Zero Mile Marker , Nagpur.
Trip Advisor had sent me this
mail. Nagzira, Tadoba, we have not visited as yet. It has been a long time since we had visited other places. I thought it would not be proper to write a review based on information that was dated. I had not even passed the zero mile marker for some time and had no photos. I did some research as to why it is called
"Zero Mile" etc and I went to Zero Mile Marker to see it from a Reviewer of
Trip Advisor's point of view :-)
Glad I did.
Learnt a few things. So this blog is about Zero Mile Marker and few things I learnt :-
Zero Mile Marker :-
Every geographic area has a centre ergo every country has to have a geographic centre. To the best of my knowledge, I know not of any city in the world claiming to be the geographic centre of that country.
Nagpurians and Nagpur
lovers have bestowed this distinction on Nagpur city, in fact, for India, the geographic
centre's location is Zero mile marker located on National Highway 7 ( from
Kanyakumari to Banaras ), near Reserve Bank and Kasturchand Park Square
(Latitude 21°08′59.1″N, Longitude 79°04′49.9″E ).
A few years back an Indian Oil
Petrol Pump which was located adjacent to this zero mile was closed. Today there is nothing at all to suggest that there once was a petrol pump. Some
effort to beautify zero mile spot has been made by planting a bit of grass,
Cycas Revoluta and other Palm Plants and statues of four stallions in full flight. But the plot of land left vacant by petrol pump is an eyesore with bits of garbage and forlorn look about it. Most probably it is now being used as a free parking space by customers of Savaji Bhojanalaya located there.
General view Zero Mile Nagpur.
Protective balustrade and zero-mile pillar. At the base of zero-mile pillar distances to some main cities are given.
General view Zero Mile Nagpur.
General view Zero Mile Nagpur. From the rear.
All major highways NH-7 ( Varanasi - Kanyakumari ) & NH-6 (Mumbai -
Sambalpur - Calcutta) and major railways trunk route (Mumbai, Chennai, Howrah
, Delhi) pass through the city and The honour of being geographical centre is by and large true, Particularly for North-South axis.
However, those who are
finicky about accuracy may point out that Distances between Kanyakumari in
South to Nagpur Zero Mile and further North to a point on Aksai Chinborder are
1450.3 km and 1591 KMs respectively. In W-E Axis, the Southernmost point of Sir
Creek in the West to Nagpur Zero Mile and further East to the Easternmost point of Arunachal border, the distances are 1160.1 Kms and 1991.3 KMs respectively. As these points are not equidistance, Nagpur is not EXACT
GEOGRAPHIC CENTER of the Country. However considering the vastness of the Indian
subcontinent and the complexities in the shape of the border, it is conceded by
all and everyone agrees that Zero Mile is the exact geographical centre of India
.
There is also a general belief that because this is the Geographical Center and therefore it is called Zero Mile . This is Wrong.
It is called zero Mile due to the location of this GTS Standard bench Mark Pillar :
It is because of the location of this GTS Standard bench Mark Pillar that this spot is called "Zero- Mile".
Inscription on the vertical face of the pillar reads " G.T. S. STANDARD BENCHMARK.1907"
Horizontal stone slab (it is just below the pillar, due to lack of contrast you will have to look carefully) is an integral part of the G T S standard benchmark. Inscription on the horizontal stone slab reads " THE HEIGHT OF THE TOP OF THIS PILLAR IS 1020.171 FEET ABOVE THE MEAN LEVEL OF THE SEA ".(Note the accuracy to the THIRD degree of the decimal).
The location of G T S Pillar is behind the horses at Zero mile.
The Center of the red circle painted on top of
this pillar has great significance as that is the reference point of the GTS Bench
Mark going through the photos I was intrigued by all this and decided to do some research.
I learned quite a bit from a google search. " G.T.S. (Great
Trigonometrical Survey) benchmark is a permanently fixed reference survey
station (or point), having known elevation with respect to a standard datum
(mean sea level). This GTS, at zero-mile, was one of the many such established
with great accuracy in what can be termed as one of the most stupendous tasks
in the history of science of cartography, started 200 years ago by William
Lambton and completed four decades later by George Everest, which resulted in the Great Indian Arc of the Meridian. It is the GTS benchmarks like these
that helped in eventually establishing that the Himalayas constituted a
mountain range and Mount Everest was the highest point on the earth at 8848
meters ( 29028.87 Feet). Lots and lots of information are available on this topic on the internet.
Thus the GTS mark was established in
Nagpur and because it was the capital of Central Provinces, this GTS Standard
BenchMark was taken as Chart Datum for extending the surveys to all the central provinces and areas beyond. Being Chart Datum all the distances to various cities were also measured from this G T S Marker taken as "ZERO", and only the distances for some surrounding cities were then engraved on the stone slabs at the base of the ZERO MILE PILLAR. And that is how this came to be known as Zero Mile Pillar
Zero Mile Pilar.l
Inscription on Zero Mile Pillar Reads " TO JUBBULPORE 170 MILES " " TO SEONEE 79 MILES " (spellings as in use those days :-)
Another inscription on the Zero Mile Pillar Hyderabad & Chandah Distances. Modern Zero Mile Pillar.(spellings as in use those days :-)
Being located on NH 7 it shows distances to Northern and Southern Destinations as Varanasi 729 KMs, Kanyakumari 1600 KMs, with Chart Detum being 0 KM on the side :-)
In fact, reading about that tremendous Great
Trigonometric Survey Project which revolutionised the way to look at map
making and cartography and significantly improved the science of cartography
and map making, towering and visionary personalities of Colonel Lambton, Sir
George Everest , Radhanath Sikdar and others. Establishment of GTS at zero miles and all that is part of our history.
I felt that if the local administration beautifies the plot left vacant by the petrol pump. Erects beautifully made billboards giving photographs and information about the great project and personalities it will have a great impact as the real thing would be just a few paces away. It would greatly contribute to spreading the information about zero-mile, GTS etc among parents, children, students and the general public.
SO NOW WE KNOW THE HOWS AND WHYS OF ZERO MILE MARKER, NAGPUR. Let us hope "ZERO MILE EDUCATION PARK" becomes a reality.
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