Bhopal Bhōpāla
Metropolis
(from top to bottom) Bhojtaal, Sanchi Stupa, Taj-ul-Masajid, Tribal Museum Bhopal, Van Vihar National Park, Museum of Man
Nickname:  The City of Lakes
Bhopal Show map of Madhya Pradesh Bhopal Show map of India
Coordinates: 23°15′35.6″N 77°24′45.4″E / 23.259889°N 77.412611°E / 23.259889; 77.412611
Country	India
State	Madhya Pradesh
District	Bhopal
Region	Bhopal Division
Ward	85 wards[1]
Named for	Raja Bhoja
Government
• Type	Mayor–Council
• Body	Bhopal Municipal Corporation
• Mayor	Malti Rai (BJP)
• Member of Parliament	Alok Sharma (BJP) (June 2024 – present)
Area [2][3][4]
• Metropolis	463 km2 (179 sq mi)
• Metro [5]	648.24 km2 (250.29 sq mi)
Elevation	518.73 m (1,701.87 ft)
Population  (2011)[4]
• Metropolis	1,798,218
• Rank	20th
• Density	3,900/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
• Metro (Bhopal + Arera Colony + Berasia urban areas)	1,917,051
• Metro density	3,000/km2 (7,700/sq mi)
• Metro rank	18th
Demonym	Bhopali
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
Pincode	462001 to 462050
Telephone	0755
Vehicle registration	MP-04
Per capita GDP	$2,087 or ₹1.47 lakh[6]
GDP Nominal (Bhopal District)	₹44,175 crore (US$5.3 billion) (2020-21)[7]
Official language	Hindi
Literacy Rate (2011)	80.37%[8]
Precipitation	1,123.1 millimetres (44.22 in)
Avg. high temperature	31.7 °C (89.1 °F)
Avg. low temperature	18.6 °C (65.5 °F)
HDI (2016)	0.77 (High)[9]
Website	bhopal.nic.in bhopal.city smartbhopal.city

Bhopal (/boʊˈpɑːl/; ISO: Bhōpāla, Hindi: [bʱoːpaːl] ^ⓘ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division.^[10][11] It is known as the City of Lakes,^[12] due to presence of various natural and artificial lakes near the city boundary. It is also one of the greenest cities in India.^[13] It is the 16th largest city in India and 131st^[14] in the world. After the formation of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal was 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 until India's independence in 1947.

Bhopal has a strong economic base with numerous large and medium industries operating in and around the city. Bhopal is considered as one of the important financial and economic destinations in Madhya Pradesh's two strong wealth pillars, the other being Indore. Bhopal's GDP(nominal) was estimated at INR 44,175 crores (2020–21) by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Madhya Pradesh. A Y-class city,^[15] Bhopal houses various educational and research institutions and installations of national importance, including ISRO's Master Control Facility,^[16] BHEL and AMPRI. Bhopal is home to a large number of institutes of National Importance in India, namely, IISER, MANIT, SPA, AIIMS, NLIU, IIFM, NIFT, NIDMP and IIIT (currently functioning from a temporary campus inside MANIT).

Bhopal city also has Regional Science Centre, Bhopal, one of the constituent units of the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).

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 the worst industrial disaster in history.^[17] The Bhopal disaster continues to be a part of the socio-political debate and a logistical challenge for the people of Bhopal.^[18]

Bhopal was selected as one of the first twenty Indian cities (the first phase) to be developed as a smart city the Smart Cities Mission.^[19] Bhopal was also rated as the cleanest state capital city in India for three consecutive years, 2017, 2018 and 2019.^[20] Bhopal has also been awarded a 5-star Garbage Free City (GFC) rating, making it the cleanest State capital in the country in 2023.^[21]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Bhopal is named after the legendary ancient king Raja Bhoja, with 'Bho' possibly originating from his name. Additionally, 'Pal' signifies 'dam' or 'reservoir,' reflecting the city's abundance of lakes. Therefore, Bhopal's etymology suggests it may mean 'City of Raja Bhoja' or 'City of Lakes,' owing to its historical association with the king and its numerous water bodies.^[22]

According to folklore, Bhopal was founded in the 11th century by the Paramara king Bhoja, who ruled from his capital at Dhar. This theory states that Bhopal was originally known as Bhojpal after a dam (pal) constructed by the king's minister.^[4] An alternative theory says that the city is named after another king called Bhupala (or Bhupal).^[23][24][25] According to yet another version, Raja Bhoj suffered from leprosy. His physician advised him to build a lake with water from 365 rivers and take daily bath in it. When such a lake was built, it was called Bhoj Tal . Gradually people started calling the city Bhojpal, and finally Bhopal.^[26]

In the early 17th century, Bhopal was a small village in the Gond kingdom. The modern Bhopal city was established by Dost Mohammad Khan (1660-1726) died at the age of 66,^[27] a Pashtun soldier in the Mughal army.^[28] After the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region. In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate and later annexed several territories in the region to establish the Bhopal State.^[29] Khan received the territory of Bhopal from the Gond queen Kamlapati in lieu of payment for mercenary services and usurped her kingdom after her death.^[30] In the 1720s, he built the Fatehgarh fort in the village, which developed into the city of Bhopal over the next few decades.

The area of Malwa which also included Bhopal and nearby regions came under Maratha control after the combined armies of Mughal-Nizam-Nawab were decisively defeated in Battle of Bhopal (1737) by the great Peshwa Bajirao I.^[31]

Bhopal became a princely state after signing a treaty (During the reign of Nazar Mohammed Khan 1816–1819) ^[27] with the British East India Company in 1818.^[32] Between 1819 and 1926, the state was ruled by four women, Begums – unique in the royalty of those days – under British suzerainty. Qudsia Begum was the first woman ruler (between 1819 and 1837), who was succeeded by her granddaughter, Shah Jehan. Between the years 1844–1860, when Shah Jehan was a child, her mother Sikandar (only daughter of Qudsia) ruled as regent. Curiously during the 1857 revolt, Sikandar supported the British, for which she was rewarded by proclaiming her as king in 1858. To give her further honour, she was given a 19-gun salute and the Grand Cross of the Star of India. The latter made her equivalent to a British person, who had been granted a knighthood. Thus she became, at that time, the only female knight in the entire British Empire besides Queen Victoria. Among the relatively minor rewards, a territory was restored to her, that she had earlier lost to a neighbouring prince.^[26]

Sikandar ruled until 1868, when Shah Jehan succeeded her and was Begum until 1901. In 1901, Shah Jehan's daughter Kaikhusrau Jahan became Begum, ruled until 1926, and was the last of the female line of succession. In 1926, she abdicated in favour of her son, Hamidullah Khan, who ruled until 1947, and was the last of the sovereign Nawabs. The rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system, and a municipality constituted in 1907.^[33]

Bhopal State was the second-largest Muslim-ruled princely state: the first being Hyderabad. After the independence of India in 1947, the last Nawab expressed his wish to retain Bhopal as a separate unit. Agitations against the Nawab broke out in December 1948, leading to the arrest of prominent leaders including Shankar Dayal Sharma. Later, the political detainees were released, and the Nawab signed the agreement for Bhopal's merger with the Union of India on 30 April 1949.^[34] The Bhopal state was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949.

In early December 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas which led to the worst industrial disaster in the world to date.

The official death toll was initially recorded as around 4,000. A Madhya Pradesh government report stated 3,787 deaths,^[35] while other estimates state the fatalities were significantly higher (15,000)^[17] from the accident and the medical complications caused by the accident in the weeks and years that followed. The higher estimates have been challenged by Union Carbide, however, medical staff in the city were not able to adequately record data due to the massive influx of patients. The impact of the disaster continues to this day in terms of psychological and neurological disabilities, blindness, skin, vision, breathing, and birth disorders.^[36][37][38] Lawyers, academics and journalists have described the disaster as an ecocide.^[39][40][41]

The soil and ground water near the factory site have been contaminated by the toxic wastes.^[38][42] The Bhopal disaster continues to be the part of the socio-political debate; the clean-up of environmental contamination and rehabilitation of those affected continues to challenge the people of Bhopal.^[18]

The centre is seeking a direction to Union Carbide and other firms for ₹78.44 billion additional amount over and above the earlier settlement amount of US$470 million in 1989 for paying compensation to the gas tragedy victims.^[43]

The site of the industrial accident is rusting since the day of the disaster and has not been cleared off completely either by DOW Chemicals or government authorities, the site is still storing large quantities of lethal chemicals in underground tanks and overground storages.

Bhopal has an average elevation of 500 metres (1401 ft) and is located in the central part of India, just north of the upper limit of the Vindhya mountain ranges. Located on the Malwa plateau, it is higher than the north Indian plains and the land rises towards the Vindhya Range to the south. The city has uneven elevation and has small hills within its boundaries. The prominent hills in Bhopal are the Idgah, Arera and Shyamala hills in the northern region, together with the Katara hills in the southern region. There are 17 lakes and 5 reservoirs biggest of them are upper lake (Bada Talab) and lower lake.^[44] The Upper Lake was built in the 11th century^[45] and has a surface area of 36 km² and catchment area of 361 km² while the Lower Lake has a surface area of 1.29 km² and catchment area of 9.6 km².^[46] Recently, Bhopal Municipal Corporation came with a resolution to involve local citizens in cleaning, conserving and maintaining the lakes.^[47] Bhopal city is divided into two parts where one part which is near the VIP and lake is Old Bhopal (north) and the other, New Bhopal (south), where malls are mainly situated. List of pin codes from Bhopal is 462001 to 462050 which comes under Bhopal postal division (Bhopal Region).^[48]