COMMUNICATIONS.

INTRODUCTION.

IT IS RIGHTLY SAID THAT CULTURE FOLLOWS COMMUNICATIONS. Means of communications do serve as the veins of cultural exchange, both in its material and non-material aspects. The greater the facilities of transport and communications the more will they help to remove the natural barricades which block the flow of developmental programme. The means of communications in their various aspects bring people from distant areas together and help them to live amicably. In fact some of them such as telephone, wireless and radio communications have brought the whole world together. It will not be an exaggeration to say that the means of transport and communications in their ever-changing patterns form one of the important factors which together initiate the great thinkers of the day to expound the idea of 'World Nation'.

About the state of communications in the district, prior to 1891, Chandrapur which was then nearly 28,490 km² (11,000 square miles) in extent possessed only one metalled road 47 km. (29 miles) in length and a section of railway measuring 27 km. (17 miles). These two means of communication then hugged the western border of the district so closely that they might appear to have wandered into it by accident, and for the vast bulk of the district might just as well have not existed. About 1870 the district was devoid of all civilised means of communication. In 1891, an important step was taken to remove this slur by the construction of the Chandrapur-Mul-Umrer road. This road opened up the Brahmapuri tahsil. But it was not until the famine of 1900 that the task of developing the communications of Chandrapur district was systematically taken in hand. Since then communications in the district have been continuously developing.

In the following pages an attempt is made to give the historical and structural account of the various means of transport and communications, such as, railways, roads and post and telegraphs. It may however be stated that considerable progress has been made in opening up even the remote parts of the district by construction of roads. However, there is still a vast scope to spread a net-work of roads in the rural areas of the district, especially in the forest tracts. That is the reason why in the present rural development programme of the district due importance is given to transport and communications.

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