The District Bokaro of Jharkhand State was created in the year 1991 by carving out one subdivision consisting of two blocks from Dhanbad District and six blocks from Giridih District. Bokaro Steel City is the district headquarters. Now Bokaro district consists of eight blocks namely Bermo,Chandyankiyari, Chas, Gomia, Jaridih, Kasmar, Nawadih and Petarwar.

Bokaro district covers a geographical area of 2861 km². It is located in the eastern part of India at 23°17′N 86°05′E / 23.29°N 86.09°E. The average altitude of the land is 210 metres from mean sea level. Average rainfall is around 1950mm annually. Bokaro district has a population of 17,75,961. The population is drawn from all parts of India mainly due to Bokaro's industrial importance.

Bokaro Steel City is the district headquarters of the Bokaro district as well as Bokaro divisional range (Bokaro, Dhanbad and Giridih). It is 47 km from Dhanhad along the Dhanbad-Ranchi Highway, where Dhanbad lies on the Delhi-Howrah line. Bokaro Steel City is also the home of the largest steel plant in India, the bokaro steel plant, and several other medium and small industries.Situated on the Chhota Nagpur Plateau, the vast rolling topography of the city is typical, strewn by graded valleys and winding streams. In this setting, within a short period of two decades, a new city with a strong multi-dimensional economic base, has blossomed into a regional urban centre of around a million people drawn from different parts of the country, giving Bokaro steel city the character of Mini India. On the north, the city is flanked by the high ranges of the Parasnath Hills and on the south just beyond the river Garga, it is enveloped by the Satanpur hillocks. Two artificial cooling ponds have been built for use in steel making. A dam on river Garga has been built to supply water to the township as well as the steel plant, but due to ever increasing demand Tenughat dam is supplementing it.

Bokaro Steel Plant is controlled by the Steel Authority of India Limited and several other medium and small industries. Bokaro Steel Plant is the fourth integrated steel plant in the Public Sector. Bokaro Steel Limited is located on the site where formerly a village by the name of Maraphari existed. The steel plant was originally incorporated as a limited company on 29th January 1964, and was later merged with SAIL, first as a susidiary and then as a unit, through the Public Sector Iron & Steel Companies. Bokaro steel plant is hailed as the country’s first Swadeshi steel plant, built with maximum indigenous content in terms of equipment, material and know-how. The steel plant is designed to produce flat products like Hot Rolled Coils, Hot Rolled Plates, Hot Rolled Sheets, Cold Rolled Coils, Cold Rolled Sheets, Tin Mill Black Plates and Galvanised Plain and Corrugated Sheets. Bokaro steel plant has provided a strong raw material base for a variety of modern engineering industries including automobile, pipe and tube, LPG cylinder, barrel and drum producing industries.

The nearest small town to the steel city is Chas, lying at the south-eastern tip of the site on the junction of the Dhanbad-Ramgarh-Ranchi and Dhanbad-Purulia-Tatanagar roads. Chas derives its name from the predominant agriculture occupation of its inhabitants. Chas came to some notice during World War II, when a prisoner of the war camp was located here. It is a commercial centre of Agriculture products in the surrounding areas.

River Damodar and its tributaries has made a maze of valleys and sub-valleys in Bokaro district. They form an important source of water for the industries and townships which have sprung up on its banks in the last few decades. Some hills and hillocks rise above the gentle valley making it a panoramic landscape to view.

Places of tourist interest in steel city include Bokaro Steel Plant, Damodar River, Garga Dam (12 kms from the city on the NH-23), Parasnath Hills (temples on the hill are believed to be more than 2,000 years old), Bokaro Ispat Pustakalaya, Buddha Vihar, Aaiyappa Mandir, Jagannath Temple (replica of the famous temple in Puri, Orissa), City Park, Jawaharlal Nehru Biological Park (The biggest zoological garden in Jharkhand), Chandrapura (Tallest Chimney in India), Gawai Dam (15 km from steel city), Tibetan, Japanese and Burmese monasteries etc.

Read more >> Bokaro - At a Glance