Kagaznagar, Telengana

Sirpur-Kaghaznagar is a town and a municipality in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district in the state of Telangana in India. It is located about 297 kilometres from the state capital, Hyderabad, 140 kilometres from Karimnagar, 90 kms from Chandrapur and 250 kilometres from Nagpur.

History
Sirpur, formerly known as Suryapuram, was ruled by the Gond King, Ballala. The Gond King, Bhim Ballal Sing built Sirpur Fort in 9th century AD. The town derives its name from the paper factory established during the times of Nizams rule.

The area was initially a sub-district called Sirpur-Tandur carved out in 1872 and comprised Edlabad (Adilabad), Rajura (now in Maharashtra) and Sirpur taluks. Sirpur-Tandur was originally a district in Maratwada region. Later it was merged with Adilabad district of Telangana. In 2016, Komaram Bheem district was carved out of Adilabad district, and consequently, Sirpur Kaghaznagar now is in Komaram Bheem district.

Geography
Kagaznagar is located at 19.3333°N, 79.4833°W. It has an average elevation of 174 meters (574 feet).

Topography
Kaghaznagar is surrounded by Major rivers like Wardha river on northern side, Pranhita in eastern side and pedda vagu river which runs through the town.

There is scope to make this forest Wild Life Sanctuary which will can generate tourism via Safari, Waterfall Trekking and Bird watching.

Demographics
India census, the town of Kagaznagar had a population of 66,293, with 33,124 males, and 33,169 females. There were a total of 5,576 children between the ages of 0 and 6 and 15,712 inhabitants were classified as illiterate. The town has a unique blend of people settled from different parts of India. Apart from Telugu ,Hindi ,Urdu and Gondi, Marathi is also widely understood due to the town's proximity to Maharashtra. Bengali language is widely spoken in Easgaon village owing to settlement of Bengali refugees. The literacy rate stood at 73.07 percent.

The majority of people in the area practice Hinduism, followed by Islam and Christianity. Telugu is the most widely spoken language.

Economy
The local economy was almost completely dependent on manufacturing at Sirpur Paper Mills which has been acquired by J. K. Organisation and has been restarted in August 2018 with production likely to begin from April 2019. Sirsilk Textile Factory is closed, but Koneru Konappa, the previous MLA of the area claimed that he will reopen it. Presently the entire economy is run by agriculture allied activities and also the Real Estate is growing very fast.

Education
This is a list of educational institutions in Kaghaznagar.


 * Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV)
 * Eklavya Model Residential School (Tribal school)
 * Fatima Convent High School
 * St Claret High School (CBSE)
 * JK Laxmipat Singhania Public school (CBSE)
 * Bala Bharthi High school (EM and TM)
 * Sarasvathi Shishu Mandir High school (EM and TM)
 * Krishnaveni High school


 * Madarsa Makhzanul uloom


 * Iqbal School


 * Anwar Urdu High School


 * Moulana School


 * SKE Degree college
 * Vivekananda Degree college
 * Govt Degree and Junior college
 * Vasundhara Degree college
 * Govt Medical College Asifabad (25 kms)

Important places

 * Trishul Pahad
 * Qadeem Eid gah
 * SPM Jama Masjid
 * Irfan Masjid
 * Sirpur Fort
 * Sri Balaji Venkateshwara Swamy Devasthanam,Gangapur
 * Shiva Mallana Devasthanam,Easgoan.
 * Tonkini Hanuman Mandir
 * Vulture sightings near Palarapugutta cliff (Bejjur)
 * Sirpur and Penchikalpet Forest
 * Ada Dam
 * Tiryani waterfalls
 * Pranhita Pushkaralu
 * Jodeghat valley, Babajhari water falls and museum (25 kms)


 * Kawal Tiger reserve (50 kms)
 * Tadoba Tiger reserve (50 kms)
 * Tippeshwar Wild Life Sanctuary (150 kms)

Dasra (Vijayadashami)
Every year on vijayadashmi ravan dahan happens on Trishul Pahad.

Bathukamma it is celebrated around the period of Dasra. This is a nine-day festival. The women participate in the bathukamma, and it is decorated with the flowers of thangadi, gunuka, thamara, chamanthi, etc. The nine days of Bathukamma are

Shivaratri Jatra (Easgoan Temple)
Every year Shivaratri is celebrated at ancient Shiva Mallanna Temple located in Easgoan with 3 days long Jatra.

Pranhita Pushkaralu
Pranahita Pushkaralu is a festival of River Pranahita normally occurs once in 12 years. The Pushkaram is observed for a period of 12 days from the time of entry of Jupiter into Pisces (Meena rasi).[2]

As per Telugu culture, there are 12 sacred rivers across the country that go for a cycle what is called as “Pushakaram”. Each among those 12 rivers goes for the Pushkaram, in the order of one at a year. They are Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Godavari, Sindhu, Narmada, Kaveri, Krishna, Tapti, Tungabhadra, Bheema and Pranahita.

List of Major Ghats Tummidi Hatti, Arjunigutta , Vemanpalli

Sri Rama Navami
As per Telugu culture Sri Rama Kalyanam is performed at all sri rama temples in the town.Railway colony is the famous for Kalyanam.

Chhath pooja
Chhath pooja is celebrated by the communities from UP and Bihar working in paper mills at SPM Garden every year.

Transport
The Town is connected to many cities in Telangana by the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation bus service. It is well connected to Kaghaznagar is flanked on one side by National Highway 363 part of Nagpur-Vijayawada Express way and Raipur–Hyderabad Expressway which will pass near town is sanctioned.
 * Hyderabad(290 kms), Karimnagar(150 kms), Warangal(150 kms), Mancherial(60 kms) on south
 * Nagpur(250 kms), Chandrapur (90 kms) on the North
 * Aheri(68 kms), Allapalli(75 kms) on the east
 * Adilabad (150 kms) on west.

National Highway 130D (India) which is under construction once completed this will provide Sirpur-Kaghaznagar region connectivity to Chhattisgarh (Kondagoan/Narayanpur) and further to Odisha and Araku valley (Vizag) AP.

Connected to Maharashtra Gondpipari/Gadchiroli via Venkatraopet-Polsa Interstate Bridge over Penganga river near Tonkini

Connected to Maharastra Aheri/Allapalli via Gudem-Aheri Interstate Bridge over Pranhita river

Nearby National Highways National Highway 353B (India) Ashti - Rajura - Adilabad Highway National Highway 63 (India) Jagdalpur - Mancherial - Nizamabad

Rail
The town is served by Sirpur Kaghaznagar railway station which lies on New Delhi–Chennai main line. It is administered by South Central Railway zone. It is well connected to all over India. It is an NSG4 category railway station in Secunderabad division of SCR railway with Potential stoppage of trains.

Air
The nearest airport is Nagpur Airport (257 km away) and Hyderabad Airport (307 km away).

There is Proposal to build Chadrapur Airport. Similarly, the existing airport in Adilabad district is being revived. under UDAAN Scheme.

Sirpur Assembly constituency
Sirpur Assembly constituency is an assembly constituency in Telangana.

Civic administration
Kagaznagar Municipality was constituted in 1956 and is classified as a third grade municipality with 30 election wards. The jurisdiction of the civic body is spread over an area of 8.31 km2.

Notable Persons

 * 1) Rajesh Kumar Nalla: Young Entrepreneur and businessman