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Roorkee v • d • e Uttarakhand, India
Roorkee
District(s)	Haridwar
Coordinates	29.87° N 77.88° E
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 274 m (899 ft)
Population	97,064 (2001)
Codes • Postal • Telephone • Vehicle	• 247667 • +91 1332 • UA 08

Coordinates: 29.87° N 77.88° E

Roorkee is a town and a municipal board in Haridwar District in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is located on the banks of the Ganges canal with a population of about 140,000 inhabitants.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Geography 3 Importance 4 Demographics 5 Educational Institutions 6 Buy 7 External links

Roorkee is said to derive its name from Ruri, the wife of a Rajput chieftain. It was the capital of Pargana during the time of Akbar as is referred in Ain-e-Akbari. It was a mere mud village on the banks of hill torrent, named Solani.

It is about 169 kilometers north of the Indian capital New Delhi and located between the rivers Ganga and Yamuna. Before the creation of Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand) on November 9 2000, Roorkee was a part of the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Roorkee is situated in the foothills of Himalayas and close to the cities of Haridwar, Rishikesh, Deoband, Saharanpur, Muzzfernagar and Dehradun

Roorkee is best known for Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, formerly known as University of Roorkee. It is also a home to government research institutes, Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Irrigation Research Institute (IRI) and the National Institute Of Hydrology (NIH).

It also has the biggest army base for Bengal Engineering Group and Center. One striking feature of this town is the presence of India's first Aqueduct, which was built by the British and augmented recently.

It is also the place where first locomotive engine in India moved on rails on December 22, 1851 -- locomotive engine named Mary lind which was especially shipped from England. It was used to carry soil which was used for the construction of aqueduct on Ganga canal. This aqueduct, later, was used to construct India's first Hydraulic Power House (Operational 1930 at Pathri). Remains of this power house are still there at Pathri, Bahadrabad, Roorkee; and the locomotive rail paths are still intact. PS: This locomotive ran in year 1846, long before the first passenger train in India (bombay-thane).

It is 29 KMs from Holy City Haridwar.

As of 2001 India census^GRIndia, Roorkee had a population of 97,064. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Roorkee has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 72%. In Roorkee, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. Languages spoken are Hindi, English and Punjabi.

Higher Education

• Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR)
  
• College of Engineering Roorkee (COER)
  
• Roorkee Institute of Technology (RIT)
  

Schools

• St. Gabriel's Academy
  
• St. Ann's Sr. Sec. School
  
• Army School Roorkee Cantt
  
• Knox Memorial School
  
• Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School)
  
• A.B.N (Adarsh Bal Niketen)
  
• Flora Dale Public School
  
• Saint Johns Senior Secondary School
  
• St. John's
  
• Anand S A Sarawasti Vidya Mandir
  
• B.S.M. Inter College
  
• D.A.V. Inter College
  
• Montfort School
  
• SDA Inter College
  

• Civil Lines(mera ghar)
  
• Lal Kurti
  
• Ram Nagar
• Sapper Market
  
• Chawri Bazaar
  
• B. T. Ganj
  
• Madhi Industrial Estate (Khubbanpur)
• Landhora Industrial Estate
• Cholli Industries Authority
• Chaw Mandi (Mine of Sexy Girls)

• Roorkee travel guide from Wikitravel