Ahmednagar, popularly known as Nagar, is a western district in Maharashtra. Ahmednagar city is a historical town founded by Ahmad Nizam Shah I hence, the name Ahmednagar. It is built on an ancient city – Bhingar, which takes its name from a sage named Bhringu. Legend has it that Sage Bhringu was one of the SAPTRISHIS mentioned in old SANATAN texts. Ahmednagar is also known as “City of Saints”.
It is located 120 Kms from Pune. Ahmednagar was one of the Deccan sultanate which was conquered by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The last Mughal emperor Aurangzeb spent his last years in this region and breathed his last in 1707 in Ahmednagar.
Ahmednagar was controlled by Nizam of Hyderabad, Peshwas of the Marathas, and the British. Ahmednagar fort is famous for keeping Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi as prisoners here. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote his famous book Discovery of India during his imprisonment.
The Marathas ruled Ahmednagar for half a century. The Duke of Wellington captured Ahmednagar Fort in 1803 but handed it over to the Peshwas of the Marathas. The rule again went back to the British in 1817 and it remained with them. The British made Ahmednagar a full-fledged garrison. The farmers in this area complained that the practice of the artillery units was destroying their crops at which the collector asked the army to acquire the land occupied by them. This paved the way for construction of Cantonment by acquisition of 400 acres of land. The details published in the Ahmednagar Gazetteer in 1882, a batter of Field Artillery, indicate that companies of European Infantry and one company of Indian Infantry were garrisoned at Ahmednagar at the time.
Ahmednagar is the Army base of the Indian army and home to regiments like – Armoured Corps Centre & School (ACC&S), the Mechanised Infantry Regimental Centre (MIRC), Driving and Maintenance regiment (DMR), Basic Training Regiment (BTR), and the Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE).
Ahmednagar is not a developed town and falls into the category of Tier-3. It majorly has small scale industries located at MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation).
