Jhumri Tilaiya

 city, tourist information centre/center

Jhumri Telaiya is a town situated in the north-western region of Koderma District in Jharkhand, India. It is one of the only two towns in the Koderma district, the other being Koderma. It is situated in the Damodar Valley.Jhumri Taliya was once a major mica mining centre. While laying a railroad through Koderma in 1890s, the British first discovered vast mica deposits in this region.[2] Mining activities started soon after and many mining houses were established. CH Private Ltd. of Chatu Ram Bhadani and Horil Ram Bhadani was the predecessor of Mica Kings, which controlled the largest share of mica mining and export activity in the world at a time.

Prosperous businessmen built huge mansions in Jhumri Taliya. Till late 1960s, Mercedes and Porsche cars, and thoroughbreds from Arabia used to be common in Jhumri Taliya. The town once boasted of most number of phone connections and phone calls made in India.[2]

Most of the mica used to be exported to USSR, for space and military equipment. With the dissolution of the USSR and the discovery of a synthetic substitute for mica, the mining activity declined in 1990s[1]. The huge mansions belonging to the mine owners, sprawling over acres of land, can still be found in the town. Mica Kings were still active in Jhumri Taliya as of 2007. Apart from that business was moved to government corporations sometime in 1973-74 through a government venture called as Bihar Mica Syndicate which was having Mica mines in Sapahi, 40 km from Jhumri Telaiya. This government venture was renamed to Bihar State Mineral Development corporation (BSMDC), which is now known as Jharkhand State Mineral Development corporation (JSMDC) (after the formation of a new state of Jharkhand). Mica mining through government corporations went on well into the mid 1990s and slowly succumbed to lack of demand / political willpower and changing times.Jhumri Tilaiya was originally a sleepy mining town, which became famous in India due to its connection with Vividh Bharati, a nationally broadcast radio show. At a time when numerous television channels and FM radio stations were yet to come to India, the Vividh Bharati radio shows were a national phenomenon. A large number of song requests on the Vividh Bharati programmes would come from Jhumri TalaiyaSome people used to doubt the existence of Jhumri Talaiya, believing it to be an imaginary place. The name also carried overtones of derision and insignificance. For instance, the phrase "Medical Journal of Jhumri Talaiya" would often be used to refer to a shoddily produced, insignificant medical journal.

In many ways, Jhumri Talaiya is the Indian equivalent of Timbuktoo, also widely considered to be an imaginary place. This reference is seen in several Hindi movies. Often, when Jhumri Talaiya natives attend an interviews, they are greeted with surprise that a town called Jhumri telaiya, listed in their resume, actually exists.

Jhumri which is a village in Jharkhand, whereas the word "talaiya" comes from Hindi word "tal" which means pond. Jhumri is also said to be a local folk dance. Some people believe it originates from "Jhuri", the local word for "brush", which is commonly used as fuel for cooking in the villages. Another theory is that the town of Jhumri Talaiya gets its name from to its location between two separate villages Jhumri and Talaiya Dam.. Young listeners from this town would compete among themselves to send out the most song requests in a day or month. One requester, Rameswar Burnwal from Jhumri Tilaiya, managed to get his name repeated on the show almost on a daily basis. Other frequent requesters were Arvind Seth, Nandlal Sinha Mrs. Radha Sinha from Nawada Basti, Ramji Prasad, Sacchidanand Prasad and Triloki Prasad from Khudra Patti. Requester Arvind Seth was even invited for an interview on the television show Aaj Tak.Vividh Bharati Radio listeners thus became familiar with the town of Jhumri Tilaiya.Tilaiya Dam is the first dam and hydro-electric power station constructed by the Damodar Valley Corporation across Damodar River. The dam has historic significance since it is the first dam built in post-independent India and it was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India Jawahar Lal Nehru. The dam is 1,200 ft long (370 m) and 99 ft high (30 m). The Telaiya reservoir is spread over 36 km² area. There are many educational institutes within the vicinity of Telaiya dam. The most famous of them is Sainik School (Army School) Telaiya. The entire area is surrounded by lush green vegetataion. This is an ideal place for a picnic.[4]. The main objective of the dam was controlling floods. There is a hydroelectric power station, which a capacity of 4MW. The dam and its surroundings are also a tourist attraction.

The reservoir was stocked with 181,449 fingerlings of mrigal, 103,480 fingerlings of rohu and 27,211 fingerlings of catla fish in 1968. This heavy stocking did not affect the fishery until 1970-71, largely due to the presence of the predatory catfish. Other predatory fish species such as Notopterus chitala and Barilius bola were also common[1].

Places of interest near Jhumri Taliya include Rajgir, Nalanda, Hazaribagh National Park, Sonbhandar Caves (rumored to have hidden Mauryan treasures), Sammed Shikhar (Jain pilgrimage), Dhwajadhari Hill, Satagawan Petro falls, the tomb of Sant Paramhans Baba at Domchanch, Makamaro Hills, and Shaktipeeth Maa Chanchala Devi.