COMMUNICATION

RAILWAY

Gondia is  important junction and has heavy passenger and goods traffic. The station has three platforms out of which two are for broad gauge and the third for narrow gauge railway line. All the platforms are adequately provided with amenities such as portable water, tea stalls, benches and waiting sheds. There is a fruit stall and a book stall too. The station is also equipped with an upper class waiting rooms and waiting hall for lower class passengers.    

This road starts from Mansar (near Ramtek) on the Varanasi-Nagpur-Bori-Cape-Camorin National highway and leaves the eastern border of Nagpur district enter Bhandara district near the village Hiwara to run towards the east up to Gondia. It passes to Bhandara and Gondia tahsils for a total length of 86.77 km. in the district.

It crosses the Nagpur-Calcutta railway line twice in its stretch in the district, viz., near Dewhadi and Kochewani, and runs parallel to the railway for same length. It touches Hiwara, Jam, Khapa, Tumsur Road, Dewhadi, Tirora and Dongergaon.  

The following roads either take-off from it or are crossed by it :-

It crosses the Wainganga river at 51 km. near the village Mandali where there is a major bridge.

Of the total length of 86.77 km. in the district, that of 73.32 km. has a black-topped surface and the remaining one has a water bound macadam portion into a black-topped one is in progress.

This highway starts from Arjuni on the Bombay-Nagpur-Calcutta road and runs from south to north through Gondia up to Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh. It is fully back-topped and passes through Sakoli and Gondia tahsils and cover a length of 64.27 km. in the district. It is bridged and motorable throughout the year except during very heavy rains. The road touches the following important places in the district : Mundipar, Goregaon, Fulchur, Gondia, Nagra, Rajegaon and Satona.

The following roads either take-off from it or are crossed by it :-

The account of important major district roads in the district is given below.

This road starts from Gondia, runs towards the south-east up to Amgaon parallel to the Nagpur-Calcutta railway line. It transverses the Gondia tasil  for a total length 15.2 km. and crosses the Rangoli river near Gondia. It touches Fulchur, Kamasi, Adasi, Dahegaon and Thana in its stretch. Its length of 13.2km. has a black-topped surface and the remaining of 2.0 km. has a water bound macadam surface. It is motorable throughout the year.

This road starts from Bodalkasa, runs towards the east up to Goregaon on the Arjuni-Gondia-Balaghat road. It transverse Gondia tahsil for a total length of 25.5 km. and crosses many nallahs where there are no bridges. It cross the Jabalpur-Chanda Fort railway route near Hirdamali. The surface of this road is gravelled and is not motorable during heavy rains. It touches Mangezari, Bagadbandh, Kurhadi, Katangi and Hirdamali in its stretch.

It starts from Tirora on the Mansar-Ramtek-Tumsar-Gondia road, runs towards the north and enters Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh to terminate at Khairlanji. It transverse the Gondia tahsil for a total length of 18 km. It cross the Wainganga river on the north border of the district near Bondrani. The Bombay-Nagpur-Calcutta railway route is crossed by this road near Tirora. It touches Chirekhani, Paldongri, Korni Bk., Arjuni and Bondrani in its stretch. Its length of 13 km. has a black-topped surface and the remaining one is water bound macadam.

The account of the remaining major district roads is given in table.

The list of Other District Roads with their surface-wise length in the district as on 31st March 1927 is given in the following table.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Among the public transport organisations the State Transport is the most important. The State Transport undertaking has been catering to the needs of passenger transport on an  increasing scale. The undertaking is owned and managed by the Government of Maharashtra as a public utility concern run on commercial lines. the parent body, the Maharashtra state Transport corporation, is a statutory public corporation.

Nationlisation of passenger transport services in Bhandara district, which formerly formed part of the Nagpur division of the Maharashtra  State Road Transport Corporation, was started in 1946. The service were initially run by the Provincial Transport Company which was subsequently purchased by the State Government in 1955 and renamed as the Provincial Transport Services, Nagpur. After the reorganisation of State in November 1956, the operations were looked after by a separate department under the erstwhile Government of Bombay called the 'Transferred Road Transport Undertakings Department'. With effect from 1st July 1961, the 'Transferred  Road Transport Undertakings Department' was abolished, and the Provincial Transport Services, Nagpur, along with the State Transport Services in the Marathwada region were amalgamated  with the Bombay State Road Transport Corporation, and the recognised corporation was named as the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.

The operations in Bhandara District were first started on two routes, viz., Nagpur-Gondia and Gondia-Bhandara with a total route length of 265.3 km. The services on these routes were operated from depots outside the districts. The first depot in the district was started on 11th February 1968 with 36 vehicles. By the end of May 1969, 47 vehicles  were attached to the depot from which buses on 10 routes were operated.

The number of bus routes increased from 126 in 1961 to 266 in 1966. There was also an increase in the number of buses and passengers traveled per day mainly because of the increase in bus routes.

The following is the  list of some bus routes in the district (as on 31st March 1969).

For the convenience of the traveling public, bus station have been constructed at Bhandara, Gondia and many other towns. In addition, refreshment rooms with tea stalls have been provided at Bhandara, Gondia, Jamb and Kondhala. Temporary bus stations have been constructed at Jamb and Kondhala and pick-up stands at Dongergaon, Khamboda and Nandora.

Up to 1965-66 the Maharashtra State Transport Corporation had extended its operations only to a few routes, and private companies used to serve most of the transport needs of the people in the district. A number of routes were left exclusively for the private owners, whereas on a few routes, the passenger traffic was shared between the State Transport buses and private services.

Private companies used to work as private stage carriage operators. Transport services on these routes could not be nationalised due to shortage of passenger vehicles, and shortage of financial resource for construction of bus stands, depots and work shops.

The services rendered by the private bus operators were not up to the mark. Rules regarding safety of passengers, their comforts and convenience were not properly observed. Overcrowding in buses was a frequent occurrence and the bus services, very often, were not regular. This oppressive state of affairs could not be continued for long. Accordingly more and more passenger transport routes were brought under the fold of the State Transport Undertaking. The process of progressive nationalisation was slowed down for some time by litigation by the private carriage operators. These impediments were overcome by the Government and effective steps were taken to extend the bus services on most of the routes leaving only a few routes for private operators. In accordance with this policy a separate State Transport Division has been created for helps manage the operations more effectively.

RURAL TRANSPORT

The facility of transport in rural areas were very inadequate in the past. The village roads were mostly earthen tracks which were not usable in the rainy season even for cart traffic. However, during the last to decades considerable progress has been achieved and several schemes of road development are now under way. The construction of link roads is actively engaging the attention of the Government. Under the road development programme of the Five-Year Plans, a number of approach roads have been constructed and a greater number of  them are proposed.

The bullock-cart was formerly the only means of transport for passenger traffic as well as carriage of goods from and to the markets. The bullock-cart also known as chhakda, still continues to be the principal conveyance for the cultivators produce to the markets, even through for purposes of trade, the motor trucks and railways have supplanted all slow-moving traffic through bullock-carts and horses.

A big section of the middle class population uses bicycles. The motor-cycles and scooters have also been in use in rural as well as in urban areas.

 On most of the motorable roads private transport companies as well as the State Transport Authorities are plying buses *. Towns and villages on most of the highways and major roads are, thus served by buses. Moreover approach roads from railway stations have lately been developed, with the result that the problem of inadequacy of rural transport has been mitigated to some extent.      

TRAVEL AND TOURIST FACILITIES

Government has provided considerable travel and tourist facilities in Gondia district. There are 3 rest houses maintained by the Government of the Maharashtra. Primarily these rest houses are meant for Government Officers on tours. But now they are also made available to the travailing public. A nominal rent is charged to Government servants on duty. The rental charge is higher for the general public. The list of rest houses in Gondia district is given bellow.

GOODS TRANSPORT

Transport of goods and merchandise is not undertaken by the State Transport Organisation. Besides railways, goods transport which is in the hands of private owners of motor trucks plays an important role. The total number of goods vehicles, both public and private carriers, registered and licensed in the district was 973 in 1969. Of these 943 were public carriers. Freight rates are not determined by any official body, but are allowed to be governed by the principles of demand and supply.

POSTS AND TELEGRAPHS

The head post office is situated at Gondia and sub-offices at tahsil head-quarters and towns. The bigger villages have branch post offices.

COMMUNITY RADIO SETS

Realising the importance of radio as a medium of communication the Government of Maharashtra introduced  the Rural Broadcasting  Contributory Scheme in district also. Under this scheme the Directorate of Publicity provides radio sets to rural institutions like grampanchayats, public libraries and municipalities. The Directorate not only installs the radio sets but also provides for their maintenance and servicing. Dry batteries are provided to the battery radio sets.

The community radio sets are meant exclusively for the use of the public and the parties concerned are required to tune radio programmes relayed from the All India Radio and especially the programmes for the villagers and workers. 

The following table shows the rural broadcasting statistics in Gondia as on 31st March 1972.