Nagpur: An 18-acre landscaped area near Nagpur has been developed and beautified as the entry point of the Samruddhi Mahamarg or the expressway. The entry point is developed like a circular ‘rangoli’ covering an area of 70,685 square metres.
Nagpur, which is located precisely at the geographical centre-point of India, has the Zero Mile marker located there and the Zero Mile monument, built by the Britishers. The distances to various major cities, which are measured from this point, are carved on the pillar erected at this site. Hence, Nagpur is called the Zero Mile centre. This point is located in the heart of the city in the Civil Lines area.
“We have developed it on a land measuring 18 acres with a circumference of around one kilometre, and this is probably the first of its kind in the world,” said Rajesh Gotmare, the architect of the ‘Zero Point’ of the Samruddhi Mahamarg.
He added that the area was developed keeping in mind that Zero Mile of the country is located in Nagpur.
“The source of lighting in the square would be the solar energy, set up at the Zero Point itself,” said Gotmare. “The area was developed and beautified like a big ‘rangoli’ with different colours of grasses and plants.”
He added that the uniqueness was maintained keeping in view the culture of the state.
This square was built at the starting point of the Samruddhi Highway, near the Shivmadka village where the routes coming from Nagpur, Amravati and Hingna converge and from there the Samriddhi Highway continues towards Mumbai.
It will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday. The prime minister will take a 10-kilometre ride to reach AIIMS in MIHAN area, near the Nagpur airport to inaugurate the state-of-the-art Central government medical college and hospital.
The beautified area, which some people unofficially call as “Zero Point”, was illuminated with colourful lights ahead of the PM’s visit.
The Zero Mile monument was built by the Britishers during the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India in 1907 in Nagpur. It consists of a pillar made up of sandstone and another small stone representing the GTS Standard Benchmark, and four stucco horses that were added later.
Contrary to the popular belief, there is no verifiable evidence that it is a monument locating the geographical centre of colonial India in the city of Nagpur or that it was erected by the British to use this point to measure distances to various places across the country. However, Nagpur lies at the geographical centre to all the four major metro cities – Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and New Delhi – of the country.