Roorkee

Roorkee City
City
Roorkee City
Main Administrative Building IIT Roorkee
The East India Company-era (1854) Ganeshpur bridge over the Ganges Canal in Roorkee, 2008
Kingdom of Dreams
From top: Main Administrative Building of IIT Roorkee, The East India Company-era (1854) Ganeshpur Bridge over the Ganges Canal and St. John's Church.
Roorkee City is located in Uttarakhand
Roorkee City
Roorkee City
Location in Uttarakhand, India
Coordinates: 29°52′29.49″N 77°53′23.74″E / 29.8748583°N 77.8899278°E / 29.8748583; 77.8899278
Country India
StateUttarakhand
DistrictHaridwar
Founded1842
Municipality1868
Founded byProby Cautley
Government
 • TypeMayor–council
 • BodyRoorkee Municipal Corporation
 • MayorGaurav Goel, Independent
 • Municipal CommissionerVijay Nath Shukl, PCS
 • Rank5
Elevation
275 m (902 ft)
Population
 (2011)
 • Metro
132,889
Languages
 • OfficialHindi
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
247667
Telephone code+91-1332
Vehicle registrationUK-17
Sex ratio1.12[1] /

Roorkee (Rūṛkī; Hindi: [ɾuːɽkiː]) is a city and a municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 31 km (19 mi) from Haridwar city, the district headquarter. It is spread over a flat terrain under Sivalik Hills of Himalayas. The city is developed on the banks of Ganges Canal, its dominant feature, which flows from north–south through middle of the city. Roorkee is home to Asia's first engineering college Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, formerly known as Thomson College of Civil Engineering. Roorkee is also known for the Roorkee Cantonment, one of the country's oldest military establishments and the headquarters of Bengal Engineer Group since 1853.[2] A freight train ran in between Roorkee and Piran Kaliyar on 22 December 1851, this was two years before first passenger trains were started between Bombay and Thana in 1853 and 14 years after first freight trains ran in Chennai in 1837.[3]

  1. ^ "Census of India, 2011". Office of the Registrar General, India. 2 March 2002. Archived from the original on 16 June 2004. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Bengal Sappers’ saga of valour", The Tribune, 24 November 2008.
  3. ^ irfca.org/docs/history/india-first-railways.html