Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh

Hamirpur is a town and the headquarters of Hamirpur district in the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, India. Hamirpur is located in the Lower West Central Outer Himalayas at an average elevation of 790 M above sea level . Far northern High Altitude Dhauladhar Ranges overlook the city. Hamirpur is a rapidly developing City in Himachal Pradesh with New Entrepreneurship and Modern Construction. It is also a major junction on National Highway 3 While National Highway 103 starts at Here . Hamirpur is Famous for its High literacy rate, Educational Institutions and Traditional Festival Of Hamir Utsav . Hamirpur City is spread from Jhaniari to Bhota along NH 3 and NH 103 and is a prominent commercial centre for the district. It is Connected to the National Capital with regular HRTC Volvo and ordinary Buses. The nearest Airport is Kangra Airport and  Mohali International Airport While the nearest Railway is in Una at 79 km. Hamirpur City is surrounded by Pine tree forests and has a good city infrastructure ranging from Quality Educational Institutions, NIT, State Universities and Skill Learning centres.

Geography
The exact geographical co-ordinates of Hamirpur is , and the average elevation is 799 M . The highest point in Hamirpur is 989 M in Western Hills Off the city . It experiences Short Warm summers from late April to June when temperature may go up to 40 °C, and cool winters from mid October to April having as low as -2 °C . Monsoon season starts in late June and lasts till early September with fair amount of rainfall. It snowed in some parts of the district in January 2012 and February 2019 respectively. It lies beneath the irregular pattern hills Of Lower Western Himalayas and southern Shivalik Ranges. It has a fair amount of pine forests.

Demographics of Hamirpur town 
These statistics are from the 2011 census of India; "growth" is the change since 2001 census data as a percentage of the 2001 data:

Politics and Leaders

This segment of Himachal Pradesh is also known as politically hot segment in state politics. BJP had a greater influence on this particular region. In 1967, Kanshiram Thakur elected as first non congress MLA from this segment, Ramesh Verma of congress remain MLA from 1972 to 1977. Later in 1977,  an advocate by profession 'Thakur Jagdev Chand (Nephew of Kanshiram Thakur) became the MLA of Hamirpur Vidhan Sabha seat by defeating Ramesh Verma.

Thakur Jagdev Chand was a stalwart political figure of Himachal Pradesh, represented this constituency till December his death on 6 December 1993 just a week after his 5th victory in a row. Thakur was the only minister in Shanta Kumar's cabinet who managed the victory whereas Shanta Kumar himself and rest of his cabinet were defeated in 1993 assembly elections. BJP only won 7 seats. Narinder Thakur (son of Jagdev Chand) contested unsuccessfully the bi-election in 1994, whom BJP had selected after his father's sudden demise. Anita Verma of Congress remained MLA till 1998. In 1998, BJP offered ticket to Mrs. Urmil Thakur, elder daughter in law of Thakur, and she successfully contested the election and remained on the post till 2003. Family dispute lead to the defeat of Urmil Thakur as Mr. Narinder Thakur contested election as an independent candidate an attracted over 10000 votes (a huge number where total number of votes were around 50000). Anita Verma of Congress became MLA of Hamirpur for the second time and remained on the post till December 2007.

Urmil Thakur (MLA 1998-2003 and 2007-2012) managed her victory on the BJP ticket and won December 2007 election along with full support of her brother in law Narinder Thakur this time, with a margin of 6901 votes. The sitting Chief Minister of Hiamchal Pradesh, Prem Kumar Dhumal managed to be on the post of Chief Minister in 1998 because of the strong ground prepared under leadership of Jagdev Chand, who was considered as a strongest contender of the post of chief minister after 1993 victory. As a tribute to a well respected leader among masses, state government opened a Government Degree College at Sujanpur and Town Hall at Hamirpur which were named after Thakur Jagdev Chand. A senior RSS member Thakur Ram Singh opened a history research institute at Neri, also named after the late Thakur Jagdev. Almost two decades have passed since Thakur died but his legacy and name still have considerable vote bank. Narinder Thakur openly revolted against the sitting P.K Dhumal. Anurag Thakur who won parliament bi-election for Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat with a huge margin 1.75 lack Aug 2008, his record margin was dropped by 1 lack votes in just 8 months. In the May 2009 elections he won by 73000 votes when he contested against new Congress candidate Narinder Thakur, in spite of the fact on remaining 3 parliament seats in Himachal BJP actually gained.

In 2012 assembly election a new assembly segment was created after delimitation named Sujanpur, Urmil Thakur(BJP) and Anita Verma(Congress) contested unsuccessful election against an independent candidate. Prem Kumar Dhumal decided to contest from Hamirpur and won by 9300 votes against Congress candidate Narinder Thakur. Narender Thakur successfully contested Sujanpur Bi-election in May 2014 on BJP ticket. Narender defeated Anita Rana, wife of Rajender Singh Rana who contested as Congress candidate by 538 votes. In 2017 elections Narinder Thakur contested from Hamirpur on BJP ticket and won by 5394 defeating the congress candidate Kuldeep Singh Pathania. Chief Minister candidate of BJP, Prem Kumar Dhumal was defeated by INC candidate Rajinder Singh Rana on Sujanpur constituency.

Media & Publication

Print Media:
Hamirpur town hosts bureau offices for national newspapers like Dainik Bhaskar, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Devbhumi Mirror, Punjab Kesri, Uttam Hindu and Ajit Samachar. Regional newspapers like Himachal Dustak, Divya Himachal, Dainik Sawera and Aapka Faisla also have their offices in town. 
English News papers circulated in hamirpur are Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Times Of India and The Tribune.
Electronic Media:
Head Office and Studio of Popular News channel Devbhumi Mirror is also situated in Hamirpur. Other local cable Tv channels are S Tv, Pole Star, PL Tv, Sun Tv, H Today, HP24*7 which are broadcast on local cable tv in hamirpur. Devbhumi Mirror and HP 24*7 are State level Channels While local Cable Channels like PL Tv, Sun Tv and H Today are operating from hamirpur and S Tv and Pole Star are Mandi based channels.
Radio:
AIR All India Radio has a broadcast and recording studio in hamirpur which has coverage in all areas of district hamirpur
Events:
Hamirpur's Hamir Utsav 3 Days mostly in early winters is main event here.
Sujanpur's Holi Mahotsav is a grand 3 Days event on Holi Festival.
Samtana Dushehra is 1 day event on Dushehra Festival Eve.

Temples
Shri Siddh Baba Balak Nath Temple, Deotsidh, is the biggest holy shrine in Barsar tehsil of the district. It is situated on the Deotsidh Dhar Range in Sivalik Hills. It stretches across 44 kilometers from Hamirpur, 185 kilometers from Chandigarh, 93 kilometers from Nangal Dam railway station, 64 kilometers from Una, 16 kilometers from Barsar and about 5 kilometers from Shah Talai.
The ancient Gasoteshwar Mahadev Temple built by Pandavas is situated at Gasota which is 7 km away from the district headquarter.

References

External links

Politics and leaders
RSS History Rewriting Institute
Temples

Category:Cities and towns in Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh