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CAR RENTAL TOURS
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Himachal Pradesh pronunciation formerly the Punjab
Hill States, is a mostly mountainous state in
northern India. Punjab to the southwest, Haryana and
Uttar Pradesh to the south and Uttaranchal to the
southeast. Himachal is one of the smaller states of
the country and holds the 17th rank in the list of
States and Union Territories of India.
The state capital is
Shimla
(formerly British India's summer capital under the
name Simla), other major towns are
Solan,
Dharamsala,
Kangra,
Mandi,
Kullu,
Chamba,
Hamirpur,
Dalhousie
and
Manali.
The western Himalaya lies in the north and east and
the smaller Shiwalik (or Shivalik) range in the
south.
Himachal Pradesh has five major rivers. These are
Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab, Beas and Yamuna.
History
Himachal Pradesh came under British control in the
middle of the 19th century. The British annexed
Kangra District, which includes present-day Kangra,
Kullu, Hamirpur, and Lahul and Spiti districts, in
1846 at the conclusion of the First Anglo-Sikh War.
The remainder of Himachal Pradesh was made up of a
number of princely states; see Hill States.
Under the British Raj, Kangra District was part of
the British province of Punjab, and the princely
states, then known as the Simla Hill States, were
under the authority of Punjab until the early
1930's, when the Punjab States Agency was created,
under the direct authority of the Governor-General
of India. The Punjab Hill States Agency, which
included most of the princely states in present-day
Himachal Pradesh, was separated from Punjab States
Agency in 1936. |
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India
became independent of the United Kingdom in 1947, and
Himachal Pradesh was established as a state on April 15,
1948, composed of the territory of some 30 Hill states
(including feudatories) that acceded to the Government
of India, while Bilaspur remained a separate state in
the Indian Union till its merger with Himachal Pradesh
on July 1, 1954 by an act of the Indian Parliament.
Himachal became a Part C State under a Lieutenant
Governor, with a Legislative Assembly of 36 members and
a Cabinet of three ministers in 1951. On July 1, 1954,
Bilaspur, another Part C State, was integrated with
Himachal Pradesh by an act of the Indian Parliament and
the strength of the Assembly was raised to 41 members.
In 1956, the States Re-organization Commission
recommended the unification of Himachal Pradesh with
Punjab. But the people of Himachal Pradesh opposed and
the proposal was overruled.
Economy
The Himachali economy is mainly dependent on tourism and
apples. Kullu, Manali, Shimla, Palampur and Dharamshala
are famous tourist destinations in Himachal Pradesh.
There are also some natural minerals in the state. There
are two large cement factories catering not only to the
people of Himachal but also selling in other states.
Moreover, Himachal has got significant service class and
is one of highest per capita income states in India.
Demographics
The population of Himachal in 2001 stood at 6,077,248 as
per the provisional results of the Census of India 2001.
The population of Himachal Pradesh includes estimated
population of entire Kinnaur district, where the
population enumeration of Census of India, 2001 could
not be conducted due to natural calamity. In terms of
population it holds the same position (twenty first)
among States and Union territories as at the previous
census. The population of the State rose by 17.53%
between 1991-2001. The sex ratio (i.e., the number of
females per thousand males) of population was recorded
as 970, which has declined from 976 in the previous
census. Total literacy of the State rose to 77.13% from
63.94% in 1991.
Transport
The geography of Himachal presents considerable
challenge to the development of transport
infrastructure. Himachal at present has the highest road
density among all the hill states of India. Although
Himachal also has three airports and two narrow gauge
rail tracks, roads remain the main mode of transport in
Himachal.
Roads
In addition to the National Highways, Himachal also a
large mesh of state highways and village roads. Most
tourist spots in Himachal such as Shimla, Manali,
Dharamshala etc. are well connected through roads.
Some of the roads in Himachal are seasonal and get
closed during winters and monsoons due to heavy
snowfall, landslides and washouts. The Manali-Leh road
for example remains closed for most part of the winters.
The government-owned Himachal Road Transport Corporation
runs a network of buses across the state and Himachal
Pradesh being a major tourist destination, there is no
dearth of private buses and taxis.
Railway
Himachal has two narrow
gauge rail tracks.
The Kalka-Shimla Railway track has a length of 96
kilometers. It passes through 102 tunnels and crosses
864 bridges. The track has been in existence for over a
century now. Panoramic Kalka-Shimla Railway known to be
a engineering marvel of British India. The level of
difficulty in laying of tracks could be judged by a
journey in the route.
The Pathankot-Jogindernagar track has a length of about
113 kilometers.
Air
The three airports in Himachal Pradesh are:
Jubbarhatti near Shimla, Gaggal near Kangra and Bhuntar
near Kullu. The flights operate only seasonally due to
extreme weather conditions, especially during winters.
All these airports have runways shorter than 4000 ft and
therefore allow the operation of only the smaller
aircraft such as the 18-seater Dornier, which is the
most common aircraft operating on these runways.
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