Godda is a city and a municipality in Godda district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The district has an area of 2110 km². The district headquarters is Godda.
Godda district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state in eastern India It lies in the northeastern part of the state. The geographical area that now comprises Godda district used to be part of the erstwhile Santhal Parganas district. Godda town is the headquarters of Godda district.
The area of the district is 2110 km², with a population of around 861,000. The district is without any rail link, the nearest railway station being godda. The main economic activity of the people is agriculture, and major crops are paddy, wheat and maize.
Godda is the land of a tribe called Santhals. Godda is not only a land of tribes, the local inhabitants also include the non-tribal and urban people.
Divisions
There are three Vidhan Sabha constituencies in this district: Poreyahat, Godda and Mahagama. All of these are part of Godda (Lok Sabha constituency).
Demographics
According to the 2011 census Godda district has a population of 1,311,382, roughly equal to the nation of Mauritius or the US state of New Hampshire. This gives it a ranking of 372nd in India (out of a total of 640).
Agriculture
Rice, wheat and maize are the main crops grown in the district, along with vegetables, linseed and khesari. Fruits like mango, banana, jack fruit, plum grow in this district.
Minerals
Coal is mined extensively across the entire district with Lalmatia Colliery having the reputation for the largest open coal mine in Asia. There are no artificial irrigation facilities like dams, tunnel, tube wells. Several floods and droughts have occurred during the last decade. Adani Power is going to set up a thermal power plant in the godda poreyahat region of Godda. The central government has allotted coal blocks for this thermal power plant to be set up. Jindal Steel and Power Limited has set up a power plant having a capacity of 1400 megawatt(around) at Nipaniya about 10 km from godda city.
Notable people
Bhagwat Jha Azad: Former Chief minister of Bihar
Rameshwar Thakur: Former Governor of Madhya Pradesh
Kirti Azad : Former Cricketer, Team India.
Rashmi Jha: Bollywood Actress
Anil Kumar Jha: Former Chairman, Coal India Limited
Vibhas Chandra Jha : Vice Chancellor, Tilka Manjhi University, Bhagalpur
Nishikant Dubey: M.P, Godda
Pradeep Yadav: MLA, Poreyahat
Ashok Bhagat: MLA, Mahagama
Furqan Ansari: Former M.P, Godda
Raghu Nandan Mandal: Former MLA, Godda
Amit Kumar Mandal: MLA, Godda
Geography
Godda is located at 24.83°N 87.22°E. It has an average elevation of 77 metres (252 feet). Godda came into existence as the 55th district of undivided Bihar on 25 May 1983. After the bifurcation of Bihar into Jharkhand state on 15 November 2000, it was one of 18 districts of Jharkhand. National Highway 133 (NH-133) passes through the city of Godda.
Economy
Godda is mostly famous for the Rajmahal coalfield in Lalmatia. It is an integral part of Jharkhand and is known for its hills and small forests. The mine present here is an integral part of ECL coalfields and is among the biggest in whole Asia.
Until the late 1980s Godda was full of forests and was a remote place far from science and technology and was living in a dark age as other districts of Jharkhand. The entire scenario changed after coal was first discovered in abundance under the Rajmahal Hills by a team of the Geological Survey of India. Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd. conducted a detailed survey of the area. The Rajmahal Opencast Coal mine project was conceived in early 1980s, initially to supply coal to Farakka Super Thermal Power Project of NTPC, with an initial annual capacity of 5 million tonne. For expansion of this coal mine project to 10.5 million tonne per annum, an agreement was signed between Coal India Limited and Canadian Commercial Corporation in January 1989 where MET-CHEM Canada Inc. was designated as the Canadian Executing Agency for implementing the project. The Project was completed in July 1994 and is being run by Eastern Coalfileds Limited personnel. This mine is producing 11.5 million tonne coal per annum. This is being expanded further to 17 million tonne.
Two more opencast coal mine of Eastern Coalfields Limited are coming in Godda district, Chuperbhita opencast coal mine project (capacity - 4 million tonne) and Hurra 'C' opencast coal mine project (capacity - 3 million tonne). Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Lalmatia, DAV Public School Urja Nagar, St. Thomas School Godda and High School Godda are among famous and best school in godda district.
Administration
Blocks/Mandals
Godda district consists of 09 Blocks. The following are the list of the Blocks in Godda district:
Boarijore
Godda
Mahagama
Meharama
Pathargama
Poraiyahat
Sunderpahari
Thakurgangti
Basantrai.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godda
