster city is now to get the software park which is known as Haryana Technology Park.

Military

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has a logistics base in Faridabad. The resident unit is No.56 Air Storage Park as well as the Air Force Guard Dog Training Unit. The IAF Base is commanded by a Group Captain of the Logistics Branch. Formerly, a SA-2 SAM Squadron was also based in Faridabad. Although there is no army organisation in the city, there are many retired army officers settled here.

R&D Facility

Faridabad has one of finest R&D facilities in Asia. Indian Oil Corporation Limited has its R&D centre located at sector 13 Faridabad (the only one in India) and leads in petroleum Research. The center was founded on 10 March 1972 and now employs around 500 scientists and technical staff. The division is critical contributor in fulfilling India's Defence Requirements. Indian Tyre Major JK Tyres & Industries Ltd , has its GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY Centre in Faridabad.The TECH Centre is the hub of JK Tyres' global R&D . having State of the art facilities in IT, Engineering & Product Design.

Communications

Faridabad is well connected by the latest means of communications that includes GSM, WLL, Dialup internet connection, DSL internet connection, Leased line internet connection.

Govt operated fixed line/land line telephone connections privately operated, world class network of fixed line phones.

Apart from electronics means of communication, the city is well connected through the postal services as well. Government owned Indian Postal Service and privately owned postal services like DHL, FedEx, DTDC, Blue Dart etc. can be easily accessed.

Transportation

By Rail

Faridabad is on broad gauge of New Delhi- Mumbai Line. New Delhi and Hazrat Nizammudin Railway Station is about 25Km from Faridabad Station. The trains for big cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad are easily accessible from here. Local Trains runs between New Delhi to Faridabad. There are three railway stations in the city viz. Faridabad(FDB), New Town Faridabad(FDN) and Ballabgarh(BVH) .Earlier it was the last station of central railway, But now, it has been taken in Northern railway. It is a very high revenue generating source for railways as thousands of people move daily in local trains to and from Delhi for Education/professions.

By Road

The National Highway-2 (Delhi-Mathura Road) passes through the city, and thus it is well connected to nearby states. Roadways services of Haryana (Haryana Roadways) and neighbouring states like Delhi Transport Corporation, Uttar Pardesh Transport Department, Madhya Pradesh Transport Department, etc. are easily accessible.

Delhi Metro Rail is likely to cover the city by 2010 as proposed by the Government of Delhi.

By Air

Faridabad is served by Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi and Palam Domestic Airport, New Delhi.

Education

Schools: Modern Vidya Niketan, Apeejay Sr. Sec. School, Carmel Convent School, Central School No. 1, Central School, DAV Public School, Delhi Public School, Eicher School, G.D.Goenka world School, Govt. Girl's School, Geeta Convent School, Geeta Bal Niketan, Grand Columbus Public School, Homerton Grammar Pub. School, Jiva Public School, K.L.Mehta Dayanand Pub. School, Manav Rachna International School, Modern School, Pal Vanshikam Educational Centre, Rawal Public School,

Shemford Schools

St Albans School, St. John's School, St. Anthony School, St. Joseph's School, Sh.S.D.Sr.Sec.School, Vidhya Niketan, Vidhya Mandir Public School Vardhman School, Vidhya Niketan, B.N. Public School

   Colleges:

   Aggarwal College,

   D.A.V. College,

   Govt. College,

   K.L.M Dayanand College for Women,

   Sarswati Mahila College

   Institutes:

   YMCA Instt.of Engineering,

   B.S.Anangpuria Inst. of Tech & Mgt

   Echolon Institute of Engineering,

   Food Craft Institute,

   I.T.I.,

   DAV Institute of Management,

   Govt. Ploytechnic,

   Govt. Polytechnic for Women,

   Career Institute of  Tech. & Management,

   Manav Rachna College of Engineering,

   Lingya's Inst of Tech & Mgt,

   Al-Falah School of Engg & Tech.

   Government Officer's Institutes/Training Centres:

   Cement Research Institute,

   National Institute of Finance Management (M/o Finance),

   National Academy of Central Excise, Custom & Narcotics,

   Power Engineers Training Institute,

   Central Fertilizer Quality Control & Training Institute,

   Regional Directorate of Apprentice & Training(RDAT),

   Wireless Training Centre  (Cabinet Secretarite),

   Oriental Insurance Staff Training College

Famous people from Faridabad

Avtar Singh Bhadana - politician and member of the Lok Sabha
Maharani Kishori - wife of Jat Maharaja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, India; married in 1730.
Sonu Nigam - Indian playback singer (born 1973)
Raja Nahar Singh - King of the princely state of Ballabhgarh in Faridabad (1823 – 1858)
Ajay Ratra - Indian cricketer (born 1981)
Pallav Aggarwal - Embedded Design Consultant, Simpaltechnologies-Embedded Design House (www.simpaltechnologies.com) 0-9811337646.