Harda Town
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Harda Town
Head-quarters of the tahsil of the same name, Hoshangabad District, Central Provinces, situated in 22° 21' N. and 77° 6' E., on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, 417 miles from Bombay. Population (1901), 16,300. Harda is the tenth town in the Province in size. It is comparatively modern, Handia, an old Muham- madan town, i 2 miles distant, having formerly been the principal place in this part of the valley. It was constituted a municipality in 1869. The municipal receipts during the decade ending 190 1 averaged l\s. 36,000. In 1903-4 they amounted to Rs. 66,000, of which Rs. 50,000 was derived from octroi. The town is supplied with water from the Anjan river, a mile and a half distant, but the works are at present incomplete. Infiltration and pumping wells were sunk in the river in 1896 ; but owing to the famine in that year, the Govern- ment loan which the municipality recjuired for their completion could not be allotted. In 1900, when there was a scarcity (/ water, a small l)ump was set up in the infiltration well, and water was conveyed to some stand-pipes in the southern end of the town, and subsequently to the bathing ghat. The total expenditure on the works has been Rs. 52,000. Harda is an important commercial centre for the export of grain. Four cotton-ginning factories, three of which also contain presses, have been opened since 1899. Their combined capital is 3-15 lakhs, and in 1904 they cleaned and pressed cotton to the value of Rs. 56,000, The town also contains railway workshops. Local handi- crafts include the manufacture of brass vessels and of thick cloths for the tops of carts, and the preparati(jn and stutifing of skins. There is a printing press with English and Hindi type. A subdivisional ofificer for the two hi/isl/s of Harda and Seonl-Malwa is stationed here. The Foreign Christian Missionary Society supports, with the assistance of Government grants, a high school with 21 pupils, and an English middle school. There are three dispensaries, two of which are main- tained by the railway company and the mission.
