Gadchiroli District

Gadchiroli district was created on August 26, 1982 by bifurcating the Chandrapur district, which is part of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. In ancient times the region was ruled by the Rashtrakutas, the Chalukyas, the Yadavas of Deogiri and later the Gonds of Gadchiroli. In the 13th century Khandkya Ballal Shah founded Chandrapur. He shifted his capital from Sirpur to Chandrapur. Chandrapur subsequently came under Maratha rule. In 1853, Berar, of which Chandrapur (then called Chanda until 1964) was part, was ceded to the British East India Company. In 1854, Chandrapur became an independent district of Berar. In 1905, the British created the tehsil of Gadchiroli within Chandrapur. It was part of the Central Provinces till 1956, when with the reorganisation of the states, Chandrapur was transferred to Bombay state. In 1960, when the new state of Maharashtra was created, Chandrapur became a district of the state. In 1982 Chandrapur was divided, with Gadchiroli becoming an independent district.

Gadchiroli was a subdivision of the erstwhile district of Chandrapur and was carved out as a separate district of the state on 26th August, 1982. The district is located in the north-eastern part of the state bordering Durg, Rajnandgaon of newly created Chhattisgarh State on the east, Chandrapur on the west, Bhandara on the north and Karim Nagar, Adilabad of Andra Pradesh & Jagdalpur(Chhattisgarh State) on the South.The district is categorized as Tribal and undeveloped district and most of the land is covered with forest and hills. The main river basin of the district is Godavari which borders the southern boundary of the district and flows west to East. Due to proximity towards Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh it is worst affected by Naxalites taking shelters in the dense forest & hills of this district. The District Head-quarter is situated at Gadchiroli which is 180 Kms away from Nagpur and 80 Kms away from Chandrapur and 200 Km from Bhandara. The prime visiting places in Gadchiroli are: Shiv Temple at Markanda (Ta-. Chamorshi), Hanuman Temple at Chaprala (Ta- Chamorshi) and Markanda etc.