Geography and Environment of Meerut City
Meerut city in northwestern Uttar Pradesh, northern India. It lies in the upper Ganges-Yamuna Doab, about 30 miles northeast of Delhi.The Meerut area has been inhabited since ancient times. It was original location of one of the pillars erected by MAURYAN emperor ASHOKA in the 3rd century BCE. Before it was moved to Delhi in the mid -14th century by FIRUZ SHAH TUGHLUQ. The British built a large cantonment there in the early 19th century. It is located at the junction of several roads and rail lines. It is a trade center for agricultural products and has a considerable amount of industry including manufacturing, smelting, handicrafts and the milling of sugar, cotton, flour, and oilseeds.Meerut also has 12th century mausoleum and a number of old temples and mosques. There is still an important military presence of Indian army in can’t region.
Uttar Pradesh is the most populous and fourth largest state of India. It lies in the north central part of the country bordering with Uttarakhand, Nepal, Bihar, Jharkhand, and C.G, M.P,Rajasthan and Haryana with its capital at Lucknow.
| Geographical area | 2590 sq. km |
| Altitude | 224.6m |
| Latitude | 28degree 54’29’’N |
| Longitude | 77 degree 78’00’’ E |
| Population | 34,47,405 |
| Average rainfall | 586mm |
| Languages | Hindi, Urdu, English |
| Religions | Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism |
| Best time to visit | Oct-March |
| STD code | 0121 |
History:-Meerut was known as ‘MAYA RASTRA’ in ancient times and city has found some traces from the Indus valley civilization. Apart from this Hastinapur is itself a source of sacred mythological believes of Hindu community, it is believed to be the site of the great battle of power and values called MAHABHARATA.
During Ashoka’s Mauryan empire Meerut is under his rule and too have inscription pillar for Dhamma’s awareness which was later moved to Delhi by Firoz shah TuglauqMeerut had been center of Buddhism in the period of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka and remains of Buddhist structures were found near Jama masjid in the present-day city. It is also known as ‘sport city of India” and the city is famous for being the starting point of the 1857 rebellion against British colonial rule.
Land:-The state can be divided into 2 physiographic regions- central plains of Ganges and its tributaries and the southern uplands.
Drainage:-The Ganges and its tributaries – the Yamuna,the Ramganga, the Gomti, the Ghagra and the Gandak are fed by perpetual snows of Himalayas. the Chambal, the Betwa, the Son and the Ken originating from Vindhyan range. The Hindon river with catchment area of 7,083km2.
Soil:-The soil that constitutes the plains of the region of Meerut is the ALLUVIAL soil type.Thegrainy soil deposits from rivers on which Meerut is situated –Ganges and Yamuna is what constitutes for the fertile alluvial soil.
Climate:-The climate of Meerut is characterized by hot summers and cold winters that are typical for the subtropical climate. The summer months see a max. of 45degree temp. while winter chills can bring down the temp. to as low as 2 degree Celsius. The monsoon seasons begins from the end of June and lasts till the end of Sept.The months of Oct to Dec are relatively pleasant, and the later months of winter are relatively dry days.
Agriculture:-Meerut has attained prosperity in agricultural sector thanks to the rich natural vegetation of the area. The district of Meerut grows cash crops as well as food grains such as wheat, bajra, barley, potato, and pulses. A number of sugar industries are situated here owing to the fact that large tracts of land grow sugarcane in this region. Besides, a wide variety of fruits and vegetables also grow in this region. Invariably, there is a rise in agriculture dependent activities such as animal husbandry, dairy farming, and manufacture of agro-based products, etc. It can well be conducted that agriculture is pivot around which most of the development in this region has taken place.
Hastinapur wildlife sanctuary (2073 km2)
It is a protected area in the Gangetic plains.It is spread across MEERUT,MUZZAFARNAGAR, GHAZIBAD, BIJNOR and AMROHA district of U.P.
Animals:- swamp deer, smooth coated otter, ganges river dolphin, gharial, leapord, chital, and nilgai.
Plants:-mostly scrubs and concentrated forests.
Haiderpur wet land
UNESCO Ramsar site located near Bijnor ganga barrage within Hastinapur wildlife sanctuary.
Air quality:-Non- attainment status of a city is implicative of consistent high level of air pollutants above national ambient air quality standards. Due to vehicular pollution, industrial smoke, agri pollution, construction air quality tends to affect.
Pollution check measures and environment schemes-
Namamigange programme-
- Launched in 2014, it is an integrated conservation mission with a budget outlay of 20,000crores.
- The objective of programme are the abatement of pollution and conservation and rejuvenation of national river ganga.
- Collection of floating solid waste from surface of ghats and rivers.
- Biodiversity conservation and ganga rejuvenation.
- Construction of sewage treatment capacity, toilets in gram panchayats
- Industrial effluent monitoring
Green Skill Development Programme
- Skilled trainees successfully as biodiversity conservation
- Para taxonomists
- The pilot project was launched in june 2017 to preserve and restore the environment and create a sustainable future.
Swachh bharatabhiyan
Nagar van scheme
Atal bhuj yojana
National clean air programme
Fame – faster adoption and adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles.
Haritpath
Soubhagya scheme-subsidy on LPG gas connection
Ujjawala scheme-free leds
International solar alliance
Sonam Yadav
Student, M.Sc. (Biotechnology)
Department of Biotechnology
Faculty of Science
Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut
