Bilaspur District (1910)
Central Provinces District Gazetteer, Vol. 7 A (Bilaspur District), A. E. Nelson, ed., Pioneer Press, Allahabad, 1910
Made available by the Internet Archive.
Source: Library of the University of California, Los Angeles
Edited by R Sivaramakrishnan. Posted to IRFCA on: October 7, 2008.
p. 178 et seq.
The main line of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway passes through the centre of the District. Entering the Bilaspur tahsil from the south close to Nipania station it follows a northerly direction to Bilaspur town where it takes a turn to the north-east and crosses the Bilaspur and Janjgir tahsils and the Champa zamindari. The length of the line within the District is 65 miles and it has seven stations. It was completed to Raigarh in 1890. From Bilaspur a branch line on the broad gauge runs north to Katnl junction on the East Indian Railway, having been opened in 1891. Its length within the District is 74 miles and it has six stations. The scenery as it ascends the passes on to the Pendra plateau is very picturesque. Sanction has been given for the survey of the line on the narrow gauge from Neinpur junction on the Sitpura extension of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway through Mungeli to Bilaspur. The length of the line will be 170 miles and it will give a shorter and more direct communication between the Satpura plateau and Calcutta, and open up the rich Banjar valley of Mandla. The earthwork for part of the line between Bilaspur and Mungeli was laid during the famine of 1900.
The old trunk routes have now been superseded by the railway and some of them are little more than grass-grown tracks. But they are marked by some of the finest avenues of trees to be found in the Province. At the settlement of 1868 traffic followed five principal routes, of which three were rugged and inaccessible, quite unfit for wheeled carriage and only admitting of export or import by means of pack-bullocks during six months of the year. Of these two were northern routes, one leading from the Chliattlsgarh plain througli Kenda, Pendra and Sohagpur to Rewah, and the other through Lapha, Chhuri, Uprora and Surguja to Mirzapur. Both these routes were, through a great portion of their length, simply tracks across the hills and through the jungles along which few traders or travellers ventured alone. The place of the former has now been taken by the Katni-Bilaspur Railway.... Ratanpur was formerly an emporium for the forest produce of the north of the District, but this is now taken to Ghutku station... The most important traffic routes at present are the railway feeders from Champa to Bamnldih and Bhatgaon, Champa to Korba, Akaltara to Pamgarh, Akaltara to Baloda and Bhalapara to Mungeli..... And from Pandaria two roads have been constructed by the Chhattlsgarh Slates Roads Division, one going south to Dongargarh station in Khairagarh State, and the other east for 41 miles through Lormi to Kota station on the Bilaspur-Katnl line. ... In Pendra zamindari a road leads from Gaurela station to Pendra for 4I miles and another for 14 miles to Amarkantak. Some grain is brought to the railway from Mandla along this road ... Pendra station also acts as a distributing centre for the imports of Surguja and Rewah States.... A feeder from Loharsi to Nipania station in Raipur District is partly constructed. ...