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Bhopal - General Information
The capital of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal was built on
the site of the 11th century city
of Bhojapal. It was founded by the legendary Raja Bhoj who is credited
with having constructed the lakes around which the city is built. The
present city was laid out by the Afghan chief Dost
Mohammed Khan, who was in charge of Bhopal during Aurangzeb's reign,
but took advantage of the confusion following Aurangzeb's death in 1707 to
carve out his own small kingdom.
Today, Bhopal has a multifaceted
profile. There's the old city with its crowded market places, huge old
mosques, and the palaces of the former begums who ruled over the city from
1819 to 1926. To the north sprawl the huge industrial suburbs and the
slums which these developments inevitably give rise to. The new city with
its broad avenues, sleek high-rise offices and leafy residential areas
lies to the west. In the centre of Bhopal are two lakes which, while
providing recreational facilities, are also the source of its plagues of
mosquitoes.
The city is also famous as the site of the world's worst
industrial disaster. On the right of 3 December 1984, 40 tonnes of deadly
methyl icocyanate, a toxic gas used in the manufacture of pesticides by
Union Carbide, a US-based multinational company, leaked out over the city
of Bhopal. Carried by the wind, this deadly gas soon enveloped the
sleeping city.
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