Zirakpur

Zirakpur ਜ਼ੀਰਕਪੁਰ
Town
Zirakpur Location in Punjab, India
Coordinates: 30°39′N 76°49′E / 30.65°N 76.82°ECoordinates: 30°39′N 76°49′E / 30.65°N 76.82°E
Country	India
State	Punjab
District	Mohali
Elevation	350 m (1,150 ft)
Population (2011)[1]
• Total	95,553
Languages
• Official	Punjabi
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	140603
Telephone code	+91-1762-XXX XXX
Vehicle registration	PB-65 and PB-70
Website	www.zirakpuronline.com

Zirakpur is a satellite town, in Mohali District, Punjab, near Chandigarh in India. The town is considered a part of the Chandigarh capital region. It is set on the foothills of Shivalik hills. It is part of the tehsil Dera Bassi. After assessing cities on the basis of five key parameters — real estate, people, physical infrastructure, social infrastructure and business environment — a recent study concluded that India’s hottest emerging city is Chandigarh. India's first planned city got top ranking for the potential of its real estate market, physical infrastructure and business environment. While there is little space left within the city itself, Chandigarh scores because of the rapid development taking place on its outskirts, in areas like Panchkula, Mohali, Zirakpur and Dera Bassi on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway. Good connectivity, low operational costs and high disposable income also contributed to it being declared India’s hottest emerging city.

History

Zirakpur got its name from a small village, which is now a part of the present Zirakpur town. For long it remained a bunch of small villages located along the Chandigarh-Ambala highway. Then Chandigarh started to expand and these villages started to seem like a part of Chandigarh. Before the year 2000, the city had a population of less than twenty thousand. Soon a small village Baltana, which is a part of Zirakpur now, started having some population growth being near to Panchkula and Chandigarh. From 2004 ownwards the city's population started to increase rapidly, with booming property prices and the arrival of a large number of residential projects in the suburbs. The city's estimated population as of 2010 is nearly 1.5 lacs. Tourist information Sight Seeing The Mahendra Chaudhary Zoological Park, also known as Chhat Bir Zoo locally, located in Chatt Village, now in zirakpur municipal council. It is located on the road to Patiala. One day, you can plan a trip to the tourist spots in Chandigarh like Rock garden, Rose garden, Chandigarh Museum and Art gallery, etc. Another direction you can head to is Shimla where on the way you can see Timber trail, Pinjore garden, Kasuali, Solan, Chail, etc. You can also head to Amritsar, and visit the Golden Temple and the Wagah border

Malls

A number of malls are under construction in Zirakpur: Best Price (Bharti Walmart), Metro, Paras Downtown Square (Big Bazaar), City Centre, Ambala-Chandigarh Road, Cosmo Plaza, Ambala-Chandigarh Road, Global Mall

Public transport

Zirakpur is well connected through air-conditioned and non air-conditioned local buses with Chandigarh, Panchkula and other neighbouring areas. The inter-state buses going from Chandigarh to Delhi, Patiala, Rajpura, Bathinda and most of the northern cities of Hayrana pass through Zirakpur. There is scope for improvement for connectivity to other neighboring cities. The Chandigarh Metro is also planned to connect Zirakpur with other parts of the region in second phase. Mass rapid transport system is the urgent requirement of the Zirakpur to decongest the ever growing road traffic and jams. Zirakpur is located on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway and the Patiala-Shimla highway. At the intersection of these highways, a new flyover has been built mainly to cater to the Ambala-Chandigarh traffic. The bridge under area is poorly designed, as the road under the flyover turns to single lane while the same road before and after the flyover is two-lane, leading to a major chaos at times. The bridge was constructed by GMR constructions. There is no railway station of its own in Zirakpur. The nearest railway station is Chandigarh, which is around 8 km from here. For those traveling to the town by air, the nearest airport is situated in Chandigarh at around 5 km from here.

Wedding industry

Zirakpur is the 'Wedding capital' of the region. About 80% of the wedding banquets and resorts of the Chandigarh tri-city are located in Zirakpur. Wedding fireworks in the sky are a routine occasion in the town.

Civic amenities

The NHAI have made one of the longest flyovers of the regions passing through Zirakpur on Chandigarh Delhi highway. On the Zirakpur-Shimla highway, the railway over-bridge completed in 2011 has considerably improved the connectivity with Panchkula though it had overpassed many earlier deadlines due to various reasons. The Four laning of Zirakpur-Patiala road has been approved, but the actual work on the site has to start yet. The Aerocity Road will make a trip to Mohali even shorter and is expected to be completed by early 2012. The street lighting of the internal roads is quite good. Sewerage has been laid in 90% of the Zirakpur colonies and road carpeting has been done in most of the colonies. The rain water drainage system is yet to be developed for whole of the region. A sewerage treatment plant for this upcoming town is also on the cards.

Health facilities

Vishwakarma Temple, Lohgarh, Zirakpur

Zirakpur has a number of small and medium sized hospitals catering to its primary health needs. For the specialized health requirements, the town depends on the super speciality institutes in the region like the GMCH-32 Chandigarh, the PGIMER Chandigarh, Government Medical College, Patiala etc. The ambulance facility is available by dialing "108", this facility is provided by Sewa Ambulance.

Education

Zirakpur has a business school named Fountainhead School of Business. It also has some private schools, including St Joan School in Lohgarh. A few engineering colleges are located close by, including Chitkara Institute of Engineering and Technology, Swami Vivekanand College of Engineering, Gyan Sagar Medical College, Shaheed Udham Singh College of Engineering & Technology. Various schools in the town are Kendriya Vidhyalaya, K Area, Zirakpur Kendriya Vidyalya, High Ground, New Angle Public School (ICSE) Zirakpur.

Temples and Gurudwaras

VIshwakarma Temple,Gurudwara Naada Sahib,Gurudwara Bauli Sahib,Shiv Mandir-Green City

Demographics

As per the 2001 India census,^[2] Zirakpur had a population of 25,006. Males constitute 57% of the population and females 43%. Zirakpur has an average literacy rate of 63%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 69%, and female literacy is 56%. In Zirakpur, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age. Majority of the population are of Hindu and Sikh faith. Members of other religions are also present.

Gallery

• 

  Under-construction flyover (2008) in Zirakpur, now completed (2009)

• 

  Flyover Zirakpur at night

• 

  Gurudwara Baoli Saheb Patshahi 10th, Dhakoli, Zirakpur

See also

• Greater Mohali

References

1. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/pca/SearchDetails.aspx?Id=35802
2. "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. Retrieved 2008-11-01.