Welcome to Bhopal!
Bhopal (Hindi: Bhopaal) is the capital of Madhya Pradesh, India. Bhopal is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the City of Lakes for its various natural and artificial lakes and for being one of the greenest cities in India. It is the 16th largest city in India and 131st in the world. After formation of Madhya Pradesh, the state capital Bhopal was a part of the Sehore district. It was bifurcated in 1972 and a new district Bhopal was formed. Flourishing around 1707, the city was the capital of the former Bhopal State, a princely state of the British ruled by the Nawabs of Bhopal. Numerous heritage structures from this period include the Taj-ul-Masajid and Taj Mahal palace. In 1984, the city was struck by the Bhopal disaster, one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
Bhopal has a strong economic base with numerous large and medium industries operating in and around the city. Bhopal is considered one of the important financial and economic destinations in Madhya Pradesh's two strong wealth pillars, the other being Indore. In 2017, Bhopal's GDP(PPP) was estimated at Rs. 1,27,000 crores.
A Y-class city, Bhopal houses various educational and research institutions and installations of national importance, including ISRO's Master Control Facility, BHEL, and AMPRI. Bhopal is home to a large number of institutes of National Importance in India, namely, IISER, MANIT, SPA, AIIMS, NLIU, IIFM, NIDMP, and IIIT (currently functioning from a temporary campus inside MANIT). Bhopal city is also divisional headquarter of the Bhopal division of west central railways (WCR), whose office is located at Rani Kamlapati Railway Station (RKMP), formerly known as Habibganj.
The city attracted international attention in December 1984 after the Bhopal disaster, when a Union Carbide pesticide manufacturing plant (now owned by Dow Chemical Company) leaked a mixture of deadly gases composed mainly of methyl isocyanate, leading to one of the worst industrial disasters in the world's history. The Bhopal disaster continues to be a part of the socio-political debate and a logistical challenge for the people of Bhopal. Bhopal was selected as one of the first twenty Indian cities (the first phase) to be developed as a smart city under PM Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission. Bhopal was also rated as the cleanest state capital city in India for three consecutive years, 2017, 2018 and 2019.