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Bhuntar

Town in Himachal Pradesh, India

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Bhuntar is a town and a nagar panchayat in Kullu district in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India. It is 11 km from the Kullu town, and lies along National Highway 3. The Kullu-Manali Airport is located in Bhuntar.

01History

During the British Raj, Bhuntar had a bazaar and a branch office for post and telegraphs.

In 1905, Duff Dunbar, a British forest officer posted in Kullu, got a suspension bridge constructed at Bhuntar over the Beas River. The bridge connected the Kullu valley to the Parvati valley. The bridge was rendered unserviceable by heavy floods in September 1947. Thakur Beli Ram, a local leader from Kullu, had to take care of this and other simultaneous issues in the wider Kullu region soon after India's Independence.

Bhuntar was electrified alongside Kullu town in 1957. By 1961, Bhuntar already had an airstrip.

Bhuntar was first categorized as a town by the Census of India 1981.

The confluence of rivers Beas and Parvati at Bhuntar.
The confluence of rivers Beas and Parvati at Bhuntar.

02Geography

Bhuntar is located on the right bank of the Beas River. Directly opposite Bhuntar, near the left bank of the Beas River, lies the confluence of the Parvati River with the River Beas. The Parvati Valley begins at this confluence and runs eastward, through a steep-sided valley towards Kasol and Manikaran.

The next major settlement after Bhuntar, in the direction of Kullu, is Shamshi.

03Accessibility

Bhuntar lies on the National Highway 3, which till 2010 was the National Highway 21.

The airport at Bhuntar connects the Kullu valley to a few major north Indian cities, including Delhi and Amritsar.

Bhuntar is a centre within the Kullu valley for accessing places in the Kullu valley such as Shamshi, Kullu, and Manali, and for places in the Parvati valley such as Manikaran, Kasol, and Tosh.

04Demography

As of 2001 India census, Bhuntar had a population of 5260. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Bhuntar has an average literacy rate of 80%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 84% and female literacy of 76%. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

05Climate

Climate data for Bhuntar (Kullu-Manali Airport) 1991-2020, extremes 1960-present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 25.4
(77.7)
28.2
(82.8)
32.3
(90.1)
37.3
(99.1)
40.0
(104.0)
39.4
(102.9)
37.4
(99.3)
37.8
(100.0)
35.5
(95.9)
33.6
(92.5)
29.4
(84.9)
27.0
(80.6)
40.0
(104.0)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 16.1
(61.0)
18.3
(64.9)
22.7
(72.9)
27.3
(81.1)
31.3
(88.3)
32.9
(91.2)
31.6
(88.9)
30.8
(87.4)
30.1
(86.2)
27.9
(82.2)
22.9
(73.2)
18.2
(64.8)
25.8
(78.4)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 1.6
(34.9)
3.8
(38.8)
6.8
(44.2)
9.8
(49.6)
13.1
(55.6)
17.0
(62.6)
20.2
(68.4)
19.9
(67.8)
16.8
(62.2)
10.1
(50.2)
4.9
(40.8)
1.5
(34.7)
10.3
(50.5)
Record low °C (°F) −4.7
(23.5)
−4.5
(23.9)
0.2
(32.4)
3.5
(38.3)
4.6
(40.3)
6.1
(43.0)
11.1
(52.0)
10.9
(51.6)
7.8
(46.0)
3.5
(38.3)
−1.5
(29.3)
−5.2
(22.6)
−5.2
(22.6)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 81.4
(3.20)
103.4
(4.07)
116.7
(4.59)
78.2
(3.08)
61.3
(2.41)
65.6
(2.58)
135.6
(5.34)
129.4
(5.09)
77.4
(3.05)
24.8
(0.98)
21.6
(0.85)
31.3
(1.23)
926.9
(36.49)
Average rainy days 4.9 6.3 7.6 6.3 5.8 5.6 8.8 9.5 5.2 1.6 1.9 2.0 65.5
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST) 51 49 43 39 39 45 59 62 57 45 46 48 48
Source: India Meteorological Department
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Bhuntar, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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