Karnal-Karnal, with a population of 8,85,000 covers an area of 1967 sq km. District headquarter is situated in Karnal city.
Karnal was founded by the Kouravs around the time of the Mahabharat for
King Karna. It is 123 km from Delhi on the National Highway NH1, (called the GT Road), and
126 km from Chandigarh. Other towns are Gharaunda, Nilokheri, Assandh, Indri
and Taraori.
Karnal is famous for Shoes, agriculture research institutions and
Basmati Rice.
Karnal, 'city of Daanvir Karan' has been a walled town as far as it is possible to trace and may
have had a citadel one time. In 1739, the Persian King Nadir Shah defeated the Mughal ruler Muhammad
Shah in the Battle of Karnal. Karnal was annexed by
the Raja of Jind in AD 1763 and was taken from him by George Thomas in 1797.
The British established a cantonment in 1811, but abandoned it after thirty years due to the outbreak of malaria.
Kalpana Chawla the astronaut
Brigadier V P Airy, MVC
Karnal district lies on the western bank of river Yamuna forming the eastern
boundary. Yamuna separates Haryana from
Uttar Pradesh. The Karnal district including Panipat lies
between 29 09'50" and 29 50' North latitude and 76 31' 15" and 77 12'45" East longitude, its height from
sea level is around 240 meters. Karnal is surrounded by Kurukshetra district on its
north-west, Jind, Kaithal districts on its west, Panipat district on its
south and Uttar Pradesh on east. The district is a part of the
Ganga-Saraswati-Indus plains and has a well spread irrigation network of western
Yamuna canal. Its geographical area has been divided in to three agro climatic regions, Khadar, Bhangar and Nardak belt.
Khadar starts from Indri-Karnal road one mile away from Karnal covering the area in between
Yamuna river and National Highway No.1 up to Patti-Kalyana village. Bhangar area starts
from west of Khadar area covering Gharaunda, development block. The nardak area lies in Nissing, Nilokheri and Assandh
blocks. However, its water is saline and not fit for irrigation.
