Bokaro Steel City pronunciation, is the home of one of the largest steel plant in India, and several other medium and small industries. It is the district headquarters of the Bokaro district as well as Bokaro divisional range (Bokaro, Dhanbad and Giridih).
Situated on the Chhota Nagpur Plateau, the vast rolling topography of the city is typical, strewn by graded valleys and winding streams. In this setting, within a short period of two decades, a new city with a strong multi-dimensional economic base, has blossomed into a regional urban centre of around half a million people drawn from different parts of the country, giving the city the character of Mini India.
History of Bokaro
Formerly there was a sleepy village named Maraphari deep in the jungles of ChotaNagpur. The closest village cluster was Chas. Purulia was the closest town and the area was ruled by the Maharaja of Kashipur. Folk lores have it that this area came under Mughal rule by the conquests of Man Singh. The region was named ManBhoom after him (VeerBhoom and SinghBhoom are the neighbouring regions also named after him, Veer Man Singh).
This remote place came into prominence when Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru planned to build the first swadeshi steel plant with the help of the Soviets. The proximity to coal, iron ore, manganese, and other raw materials helped in the selection of this place. The steel plant was originally incorporated as a limited company on 29 January, 1964, and was later merged with SAIL and came to be known as Bokaro Steel Limited(BSL). The late 1960s and early 1970s saw heavy construction of the steel plant as well as the township. The first blast furnace started on 2 October, 1972. The Sector III and Camp I and II were the first to come in the township followed by Sectors II, IX, IV and so on. The first private school came in the form of St. Xavier's School which the Jesuits from Hazaribagh built on invitation from the BSL management. The 1980s saw rapid development of the township with new sectors coming up, new schools, parks, zoos and other public amenities coming up. Township development ceased with the completion of IV/F and IV/G. In all bokaro steel city consists of 12 sectors out of which sectors VII & X do not exist.
Bokaro Steel City is one of few completely planned townships. The whole township is divided into rectangular sectors which in turn is made of sub-sectors. The streets are well lit and lined with lush trees. Numerous parks and playgrounds are strategically developed between 2 - 4 streets. Public utilities like community centers, commercial centers, public health dispensaries are provided for all sectors for the benefit of residents. Bokaro boasts of one the largest hospitals The Bokaro General Hospital and one of the most beautiful parks The City Park in the whole Jharkhand. The late 1990s saw sprucing up of the City Park and creation of islands.
With the growth of the city new schools came up contributing a lot to the success of Bokaro's students in all India level competition exams, specially the IIT's. During this period Bokaro also emerged as the eastern hub for academics. Bokaro also boasts of having a unique cosmopolitan culture as the population consists of people belonging to different parts of India viz. Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Kerela, U.P, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat e.t.c.
Despite being a island of peace since inception, Bokaro saw the CISF conflict as well as numerous incidents of violence in the Jharkhand Statehood movement.