Solapur: Introduction: Solapur District is a district in Maharashtra state of India. The city of Solapur is the district headquarters. It is located on the south east edge of the state and lies entirely in the Bhima and Seena basins. Facts District - Solapur Area - 14886 km² Sub-divisions - Solapur, Madha (Kurduwadi), Pandharpur Talukas - North Solapur, Barshi, Akkalkot, South Solapur, Mohol,Mangalvedha, Pandharpur, Sangola, Malshiras, Karmala, Madha. Proposal for a separate Phandarpur District The Solapur district is under proposal to be bifurcated and a separate Phandarpur district be carved out of existing Solapur district. Distance from Mumbai - 450 km Means of transport - Railway stations -Solapur, Mohol, Kurduwadi, Madha, Akkalkot Road ST Buses, SMT (Solapur Municipal Transportation, Auto- Rikshaws. Solapur station has daily train service to Mumbai via Pune known as Siddheshwar Express Also, daily shuttle from Solapur to Pune known as Hutatma Express Population Total - 3,849,543(District) The district is 31.83% urban as of 2001. Area under irrigation - 4,839.15 km² Irrigation projects Major-1 Medium-2 Minor-69 Imp. Projs.- Bhima Ujjani Industries Big-98 Small-8986 Languages/dialects - Marathi, Kannada, Telagu Folk-Arts - Lavani, Gondhal, Dhangari,Aradhi and Bhalari songs Weather Temperature Max: 44.10 °C Min: 10.7 °C Rainfall-759.80 mm (Average) Main crops - Jowar, wheat, sugarcane Solapur district especially Mangalwedha taluka is known for Jowar. Maldandi Jowar is famous in all over Maharashtra. In December - January agriculturists celebrates Hurda Party. This is also famous event in Solapur. Hurda means pre-stage of Jowar. Agriculturists sow special breed of Hurda, named as Dudhmogra, Gulbhendi etc. Area under horticulture - 600 km² Health infrastructure PHCs-67 Rural Hosp.-14 Dist. Hosp.-1 Big Hosp.-30 Tourist places - Pandharpur, Kundalsangam,Akkalkot, Akluj, Barshi, Karmala, Nanaj(North Solapur taluka) In Pandharpur, warkaris come for having darshan of Lord Vitthal and Rukmini without any invitation on Aashadhi Ekadashi and Kartiki Ekadashi. Lakhs of warkari come by walking in scorching sunny or rainy days. They walk hundreds of miles with chanting of Dhyanoba- Tukaram. Jai Jai Vitthal Jai hari Vitthal. Lord Vitthal's temple is of ancient time. This is unique case in world to which statue devotee can touch. Mangalwedha is known as a land of saints like Damaji, Kanhopatra, and Tikacharya. For Damaji, Lord Vitthal came at Mangalwedha as a Vithoo Mahar. Damaji was head clerk of Badshah of Beedar (now in Karnataka), opened doors of warehouses of Jawari in scarcity days and saved thousands of lives. Geographical Information: Geographically Solapur is located between 17.10 to 18.32 degrees north latitude and 74.42 to 76.15 degrees east longitude. The district is situated on the south east fringe of Maharashtra State and lies entirely in the Bhima and Seena basins. Whole of the district is drain either by Bhima River or its tributaries.The district is bounded on the north by Ahmednagar and Osmanabad districts, on the east by Osmanabad and Gulbarga (Karnataka State) districts, on the south by Sangli and Bijapur (Karnataka State) and on the west by Satara and Pune districts. There is no important hill system in the district. Only in the north of Barshi Taluka several spurs of Balaghat range pass south for a few kilometers. There are also a few scattered hills in Karmala,Madha and Malshiras Talukas. The district in general has flat or undulating terrain. The low table land and small separate hills in Karmala and Madha Talukas act as a Watershed between Bhima and Sina rivers.The district covers geographical area of 14844.6 sq. kms. which is 4.82% of the total area of Maharashtra State. Out of the total area of the district 338.8 sq. kms (2.28%) is urban area whereas remaining 14505.8 sq.kms. (97.72%) is rural area. Area wise Karmala taluka is biggest covering an area of 1609.7 sq.kms and North Solapur is smallest covering an area of 736..3 sq.kms. The soils of the district can broadly be classified into three types. • Black • Coarse Gray • Reddish According to topography the district is divided in three natural zones. • Eastern Zone: This comprises of Barshi, North Solapur, South Solapur and Akkalkot Talukas.The soil is medium to deep black and of rich quality. Jawar, Bajra and Pulses are the main crops of this zone. Central or Tansitional Zone: Mohol, Mangalwedha, eastern part of Pandharpur and Madha Taluka are covered by this zone. Like to moderate soil and uncertain rainfall marks this zone.Both Kharip and Rabbi Crops are grown in this part. • Western Zone : Karmala, Sangola and Malshiras Talukas and western