Srinagar is a town and municipal council situated on the banks of the Alaknanda river in the Pauri Garhwal district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. Located in the lower Himalayan valley, it serves as an important educational, administrative and commercial centre of the Garhwal region.
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| State | Uttarakhand |
| Region | Garhwal |
| District | Pauri Garhwal |
| River | Alaknanda |
| Civic body | Municipal Council (Nagar Palika Parishad) |
| Languages | Hindi, Garhwali |
The town lies in a relatively wide and flat valley along the Alaknanda, a major headstream of the Ganga, at a comparatively low elevation by Garhwal standards. This setting gives it a milder climate than the surrounding hill stations and makes it a natural transit point for travellers proceeding to the Char Dham pilgrimage sites of Badrinath and Kedarnath. The National Highway connecting Rishikesh to Badrinath passes through the town.
Srinagar was historically the capital of the Garhwal Kingdom (the Parmar/Panwar dynasty) for several centuries before the British annexation of the region in the early nineteenth century. The town suffered extensive damage in the Gohna Lake flood of 1894, when a landslide-dammed lake on a tributary of the Alaknanda burst, devastating the old settlement. The town was subsequently rebuilt on higher ground.
After the formation of the state of Uttarakhand in 2000, Srinagar continued to grow as one of the principal urban centres of the Garhwal hills.
Srinagar is best known as the seat of the Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, established in 1973 and granted central university status in 2009. The university, named after the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister H. N. Bahuguna, is a major centre of higher learning for students from across the Garhwal and Kumaon regions. The town also hosts a government medical college and several affiliated colleges.
The local economy is supported by the university and student population, government offices, trade related to the pilgrimage and tourism circuit, and small-scale services. The town is administered by a municipal council under the Uttarakhand Urban Local Bodies framework.
The Srinagar Hydroelectric Project, a run-of-the-river scheme on the Alaknanda located close to the town, is among the larger hydroelectric installations in Uttarakhand. The project has been the subject of public debate concerning environmental impact, particularly after the June 2013 north India floods, which caused significant damage in and around the town.
Srinagar's combination of historical prominence as a former capital of Garhwal, its role as a university town, and its location on the route to major Himalayan pilgrimage centres gives it a distinctive position in Uttarakhand. It is not to be confused with the larger and better-known Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir.