The Voice Of Faridabad: August 2007

The Delhi Zoo

The Delhi Zoo is an ideal place to spend a day with family and children. The experience is fun and educational as well. The Zoo at Delhi was set up in 1957 over a sprawling expanse of 240 acres area. More than 1700 animals and birds belonging to about 185 species are housed here. These animals have been imported from various jungles of Asia, America, Africa and Australia and no stone has been left unturned to preserve their natural environment and habitat.

The Kos Minar, a magnificent structure built by the Mughal Emperor Jehangir stands at the entrance, a silent sentinel to the many visitors who come here. The exotic flora and fauna here inculcate a love of nature in the children. African Antelopes, African Wild Buffalo, Axis Deer, Banteng, Chimpanzee, Emu, Gir Lion, Fallow Deer, Grey Kangaroo, Hippopotamus, Hog Dear, Hyena, Jaguar, Macaque, Peafowl, Spider Monkey and Zebra are among the many beasts found here.

A day spent at the Delhi Zoo may be a peaceful picnic, observing these exotic creatures at close quarters and learning more about their habitat, feeding habits and lifecycle. The zoo is also a botanist’s paradise. Many different varieties of trees and shrubs are found here. The most famous among these are the Phulahi hedges. The hanging yellow Alamtas thrive here.

The Delhi Zoo remains closed on Friday and on other days the zoo timings are 8 am to 6 pm in summers and 9 am to 5 pm in winters. An admission fee of Rs. 50 per head is charged at the Delhi Zoo. The Delhi Zoo is especially inviting with a number of migratory birds flocking here from the icy Siberian regions. As the birds laze in the warmth of the sunshine, our spirits are lifted as well. A number of eateries provide adequate meals for the day.

Tourism & Recreation in Faridabad

Tourism & Recreation:

Bhadkal lake and Suraj kund are some natural places to visit. However, large parks like Rose Garden and Town park are also some nice places to visit in the morning and the evenings for people of Faridabad. Bowling alleys and small shopping malls started appearing in the city during the late 90s near the Mathura Road. However, in the last 5 years there has been a trend of large scale shopping malls.

Ansal Crown Plaza and SRS World are just the start in an idea that seems to have worked quite well for Faridabad. These malls contain many shops like Woodland, Ebony and Vibe as well as fast food giants like McDonalds, Subway etc. They also have cinemas catering to moviegoers and teenagers. There have been at least 10 more of these malls planned in and around Mathura Road (National highway). The reason might be large interest for the local public and teenagers as well as the foreigners heading towards Agra on the National highway. The malls offer a refreshing break for shopping as well as food.

The Nahar Singh Stadium is the home ground of the Haryana cricket team, and also hosts One-day International matches.

Some prime residential properties under construction:
OmaxeThe Forest
Omaxe Hills
Omaxe Green Valley
Piyush Heights
Vesta Heights
BPTP Park G
Grandeura
BPTP Princess Park

Educational Institition Of Faridabad

Educational Institution's of Faridabad:

National Power Training Institute (NPTI).
B.S.Anangpuria Institute of Tech. & Mgt.
LINGAYA'S Institute of Management & Technology
DAV Institute of Management
Career Institute of Technology and Management
Rai Foundation Engineering College
Manav Rachna College of Engineering
YMCA Institute of Engineering
Al-Falah School of Engg. & Tech.
Saheed Bhagat Singh College of Management and Technology

It also has some well known schools like:

Ryan International School (RIS)
Kendriya Vidyalaya No 1
Kendriya Vidyalaya No 2
Apeejay School (Sector 15, Faridabad)
St. Albans School
Aravali International School
Carmel Convent School (sector 7D,Faridabad)
Dayanand Anglo Vedic Public School (Sector 14, Sector 37, Faridabad)
Delhi Public School (Faridabad) (DPS)
Jiva Public School
Modern School (Faridabad)
Modern Vidya Niketan (MVN)
SOS Hermann Gmeiner School (Sector-29 Faridabad)
Vidya Sanskar - International School for Holistic Learning, Village Bhopani
Vidya Mandir Public School (sec-15 Faridabad)
Manav Rachna International School

Facts about Faridabad

Economy:

Faridabad is a massive economic engine for Haryana. Faridabad and Gurgaon generate over 50% of the income tax to the Haryana government.

