BANKING, TRADE AND COMMERCE

COURSE OF TRADE

The growth of transport and communications facilities in a region is both the cause and the consequence of the trade activity in it. Bhir district, along with other districts of the Marathwada region, was not supplied with a well-knit system of communications till recently. The total rail length in Bhir district at present measures only 48.28 km. (30 miles), the main railway station in the district being Parali-Vaijnath. The rail track running north-east joins it with Parbhani and that running southeast with Hyderabad. The Parali-Parbhani meter gauge line was opened for traffic in 1929. The Parali-Vikarabad broad gauge line opened in 1933 serves the district well by connecting it with Secunderabad and Hyderabad, which are important places. Parali-Vaijnath is the largest market town of the district and is connected with many trade centres in the outgoing areas. Bhir, the headquarters of the district, lies off the railway route and thus depends on roadways for trade. The railway communication is restricted to a small portion in the east only. It thus depends for the most part on road transport for passenger and goods traffic. There is a net-work of State Transport buses which provides the main source of communications for the district. A number of roads connect the headquarters with other trading places viz., Ashti, Georai, Manjlegaon, Parali, Ambejogai and Dharur.

Five state highways run through the district. Of these, the Malkapur-Jalna-Bhir-Sholapur road running north-south and the Bhir-Ahmadnagar road running west are of considerable importance to the commercial activities in the district. A brief description of these highways along with their importance is given below: —

The Malkapur-Jalna-Bhir-Sholapur state highway connects the district with important trading centres of north and south. A road track running east off the Bhir-Jalna road connects Bhir with Manjlegaon.

The Bhir-Ahmadnagar state highway has a length of 144.84 km. (ninety miles). This road touches the tahsil places of Patoda and Ashti. The road track running off the Bhir-Ahmadnagar road after a run of 61.15km. (38 miles) connects Bhir with Amalner which is famous for brass-ware.

The Manjarsumbha-Kaij-Ahmadpur state highway and the Lokhandi-Savargaon-Latur road running east connect the district with south-west Osmanabad.

The Bhir-Parali road which connects the headquarters with the railways has a run of 115.88 km. (72 miles) and it passes through Kaij and Ambejogai.

The state highways are motorable throughout the year and provide the main line of communications for the district.

The development of rail and road transport in the district has changed the pattern of import and export trade to some extent Parali-Vaijnath is connected by broad gauge rail line to Hyderabad and Bidar by a meter-gauge track to Parbhani. It is thus linked to the Manmad-Kacheguda line. The roadways connect it with Nanded, Barsi, Latur, Jalna, Hingoli and other important towns in the region. This has made Parali a big assembling, and distributing centre. Next in importance is the Bhir market connected by roads with Jalna, Ahmadnagar, Aurangabad, Barsi and Parali-Vaijnath. Most of the goods are imported by train or by trucks and then distributed throughout the district by trucks or in carts.