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The capital of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal was built on the
site of the 11th century city of Bhojapal. It was founded by the legendary
Raja Bhoj who is credited with having constructed the lakes around which
the city is built. The present city was laid out by the Afghan chief Dost
Mohammed Khan, who was in charge of Bhopal during Aurangzeb's reign,
but took advantage of the confusion following Aurangzeb's death in 1707 to
carve out his own small kingdom.
Today, Bhopal has a multifaceted profile. There's the
old city with its crowded market places, huge old mosques, and the palaces
of the former begums who ruled over the city from 1819 to 1926. To the
north sprawl the huge industrial suburbs and the slums which these
developments inevitably give rise to. The new city with its broad avenues,
sleek high-rise offices and leafy residential areas lies to the west. In
the centre of Bhopal are two lakes which, while providing recreational
facilities, are also the source of its plagues of mosquitoes.
The city is also famous as the site of the world's worst
industrial disaster. On the right of 3 December 1984, 40 tonnes of deadly
methyl icocyanate, a toxic gas used in the manufacture of pesticides by
Union Carbide, a US-based multinational company, leaked out over the city
of Bhopal. Carried by the wind, this deadly gas soon enveloped the
sleeping city.
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