Agriculture:

Wheat was grown in Faridabad before but the agriculture has since moved towards the villages of Haryana as the Faridabad saw a boom in the population in the early 90s. Almost all of agricultural land has been taken over by the residential housing. Although the 'Anaaj Mandi' (Grain Market) of heritage value still exists in Old Faridabad.

Central Government Offices:

Faridabad has benefitted from plans of Union Government to decongest delhi by shifting a number of Central Government Offices to Faridabad. Many directorates of different union government ministries are headquartered in Faridabad. Prominent among them are Central Water Organisation, Dte. of Plant Quarntine, Central Insectcide Lab . A number of Union Government Offices for Haryana are based here such as Department of Explosives, Labour etc.

Manufacturing:

Faridabad is the industrial heart of Haryana. It is home to hundreds of large scale companies like Orient fans (C.K.Birla Group), JCB India Limited, Agri Machinery Group (Escorts Limited), Yamaha Motor India Pvt. Ltd., Whirlpool, ABB Ltd., Knorr Bremse India Pvt. ltd., faridabad. There are thousands of medium and small scale units as well.

Financial:

Faridabad contributes 51 percent of the income of Haryana alone. This engineering cluster city is now to get the software park which is known as Haryana Technology Park.

Military:

The Indian Air Force has a logistics base in Faridabad. The resident unit is No. 56 Air Storage Park as well as the Air Force Guard Dog Training Unit. The IAF Base is commanded by a Group Captain of the Logistics Branch. Formerly, a SA-2 SAM Squadron was also based in Faridabad.Although there is no army organisation in faridabad there are many retired army officers settled in sectors.

R&D Facility:

Faridabad has one of finest R&D facilities in Asia. R&D division of India's Biggest Corporate is located in Faridabad. The division is critical contributor in fulfilling India's Defence Requirements.[Indian Oil Corporation Limited] has its R&D centre at sector 13 Faridabad and leads in petroleum Research.

Communications:

Faridabad is well connected to the world by the latest means of communications that includes GSM, WLL, Dialup internet connection, DSL internet connection, Leased line internet connection. Govt operated fixed line/land line telephone connections privately operated, world class network of fixed line phones.

Apart from the electronic media coverage you can also communicate with Faridabad via the government operated postal department World class courier services like DHL, Fedex. Also the city is linked by the small time couriers which are much inexpensive compared to the bigger ones.

Transportation:

It includes everything starting from an auto-rickshaw to the rich cars like Maybach. Auto-rickshaws run mainly on national highway connecting Delhi border and Ballabgarh. Likewise other means of transport are taxis, buses etc. Personal cars and two-wheelers have gradually been increasing since recent years making the city cause of jams and traffic blocks. Trains stop at three railway stations in Faridabad connecting Ballabgarh to New Delhi. Metro rail services are likely to reach the city by 2010 as proposed by Delhi government.

District Administration of Faridabad

The District Adminstration of Faridabad consits of :

Mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF)
Commissioner
Deputy Commissioner
Sr. Superintendent of Police
Deputy Conservator of Forests.
District & Sessions Judge
HUDA Administrator
Sectoral development is looked after by the district head/officer of each development department such as PWD, Health, Mines, Education, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, etc. These officers are from various Haryana state services.

People of Faridabad

People of Faridabad share different ethnicity depending on when they or their ancestors moved to the area. Old Faridabad as the northern part of the city is known is home to people whose families might have been living in the area for centuries as this is the oldest part of the city. The ancestry of people is mostly Jat, Gujars and people from UP and villages in Haryana.

Faridabad NIT built after 1947 which lies west of the Railway tracks is home to a totally different group of people. The share their ancestry with the people of western India(or Modern Day Pakistan). These people could be called Siraki, Mulati, Pishori etc. depending on where their parents came from after the division of India in August, 1947. People here have known to have come from the Pakistani towns and cities of Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bannu, Peshawar and Kohat. People were allotted houses on the condition that they will hold these for 99 years and will pay them off each month. NIT was divided by areas called NH or sectors e.g. Number 1, 2, 3,4 & 5 which in turn had blocks from A to ... depending on how many blocks it had.

Gujars are another group of people who live in and around the Aravalli hills. They have also lived in he hills for centuries and some of whom are quite rich today.

The rapid growth of the city also brought immigrants to the city from other parts of the country. People from UP, villages in and around Faridabad, Rajasthan, Bihar and some from Bengal swelled the population size. It is said that Faridabad was initially planned for 3 lakh people(300, 000) but the total population of the city is well over 20 lakhs today(2 million).

People of Faridabad are very modern owing to an industrialized economy. A reflection of the lifestyle of Delhiites can be seen in Faridabad. A Recent India-Today survey showed that people here are among top ten buyers of healthcare and beauty products in India.

Besides, the city also has a sizeable population of Bengalis. The city comes alive during the Winter Navratras, especially during the Vijay Dashami/Dusshera day when scores of Maa Durga Idols leave for the immersion. Immersion is done at Okhla Barrage at the border of Delhi-UP. In all there are about 10-12 Durga Puja's held every year in the main city, district count easily surpassing 30. Hence it can safely be assumed that there must at least be 70,000 Bengalis in the town. The hard working community has added to the considerable growth of the city as many of them own houses and are the permanent resident of the city. Many of them commute to nearby Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Noida for their livelihood.

Geography of Faridabad

Faridabad City itself is a plain bordered by the River Yamuna to the east and Aravalli Hills towards the west and south West. Being in close proximity to the Yamuna the land east of the National Highway is better in quality than the western side. Today virtually all of the land has been filled up with residential housing as the population of the city swelled during the mid 90s.

Much like the rest of India the people of Faridabad rely on ground water for their basic needs which is the gift of good monsoon season.

In Faridabad most of the population is Sikhs and Hindus and having lot of Gurudwaras & Temples. Among main Gurudwaras includes Santo Ka Gurudwara, Singh Sabha, Pothi Mala and amongst temples Hanuman Mandir, Shiv Mandir of Sainik Colony and Ghusain Ka Mandir.

About Faridabad

Faridabad is a major industrial city and population center in Haryana state, northern India. It is located in Faridabad District. the city was founded in 1607 by Shaikh Farid, treasurer of Jahangir, with the object of protecting the highway which passed through the town. Shaikh Farid built a fort, a tank and a mosque which are in ruins. Later, it becomes the headquarters of a pargana which was held in jagir by the Ballabgarh ruler. Faridabad became 12th district of Haryana State on 15th August, 1979.

Overview:
Faridabad is about 25 Kilometres south of Delhi at 28deg 25' 16" North Latitude and 77deg 18' 28" East Longitude. It is bounded by the National Capital Territory of Delhi on its north, Gurgaon District on the west, and of Uttar Pradesh State on its east and south. Delhi-Mathura National Highway No.2 (Shershah Suri Marg) passes through the centre of the district. It has an Indian Railway station on the Delhi-Mathura double track broad-gauge line of the Central Railway.

Faridabad is famous for Henna Production on agriculture sector while tractors, motorcycles, switch gears, refrigerators, shoes and tyres are other famous industrial products of the city.

Badkhal Lake tourist complex, Suraj Kund Tourist Complex, Aravalli Golf Club, Raja Nahar Singh Palace and Dabchick are the famous tourist spots.

For the ease of civil administration, Faridabad District is divided into five sub divisions, Faridabad, Ballabgarh, Palwal, Hodal and Hathin. Each subdivision is headed by a sub-divisional officer. Recently Faridabad has been suffering due to the departure of many manufacturing companies. Faridabad has seen Gurgaon and Noida speed ahead in development with lot of multinational companies setting up there.