Jhumri Tilaiya

<!-- See WikiProject Indian cities for details -->Jhumri Taliya (also spelled as Jhumri Telaiya or Jhumri Talaiya or Jhumri Tilaiya) () is a town situated in the north-western region of Koderma District in Jharkhand, India. It is situated in the Damodar Valley.

History

Jhumri Telaiya was once a major mica mining centre. While laying a railroad through Koderma in 1890s, the British first discovered vast mica deposits in this region. Mining activities started soon after and many mining houses were established. CH Private Ltd. of Chatu Ram Bhadani and Horil Ram Bhadani was the predecessor of Mica Kings, which controlled the largest share of mica mining and export activity in the world at a time.

Prosperous businessmen built huge mansions in Jhumri Telaiya. Till late 1960s, Mercedes and Porsche cars, and thoroughbreds from Arabia used to be common in Jhumri Taliya. The town once boasted of most number of phone connections and phone calls made in India.

Most of the mica used to be exported to USSR, for space and military equipment. With the dissolution of the USSR and the discovery of a synthetic substitute for mica, the mining activity declined in 1990s. The huge mansions belonging to the mine owners, sprawling over acres of land, can still be found in the town. Mica Kings were still...
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