Shrirampur

Shrirampur is quite new as compared to other cities. As the Central Railway (India) Daund-Manmad Line was being laid, a railway station for the village of Belapur (बेलापुर) was built nearly 6 km (3.7 mi) from the place where the station was originally planned. During this period, people (such as Gangaram Dawkhar, the first resident of Shrirampur) started living around the railway station. This area was considered as one of the major producers of sugarcane in the sugarcane belt in the state of Maharashtra. Over 10 to 15 sugarcane industries surrounded the town. People from throughout Maharashtra settled in Shrirampur. After partition, Shrirampur received many migrants from Pakistan, who opted to settle in India. As a result, non-Maharashtrian communities helped to transform this city into a major business center. The rapid growth from the 1960s to the 1980s has slowed.

Hinduism is the most commonly practiced religion in Shrirampur, but still Mosque, Gurudwara, Jain temples, Church and other religious buildings are also found in the city. The city is been named Shrirampur after the most prominent temple, Ram temple located on Nevasa Road, along with Hanuman's Temple. The Navratri festival is the main attraction in Shrirampur city. The biggest and the oldest Mosque in Shrirampur is "Jama Masjid" Located near the railway station under the bridge. Peoples of all religion celebrate Ramnavami and Sayyed Baba urus together for more than 5 days, in spite of this type of bringing harmony to the social life of Shrirampur, the city had suffered from some riots too.

• Important Religious buildings of Shrirampur - A very good model of communal and religious harmony is found in Shrirampur. As the name indicates, it is known for Shri Ram Mandir located in the heart of the town. The annual festival for the people is Ramnavami, a celebration of the birth of Bhagwan Shri Ramchandra. At the same time, the Urus (Holy Gathering) of Sayyed Baba is celebrated at Sayyed Baba Dargah Shrine situated in the city. Recently a beautiful minar was built near Jama Masjid. Both these festivals are well attended by people from surrounding places. People from the nearby villages and the town itself come and pray at the temple and shrine during these auspicious days. Fireworks take place on an inaugural day. This is the festival when people come and enjoy themselves. Christian pilgrims in the area visit the village for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Marathi: Matmauli yatra), celebrated on the second Saturday of September. The Jesuit priest in the village started the celebration in 1949 to help local devotees who could not afford to go to the celebration in Bandra, Mumbai. Nowadays Haregaon is often described as the Pandharpur of the Marathi-speaking Catholics in the state, as nearly 4,00,000 devotees from Ahmednagar, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad district and Mumbai attend the feast every year.
• Gangagiri Maharaj Samadhi Sthal - This is a holy place situated at Sarala Bet (an island), just 25.8 km from Shrirampur, which comes under Shrirampur Taluka & Ahmednagar district from 1996. The River Godavari gets divided into 2 streams here and further, it rejoins itself, thus forming a beautiful island. The famous saint Gangagiri Maharaj established here an Ashram years ago. Here all devotees celebrate Punyatithi and Harinaam Saptah every year. Gangagiri Maharaj took Samadhi in 1902. After Gangagiri Maharaj, there were legal heirs, Harigiri, Nathgiri, Someshwargiri, Narayangiri and now from 2009 Mahant Ramgiri Maharaj.

Shrirampur has a tropical wet and dry climate with average temperatures ranging between 20 to 42 °C (68 to 108 °F).

Shrirampur experiences three distinct seasons: Summer, Monsoon and Winter. Typical summer months are from March to May, with maximum temperatures ranging from 30 to 40 °C (86 to 104 °F). The warmest months in Shrirampur are April and May, the city often receives locally developed heavy thundershowers in the month of May (although humidity remains high). City experiences rise in atmospheric pressure in mid October when temperatures ranges from 35 to 40 °C (95 to 104 °F).

Shrirampur is well connected by Rail and Road to other parts of country. Shrirampur enjoys central location in Western Maharashtra. All major cities in Maharashtra lie within a radius of 500 km (310 mi). Shrirampur can be conveniently reached from any part of India by road. The town is situated between the Shirdi & Shani Shingnapur, both the towns are situated within 30 and 45 km (19 and 28 mi) radius with Shrirampur being Centrally located. The bypass highway from Shirdi to Shingnapur is going from the Shrirampur city. Shrirampur city has central bus stand and bus depot of MSRTC. Shrirampur has regular buses to Mumbai, Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nanded, Kolhapur, Surat, Indore.Also has Air conditioned buses to Shivajinagar Pune, Aurangabad and Ahmednagar.

Arid dry climate and well established irrigation system makes Sugarcane an ideal cash crop. Shrirampur is considered as one of the major producers of sugarcane in the sugarcane belt in the state of Maharashtra. The first sugar mill of India known as "The Brandy Factory" was established in Haregaon by the Britishers in the pre- independence era of 1923. After independence, Co-operative movements were raised in the surrounding. In 1950, The first co-operative sugar mill in India was established by the farmers in Pravaranagar (Shrirampur Taluka). This co- operative movement was appreciated by the whole country. For this Great movement, the Founder Shri. Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil was felicitated with "PADMASHREE" by The Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Over 10 sugarcane industries surrounding the town make for a very industrious economy. Due to recent setbacks in the sugar industries the people from these areas are turning to other cash crops. The credit of this goes to Mr. Wilson who due his foresight constructed a Dam at Bhandardara, the water through the canal web helps to irrigate the entire north part of Ahmednagar district specially for the Shrirampur region. It has Shrirampur MIDC (Industrial Area), area which is well developed for industries. Prabhat dairy is one of the biggest industry in Shrirampur and surrounding area. Due to scarcity of water farmers are moving to agriallied business like poultry, goat farming where government and some private organisations are helping the farmers to venture into this lucrative and alternate earning resources. KVK ( Krishi Vidnyan Kendra, Loni) organisations train and help farmers and arranges seminars to help them understand new ways and techniques adapted in modern-day agribusiness. Shrirampur is one of the biggest automobile market place in district. Shrirampur has many automobile showrooms and spares stores.Shrirampur is being biggest emerging textile, jewellery and grocery market in northern region of Ahmednagar district. People from neighborhood towns frequently visits Shrirampur for shopping.

Shrirampur does not have major engineering or medical colleges but it has all other education institutes. Loni, which is 20 km from Shrirampur, has a medical university and engineering college. Shrirampur has homoeopathic medical college and nursing schools.

As of 2011 India census,[12] Shrirampur had a population of 108,623. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%.Shrirampur has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 66%. In Shrirampur, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age. Shrirampur had sex ratio - 939[13]

The Mula Pravara Electric Co-operative Society Limited (MPECSL),[14] Shrirampur was established in 1969, as one of the five pilot co-operative societies established in India as a rural electric co-operative Society. It used to distribute electricity in 183 villages spread over five talukas in the Ahmednagar district. Its consumer base was around 1.45 lakh consumers with sanctioned load of around 207 MW and MPECS receives power from Maharashtra.

Since 1977, it has defaulted on Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL)'s bills. It also refused to increase power tariff as directed by Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) in 2007.[15] that resulted in dues to MSEDCL to staggering Rs 2300 crore. MERC has directed MPECS directors to hand over the entire power distribution system and associated assets, including offices, land, material and workshops to MSEDCL from zero hours on 1 February 2011. It can file an appeal before the commission to decide the transfer value of the assets. The society will also have to hand over all data in soft as well as hard format. It will also have to pay the security deposit amount collected from consumers.

The Ahmednagar district is under proposal to be divided and a separate Sangamner District be carved out of existing Ahmednagar district with the inclusion of the northern parts of Ahmednagar district which include Rahata, Rahuri, Shrirampur, Sangamner, Akole, Shevgaon, Kopargaon, and Nevasa talukas. Shrirampur is the biggest and most developed city after Sangamner & Ahmednagar.

The following are notable residents from Shrirampur:

• Govindrao Adik
• Ramrao Adik
• Zaheer Khan, Indian cricketer
• C. Ramchandra, music composer
• Annasaheb Shinde, agriculture minister
• Karamshi Jethabhai Somaiya