Panna-Khajuraho-Jhansi Detailed Information and an Unplanned Trip

Monday, July 29, 2013 Devesh Prabhu 0 Comments





In this post I'll be detailing a few things about Panna, Khajuraho, Jhansi and the trip I took with my brother there.

Panna


It is a town and a municipality in Madhya Pradesh, Indian. It is renowned for its diamond mines. They also have a tiger reserve called Panna National Park. The reserve houses a wide variety of animals. There are numerous hotels and jungle lodges near the National Park. You can reach Panna from Khajuraho. Pandav falls and Raneh falls are famous tourist visiting places during monsoons.

Located just 32 km from Panna is Ajaygarh, an old town. There is an ancient fort named Ajaypal Maharaj. You can visit many places here under the watch of the Indian Archaeological Department.

There’s a huge group of diamond pits here. These diamond mines are supervised by Diamond Mining Project of National Mineral Development Corporation under Government of India (GOI). Every year the mine lands are leased to potential miners. Panna’s district magistrate collects all diamonds and auctions them in January. These auctions require a Rs. 5,000/- deposit by the public if they want to participate.


Reaching Panna

  • Currently, Panna’s Airport is not functional. The closest operational airport is Khajuraho.
  • The nearest rail station is Satna which is 75 kms away, Khajuraho which is 45 kms away.
  • You can avail bus services from all parts of Madhya Pradesh and a few cities from other states such as Agra, Allahabad Faridabad, New Delhi, Jhansi, Kanpur, Nagpur, and Gwalior. You can get Luxury, Sleeper, or AC buses from Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal, and Jabalpur









Khajuraho


Khajuraho is a small town that houses the Khajuraho Group of Monuments. These are a collection of Jain temples and Hindu temples located in Chhatarpur District, Madhya Pradesh, India. It is roughly 175 Kms (109 Miles) southeast of Jhansi.

The Khajuraho temples are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They are known for their erotic sculptures and their Nagara-style architectural symbolization. Most were constructed between 950 and 1050 AD by the Chandela dynasty. Historical records show that by the 12th Century there were 85 temples, of which only 25 temples have survived. The Khajuraho Group of Monuments was built together and dedicated to Hinduism and Jainism.














Reaching Khajuraho


These monuments are located in Chatarpur District, Madhya PradeshIndia. The small town of Khajuraho has a population of about 20,000 people according to a 2001 Census.

You can reach Khajuraho by Khajuraho Airport, from AgraDelhiVaranasi and Mumbai. The nearest railway station is roughly 6 Kms away from the temples.


Jhansi


Jhansi is a historic city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It lies in the Bundelkhand region on the banks of Pahuj River, and is the southern extreme of Uttar Pradesh. Jhansi is the administrative headquarters of Jhansi district and Jhansi division. It is also known as the Gateway to Bundelkhand, and is situated between the Pahuj and Betwa rivers. It has an average elevation of 285 meters (935 feet). It is about 415 kilometers (258 miles) from New Delhi and 99 kilometers (62 miles) south of Gwalior.

The stone fort crowns a neighboring rock and the original city (walled) grew around it. The ancient name of the city was Balwantnagar. From 1817 to 1854, it was the capital of the princely state of Jhansi, ruled by Gurjar Rajas. The state was annexed by the British Governor General in 1854; Damodar Rao's claim to the throne was rejected, but Rani Lakshmibai ruled it from June 1857 to June 1858.

Jhansi is well connected to all other major towns in Uttar Pradesh by road and railway networks. The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) has supported development of Jhansi. Jhansi is also being developed as the defense corridor by the government, which will boost the economy of the city and the region at the same time. Srinagar to Kanyakumari North-South corridor passes closely to Jhansi and so does the East-West corridor; consequently there has been a sudden rush of infrastructure and real estate development in the city.

Jhansi was adjudged the third cleanest city of Uttar Pradesh and the fastest moving city in the North Zone in Swachh Survekshan 2018 rankings. A green-field airport development has been planned. On August 28, 2015, Jhansi was selected among 98 cities for the Smart City Initiative by the Government of India.


Reaching Jhansi

The city is well connected to other parts of India by railways and major highways.


RAILWAYS

Jhansi Junction: Jhansi has its own division in the North Central Railway zone of Indian Railways. It lies on the main Delhi-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai lines. The station code is JHS. It is well connected by train services to all parts of the country, including four metropolitan cities. There are direct trains to Agra, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bandra, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhusaval, Chennai, Delhi, Gaya, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Jalgaon, Jammu and Kashmir, Kanpur, Khajuraho, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mahoba, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Trivandrum, Udaipur, Visakhapatnam and other major towns.

ROADWAYS

Jhansi is located at the junction of these National Highways: NH 27 from Gujarat to Assam; NH 75 from Gwalior to Rewa via Chhatarpur; NH 44 from Jammu to Kanyakumari; and NH 39. Thus, Jhansi commands a strategic position in the roadways network as highways in five different directions diverge from it.

The towns and major cities connected to it are Agra, Allahabad, Bhopal, Chhatarpur, Datia, Gwalior, Kanpur, Lalitpur, New Delhi, Orchha, Sagar, Shivpuri, and Unnao Balaji.

The north-south and east-west corridors pass and cross each other only in Jhansi and the city is also well connected to Kanpur, Lucknow and Madhya Pradesh by road. The four lanes national highway is at the last stage of its completion, giving a boom in infrastructure and other sectors in Jhansi and nearby areas.


AIRWAYS

Jhansi’s Airport is a military aviation base built in the British era and is used by the Indian army and political visitors. Though there are provisions for private aircraft to land, there are no civil aviation operations. There had been a demand to make it operational for commercial purposes in the 1990s and again in the 2000s.

The Uttar Pradesh government announced the construction of an all new civil aviation base to support tourism in Bundelkhand in April 2011. The Indian army maintains an objection to extension of the military aviation. So, the government has examined three different places other than army aviation base for the airport in Jhansi.

Gwalior Airport is the nearest airport from Jhansi but has limited number of flights and facilities. Kanpur Airport is 4 hours drive from Jhansi and is well connected with other metropolitan cities in India. There are plans to develop the Jhansi airport under the UDAN scheme of regional connectivity of central government. Jhansi-Lucknow-Jhansi route was selected in UDAN 2 but the airline has not been selected yet. Jhansi-Agra and Jhansi-Khajuraho routes have been suggested by the government for UDAN 3.There are still no plans to connect Jhansi with Delhi, the national capital and other cities like Mumbai in the south.





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