Roorkee 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.
Roorkee Town
(Rurki). Head-quarters of the tahsil^ the same name, and cantonment, in Saharanpui District, United Provinces, situated in 29 51' N. and 77 53' E., on the main line of the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway, and connected by road with Saharanpur and Hardwar. The Upper Ganges Canal passes between the native town and the cantonment. Population (1901), 17,197, including 9,256 Hindus and 6,197 Muhammadans.
Roorkee was the head-quarteis of a mahal or pargana mentioned in the Atn-i-Akban , but about 1840, when the Ganges Canal works commenced, it was a mere mud-built village on the banks of the Solam, It is now a fair-sued town, with broad metalled loadways meeting at right angles, and lined with excellent shops. It is also provided with good saucer drams, which aie flushed with water pumped from the canal. A short distance above the town the Ganges Canal is carried over the wide bed of the Solam by a magnificent brick aqueduct Roorkee first became important as the head-quarters of the canal workshops and iron foundry, which were established in 1845-6, and extended and improved in 1850. Foi thirty years the workshops weie conducted rather on the footing of a private business than as a Government concern. In 1886 they were brought under the ordinary rules for Government manufacturing departments. The annual out-turn is valued at about 2 to 3 lakhs, and 80 workmen were employed in 1903. Roorkee is the head-quarters of the Bengal Sappers and Miners, who have large workshops, employing 135 men in 1903. The most important institution is, however, the Thomason Engineering College, called aftei its founder, who was Lieutenant-Governor fiom 1843 to 1853. This institution had Us origin in a class started in 1845 to train native youths in engineering, to assist in the important public works then beginning. The decision ariived at in 1847 to cariy out the Ganges Canal project increased the necessity for a well-trained staff of engineers, and the college was opened in 1848.
In 1851 there were 50 students, and 42 had entered the service. Up to 1875 each student received a stipend ; but from that year the number of scholai- ships and the number of guaranteed appointments weie limited, though education remained practically free. Since 1896 all students except soldieis and mdustnal appi entices have paid fees, but the applications foi admission far exceed the accommodation. In the same year the methods of instruction weie greatly developed, and the college \\as practically lebuilt. Theie aie now chemical, physical, electrical, and mechanical laboratories, and technical workshops fitted with the latest tools and machinery. The press is supplied with power machines, and turns out all varieties of work besides ordinal y printing. There are also mechanical and industrial classes. The total number of students in 1903-4 was 369; and in 1903 the press employed 125 workmen, and the workshops 52, besides 77 students. Roorkee is also the head- quarters of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and of the American Methodist Missions in this District. The Joint-Magistrate and the Deputy-Collector posted to the subdivision, and an Executive Engineer of the Upper Ganges Canal, reside here.
The municipality was created m 1868. The income and expenditure from 1892 to 1901 averaged Rs. 17,000 and Rs. 16,000. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 27,000, chiefly from octioi (Rs. 16,000)^ and the expenditure was Rs. 28,000. Besides the Bengal Sappers and Mineis, t\\o heavy batteries of aitilleiy are ordinarily stationed here. The cantonment income and expenditure are about Rs. 6,000 annually, and the population of the cantonment in 1901 was 2,951.
