Akola

Akola  is a major city in the Vidarbha region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The third largest city in Eastern Maharashtra after Nagpur and Amravati, it is located about 580 km east of the state capital, Mumbai, and 250 km west of the second capital, Nagpur. Akola is the administrative headquarters of the Akola district located in the Amravati division.

Akola is located on the banks of the Morna River. Although it is not considered a common tourist destination, Akola is an important city due to its history, culture, politics, and agriculture. It also has a prominent road and rail junction in the Tapti River valley that functions as a commercial trading centre.

Akola is an important educational centre with several colleges affiliated with Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University. The city is developing into a market centre. The primary language spoken by the people of Akola is Marathi.

Early medieval history (Classical)
Akola is mentioned to be a part of Berar province and the legendary kingdom of Vidarbha in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.

Late medieval history
A period of Muslim rule began when Alauddin Khalji, Sultan of Delhi, conquered the region in the early 14th century. The region was part of the Bahmani Sultanate, which broke away from the Delhi Sultanate in the middle of the 14th century. The Bahmani Sultanate itself broke up into smaller sultanates at the end of the 15th century, and in 1572 Berar became part of the Nizam Shahi sultanate, based at Ahmednagar. The Nizam Shahis ceded Berar to the Mughal Empire in 1595, and the Mughals ruled the Berar province during the 17th century. The Akola fort was heavily fortified during Mughal king Aurangzeb's rule. As Mughal rule started to unravel at the start of the 18th century, Asif Jah I, Nizam of Hyderabad seized the southern provinces of the empire (including Berar) in 1724 to form an independent state.

Maratha Empire
The Battle of Argaon in 1803 was fought in Akola between the British and the Marathas during the Second Anglo-Maratha War. In the third Anglo-Maratha War, the last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, was defeated. In 1853, the Akola district together with the rest of Berar, came under the administration of the British East India Company.

Post-independence
After India's independence in 1947 from the British Government, the newly formed country was divided into different states. The Congress's proposed linguistic provinces plan before the Independence of India had positioned Akola as the headquarters of the Berar region.

Demographics
According to the 2011 Census of India, Akola City had a population of 425,817 and an area of about 128 km2. After the city's municipal limits were extended in Aug 2016, it was recorded to have a population of 537,137.

Police administration
Akola Police maintains eight police stations in the Akola city subdivision that cover the metropolitan area of the city.

The government also approved the creation of a new Railway Police Akola subdivision that will include Akola, Wardha, and Badnera railway police units. The Akola Police subdivision falls under the Nagpur District of Railway.



Air
Akola Airport (also known as Shioni Airport) is the domestic airport of Akola and is 999 ft above sea level. It was built by British authorities in the 1940s and regularly sent flights to Mumbai. Now it is non-functional and has one runway (4,600×145 ft). The airport's expansion and use have been delayed as it is unable to get land from the university of Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth.

Rail
Akola Junction is the main railway station in the city. This railway station lies on the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line and comes under Central Railway zone of Indian Railways.

Road
NH-6, which connects Surat to Kolkata, passes through the city. State Highways No. 68 and 69 also pass through the municipal limits. Other highways include State Highway 204, State Highway 200: Akola – Amravati, and State Highway 197. NH-161 begins from Akola and reaches in Telangana near Hyderabad.

Agricultural university
Akola houses Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV), whose jurisdiction covers all eleven districts of Vidarbha.

Medical science colleges

 * Government Medical College, Akola

Engineering colleges

 * College of Engineering & Technology, Akola

Notable people

 * Vasantrao Deshpande
 * Anand Modak
 * Vijay P. Bhatkar
 * Patrick Barr
 * Vitthal Wagh
 * Sudharak Olwe
 * Shivdeep Lande
 * Ranjit Patil
 * Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre
 * T. S. Korde
 * Vallabhdas Aidan Mohta
 * Mahesh Kakde
 * Swaminathan Aiyar