History

Queen of Uttarakhand Hills

Ranikhet the queen of Kumaon hills is situated in Almora District of Uttarakhand at a distance of 84 Kms from its nearest Railways Station, Kathgodam at height of 6000 feet from sea level.

Ranikhet Cantonment Authority was established in 1869 and its officer was called Cantonment Magistrate and his office was known as Cantonment Court, or in local language, Cantonment Kachheri (कचहरी) The Cantonment Board Act was passed by Government of India in 1924. This Act is recently amended by the Cantonment Act (Amended), 2006.

Minutes of Cantonment Committee is available in the Cantonment Board Office since 1869. In 1870 log huts were put up in Ranikhet for accommodation of troops and the first Royal Scouts and Cantonment of the 37th Hampshire Regiment was sent up and worked for making roads, cleaning and leveling the sites for construction of Barracks.

According to old history 1056 onward Katuaries and Chand Raja ruled the Almora till 1790. There are two stories as to derivation of the name Ranikhet. One is that the queen of Katuari Raja Dudhan Dev (1180), Padmini selected this place for studies, play and to stay hence it was named as Ranikhet. The other is that it was the place of many battles and was Rankshetra, the battle field. Ranikhet literally means “Queens Fields” Queen is the symbol of Nature, though legend has it that one Katuri queen Padmani of Dwarahat had her fields near Ranikhet Club and established Kumpur or Katyuri Bazar, later-on known as BI Bazar (British Infantry Bazar) or Lal Kurti.

ORGANIZATION

The Cantonment Board, Ranikhet is an urban local body functioning under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Govt.of India through the Director General, Defence Estates and the Principal Director, Defence Estates, Central Command. This exclusive hill Cantonment has been established in 1869.  The functions of the Cantonment Board are regulated by the Cantonments Act, 1924 (as amended up to date) and other Central Govt. and state Government laws as applicable.

With a total area of 4183 acres it includes 167 acres of notified civil area with a civil population of 12869 (Census-2011), Ranikhet is a Category-II Cantonment Board  comprising of 14 members (7 Official and 7 Elected members).The Station Commander is the Ex-Officio President of the Board.  The Chief Executive Officer is the Member Secretary of the Board. At present the Cantt. Board has only 03 nominated members apart from the President.  Principal Director, Defence Estates( an officer of Additional Secretary to the Govt of India level is posted at the Headquarters Central Command Lucknow who apart from being advisor to the GOC-in-C, is answerable to the Director General, Defence Estates and through them to the Ministry of Defence. GOC-in-Chief, of the Army Command concerned, acts as the local Govt. for the Cantonment Boards situated within his Command. The administration of the Cantonment Boards is supervised by the Defence Estates Organization

Principal Director, Defence Estates( an  officer of  Additional Secretary to the Govt of India level is posted at the Headquarters Central Command Lucknow  who apart from being advisor to the GOC-in-C, is answerable to the Director General, Defence Estates and through them to the Ministry of Defence. GOC-in-Chief, of the Army Command concerned, acts as the local Govt. for the Cantonment Boards situated within his Command. The administration of the Cantonment Boards is supervised by the Defence Estates Organization

TOPOGRAPHY,CLIMATE AND TEMPARATURE

A) TOPOGRAPHY,CLIMATE

Broadly speaking Ranikhet is made up of three major ridges the Alma hill(5,966 ft), Deolikhet (5,983 ft) and Chaubattia  (6,942 ft).  All the three ridges are inter-connected by the Upper and Lower Mall Roads. The town is situated at latitude 29°29’50” North and longitude 79°26’ East on a ridge which forms the north-western boundary of Kosi Basin.

The topography of the town forms a tract of  rounded or flat ridges with subsidiary spurs and slopes.  In general the gradient is gentle to moderate but some precipitous ground occurs on the western fringes.  The highest altitude, 6942 ft is at Chaubattia and the lowest 5,200 ft.

The underlying rocks are mainly schistose with abundance of mica. Bands of quartzite are also found among the schists and white quartz.  Gneiss extends in a strip through Chaubattia. Both schist and gneiss give good building stone, the former is easily worked and the latter, which is a strong granite type, makes a handsome building stone.

The soil is light sandy loam, derived mostly from mica-schist.  Red clay bands are also found in certain pockets.  In moist ravines of some northern slopes leaf mould layers are found, making the soil well suited for the groth of oak and other broad leaf varieties.  On the ridges of pine Zone, however the soil is poor.

B) TEMPERATURE

Temperature in Ranikhet:

Summer Max : 32.2°C, Min 8.4°C

Winter Max: 7.2°C, Min.(-)4°C.

These are the figures given by the Tourist Office

(The researcher recorded temperatures of 33°C at 1 p.m. on 14th June 2005 in Sadar Bazaar. There has been a perceptible rise in the maximum temperature and sometimes the need of a ceiling fan is felt, previously unknown to Ranikhet)

Profile :

Year of Establishment: 1869

Area: 4183 Acres

Population as per 2011 census:

Civil Population – 12869

Defence Population : 6017

Total -18886