parts of Pandharpur comes under this zone. Shallow and poor type of soil, not retentive of moisture marks this part.Scanty and uncertain rainfall. Rabbi crops mainly grown in Karmala, Pandharpur and Madha Talukas while Kharip crops like Bajra and Groundnut are grown in Sangola and parts of Malshiras talukas. LAND USE PATTERN Agricultural_: Agricultural Area 11480 sq.kms._ Cultivable not in uses 380 sq.kms. Non-agricultural 690 sq .kms. Grass Lands and Herbs 720 sq.kms. Forest Cover 350 sq .kms. Wastelands 1260 sq.kms. Draught prone areas (All eleven talukas) 14844.6 sq. kms. Agro climatically entire district comes under rain shadow area. Rainfall is uncertain and scanty. The monsoon period is from second fortinght of June to end of September bringing rains from south-west monsoon. The average rainfall for the district is 545.4 mms. The talukawise average rainfall is as below. Name of Taluka Rainfall in mms. North Solapur 617.3 South Solapur 617.3 Akkalkot 643.6 Barshi 594.8 Mangalwedha 519.8 Pandharpur 523.0 Sangola 462.4 Malshiras 422.8 Mohol 573.9 Madha 519.0 Karmala 506.0 Due to scanty and nonuniform rains scarcity conditions prevail in the district. This has adversely affected the socio-economic condition of peoples. In order to face this situation, the Ujani dam is built to provide water to the draught prone areas. The major river in the district is Bhima and Sina, Nira, Mann and Bhogawati are its tributories. The Bhima and Sina run south-east. The Nira and Mann nearly east . During the dry season all the rivers are nearly dry. The length of Bhima river in Solapur district is 289 kms Irrigation of Solapur: The problem of irrigation has been an important one in regard to the Sholapur district since long. An excellent description of the irrigation facilities available in the district has been given by the old Sholapur Gazetteer which is reproduced below:- Water Works: Sholapur has seven water works, of which three- the Koregaon, Ashti and Ekruk lakes supply tillage water, and four at Sholapur, Barsi, Karmala and Pandharpur supply drinking water. Of the three tillage water works the Koregaon lake is an old work improved and the Ashti and Ekruk lakes are new works. Koregaon lake: The Koregaon lake lies thirteen miles north-east of Barsi and is formed by throwing two earthen dams across two separate valleys. The larger dam on the west is 995 feet long and seventy-one feet high in the centre, and the smaller dam on the south-east is 300 feet long with a greatest height of twelve feet. The drainage area is 4.4 square miles. The original depth of the lake near the dam seems to have been fifty feet, but several centuries of silt have much lessened its depth and reduced its storage capacity. Between 1855 and 1858, under the orders of the Collector, the full supply level was raised nine feet which led to the building of the smaller dam. As the dams were of inferior materials, the increased head of water in the lake caused great leakage...... In 1864 and 1865 steps were taken to stop the leakage. These repairs included the entire re-building of the front of the larger dam for a depth of thirty feet that is to below low-water level, and the making of a puddle trench, twelve feet deep and three feet wide, along the whole length of the smaller dam. In September 1870 the smaller dam was breached, and the efficiency of the work was greatly impaired....... The lake will then have a depth of fourteen feet from outlet to full supply, an available capacity of 81,298,114 cubic feet, and a full supply area of 8,793,017 square feet or 202...... acres In 1882-83 the lake watered 84½ acres in the village of Koregaon which paid £17-8s. (Rs. 174) for water rates. Of the 84½ watered acres nineteen grew ground-nut, eight turmeric, 7¼ sugarcane, thirty-five jvari, thirteen wheat, and 2¼ gram. Ashti lake: The Ashti lake lies in the Madha sub-division twelve miles north-east of the large town of Pandharpur....... The lake is formed by throwing across the Ashti stream, a feeder of the Bhima, an earthen dam 12,709 feet long, with a greatest height of 57.75 feet From this lake two canals are led. The left bank canal, which is 11½ miles long, commands 12,258 acres; the right bank canal, which is ten miles long, commands 5,624 acres. The land commanded is chiefly in the Pandharpur sub-division. The lake-supply is sufficient to water 10,809 acres in regular rotation, thus raising the arable area under command from four to nine per cent of the whole cultivated area. The dam is entirely of earth...... In addition a concrete wall, five feet thick, has been built at the river crossing, founded on rock and running well into the banks on both sides.