| Parvatiya Gramin Bank with its Head Office at Chamba, Himachal Pradesh and sponsored by State Bank of India was established on 2nd November 1985 under the Regional Rural Banks Act 1976. Presently, the Bank is operating in the district of Chamba. This bank is the only Regional Rural Bank sponsored by State Bank of India in Himachal Pradesh.
Profile of the District :
A suryavanshi Rajput, Meru Verman, who was said to have migrated from Ayodhya, founded the erstwhile Chamba State in the middle of the 6th century AD. He conquered the local petty chiefs and made ‘Brahampura’ now called Bharmour as his capital. Sahil Verman who ruled around 830AD extended his rule to lower Ravi valley and shifted the capital from Bharmour to present Chamba town, which is also known as “ Shiv Bhoomi” . It is said that Chamba obtained its name from Champavati, the daughter of Sahil Verman. This town was founded in 930AD since then it had been the capital of erstwhile Chamba State. It was founded as administrative unit after the merger of erstwhile princely state with Himachal on 15th April, 1948 and there after as a result of reorganization of erstwhile state of Punjab, the hill pockets of Dalhousie and Bakloh Cantt were merged with this district.
The main occupation of the Chamba district is agriculture. More than 90% of the population is living in the rural areas and dependent on agriculture. Apart from the agriculture, the majority of rural households is engaged in traditional vocation such as handloom weaving, wood and metal, leather footwear work, Chamba rumal, Rearing of goats and sheep etc. Besides slate mining, small-scale industries and trading are the other major activities of this district. Floriculture is also taking place in Tissa tehsil with the implementation of Green Gold Project in the district.
There are seven Tehsils and seven Development Blocks, out of which 2 blocks (Pangi and Bharmour) falls under the Tribal areas. Pangi Sub-Division remains cut off from rest of the world six months in a year due to heavy snowfall. Due to difficult topography and rural backwardness threeblocks of the district i.e. Mehla, Salooni and Tissa have been declared backward whereas eleven panchayats of Chamba and Seventeen Panchayats of Bhattiyat block have been declared as dispersed backward panchayats.
Location :-
Chamba district lies in the Himalayas and partially fringes the Shivaliks. It is bounded in the Northwest and West by the State of Jammu and Kashmir, on the East by Lahaul and Spiti district and in the Southeast and South by the district of Kangra (HP) and Gurdaspur district (Punjab). The territory is wholly mountainous and the altitude ranges between 2000Ft. to about 21000Ft. above Mean Sea Level on the North Latitude 32º-10’ and 33º- 18’ and East latitude 75º-45’ and 77º-33’.
Population : -
According to the 2001 census total population of Chamba district is 460499 souls. There are 234812 males and 225687 females. The total density of the population is 71 persons per square kilometer. The literacy rate of the district is 44.70% which is much lower than the State Leteracy ratio. The majority of population of this distict is Hindu but minority communities like Muslim, Sikh, Christian and Budhist are also present in small numbers. Scheduled Casts and Scheduled Tribes constitute about 48 percent of the total population of the district. As per survey conducted by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) in the year 1998-99, total 47165 families were found living below the poverty line, which constitute 62% of the total families in the district.
Soil and Climate :-
The Agro climatically district Chamba is divided in Tropical, Sub tropical and temperate zones. There is a great variability in soil texture and climate which provide opportunity to grow a wide range of crops in the district and offer good scope for diversifaction to Off-season vegetables, Potato, Garlic, Ginger, Turmeric etc.
Famous places/Spots :-
Chamba is the remote district of the State still it has many beautiful places for the Tourist interests at Chamba, Dalhousie, Khajjiyar and Bharmour. Khajjiyar is also known as ‘Mini Switzerland’.
Chowrasee temples of Bharmour, Lakshmi Narayan temple at Chamba, Hari Rai, Champavati, Chamunda temples of Chamba, Jalpa Mata temple at Chhatrari on Chamba- Bharmour road, Mani Mahesh Dham near Bharmour and the other religious places are of the tourist’s interest. Besides this, every year an international “MINJAR” fair is celebrated in the heart of Chamba town at Historic lush green Chamba Chowgan. |
