BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE

TRADE ROUTES.

Poverty of communications had greatly retarded the development of trade of Chandrapur district. At the time the old Gazetteer of Chanda district was published, Warora was the focus of the external trade of the district and all the produce of its interior used to find its way via Chandrapur to Warora. The position of Warora as a rail-head and the concentration of the export trade of the interior and the south of the district at Chandrapur, had naturally made the Chandrapur-Warora road the most important trade route in the district. In fact, till the opening of the Warora-Ballarpur extension in 1910, it formed the main artery of the district. The other important road was the Mul-Umrer road which gave an outlet to a good deal of commercial traffic from the north of Brahmapuri and the north-east of Warora towards the Nagpur market and was the only other made road connecting the district with the outer world.

At present the Delhi-Madras broad gauge line of the Central Railway passes through this district and has Majari, Warora, Bhadravati, Tadali, Chandrapur, Ballarpur and Manikgad stations in its stretch in the district. Of this Majari is a junction from which a line branches off to Wani. It has consider-ably helped the movement of goods to and fro in the district.

Besides, there is a narrow gauge line of 243 km. running from Chanda Fort to Gondia. A narrow gauge route to Nagpur emanates from this route at Nagbhir. Its distance is 111 km.

The condition of roads was very bad. It was very difficult to build roads as the entire tract was full of forests. By 1947, the total road mileage in Chandrapur district, was 432. Chandra- pur town, the district headquarters is connected by roads with the adjoining districts of Nagpur, Wardha, Yeotmal and Bhandara. But within the district there are no good roads connecting the district headquarters with the tahsil headquarters and the approaches from one tahsil to another are completely cut off during the rainy season. The eastern part of the district is a thick forest area, and the roads are, therefore, very few in Sironcha, Gadhchiroli and Brahmapuri tahsils.

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