Gandhidham

Gandhidham गांधीधाम ગાંધીધામ
Gandhidham
Gandhidham Junction station board
Nickname(s): Sardar Ganj
Gandhidham Location in Gujarat, India
Coordinates: 23°05′N 70°08′E / 23.08°N 70.13°E / 23.08; 70.13Coordinates: 23°05′N 70°08′E / 23.08°N 70.13°E / 23.08; 70.13
Country	India
State	Gujarat
District	Kutch
Municipality	Gandhidham Municipality
Founded by	Bhai Pratap
Government
• Type	Municipality
Elevation	27 m (89 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	1,248,705
• Rank	181
Languages
• Official	Gujarati, Hindi, Kutchi, SindhiSindhi = IST
PIN	370201
Telephone code	02836
Vehicle registration	GJ-12
Sex ratio	0.879 ♂/♀
Distance from Bhuj	60 kilometres (37 mi)
Distance from Gandhinagar	365 kilometres (227 mi)
Website	www.gandhidhamnagarpalika.org

Gandhidham is a city and a municipality in the Kutch District of Gujarat state of India. The town was created in the early 1950s for the resettlement of the refugees from Sindh (now in Pakistan) in the aftermath of the partition of India. It was named after Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian nation. Gandhidham is an economic capital of Kutch and it is a fast developing city in Gujarat state. A growing retirement and family city, Gandhidham is the 8th^[1] most populous city in State of gujarat. The city is a popular destinations for conventions, business, and meetings.

History

Bhai Pratap with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Soon after the separation of Pakistan from India in 1947, a large group of refugees from Sindh of Pakistan came to India. The Maharaja of Kutch His Highness Maharao Shri Vijayrajji Khengarji Jadeja, on the advice of Gandhiji gave 15,000 acres (61 km²) of land to Bhai Pratap, who founded the Sindhu Resettlement Corporation Ltd (SRC) to rehabilitate Sindhi Hindus uprooted from their motherland of Sindh in Pakistan^[2]

The Sindhu Resettlement Corporation Ltd was formed with Acharaya Kriplani as chairman and Bhai Pratap Dialdas as managing director. The main objective of the corporation was to assist in the rehousing of displaced persons by the construction of a new township. The original plan was prepared by a team of planners headed by Dr. O. H. Koenigsberger, director of the division of housing in the Government of India. Later, the plan was revised by Adams Howard and Greeley Company in 1952. The foundation stone of the town was laid with the blessings of Gandhi in 1947. Hence, the town was named Gandhidham. To clean the desert where it was built, Bhai Pratap gave incentive of 25 paise to kill scorpions and 50 paise to kill snakes.^[3] The original plan envisaged 400,000 as the ultimate population of the town, expecting half of it to be reached in the mid-seventies. A revised plan envisaged three stages of town development with the mid stage lasting longer with a population around 150,000.

Geography and Climate

Gandhidham is located at latitude 23.08° N longitude 70.13° E. The main city is constructed in accordance with the principles of Vastu-Shastra (Hindu belief of construction), i.e., the main city has its face directed to the East. Summers are hot and dry and frequently the temperature touches 45 °C (113 °F). In winters, it falls to 3 °C (37 °F) accompanied by cold waves.

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot semi-arid (BSh).

2001 Earthquake Calamity

The Gujarat Earthquake of 2001 majorly affected the city of Gandhidham along with many nearby towns like Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and more.^[5]

Land of Adipur & Gandhidham

Gandhidham (initially known as Sardarganj) was the dream of Pratap Dialdas. Distance between twin-townships of Adipur & Gandhidham is 6 km till not developed fully and 0 km if full land constructed. The airport road dividing wards 5 & 7 divides these townships, whereas Municipality is one, known as Gandhidham Municipality. These towns are divided in two parts wherein land is recognized as Wards & Sectors. Townships have six wards each 1to6 in Adipur and 7to12 in Gandhidham. These wards consist of commercial, industrial and residential plots of land. The land which is owned and managed by SRC (The Sindhu Resettlement Corporation Ltd) is known as 'Wards' and The land which is owned and managed by KPT (Kandla Port Trust) is known as 'Sectors'. There are 13 such sectors in Gandhidham. Apart from this, there is vast land managed by GDA (Gandhidham Development Authority) which is known as "NU". For construction of any permanent structure in these townships, permission of GDA is must.

Kandla Airport There is a small airport in the outskirt of Gandhidham near Galpadar town, known as 'Kandla Airport' which is not a regular airport. Daily one jet flight to-n-fro service is available from Kandla to Ahmedabad/Surat.

Procurement Of Land Bhai Pratap Dialdas requested great Leaders of India for procurement of land in Kachchh region. They requested Maharao Vijayraj Ji of Kachchh for grant of land for re-settlement of Sindhi community people migrated from Sindh. Maharao, without any delay, granted 15000 acres of land for the purpose. Bhai Pratap said this is too big land and cannot be developed by SRC Ltd, therefore, he desired to keep with him only 2,600 acres and rest of the land was given to KPT and GDA for management. Today Adipur and Gandhidham townships are the townships of pride in the District of Kachchh only with the grace of Rajput Kshatriya ancestors.

Entertainment

There are many places to visit in Gandhidham for leisure. Theaters such as Vinay Theater, Miraj Cinemas, Om Cineplex and Rajhans Cinemas show the latest Bollywood movies. Restaurants like Green Palace, Sarovar Portico, Madhuban, Lazeez, Fun n Food, Nexus Club, Radission, Sharma Resort and more are visited by families on weekends. There are coffee and tea shops like Cafe Coffee Day and Tea Post too. Fast food restaurants such as "Subway" is also present.

One can also visit clubs like Nexus Club & Convention Center, Radisson Club, Lions Club for recreational activities. Many marriages also take place in these clubs occasionally.There are a few fairs too.

Swami Lilashah Anniversary: Adipur celebrates this function for 3 days greatly which generally occurs in the month of September every year. Devotees from all over India and abroad come to attend this function and enjoy the programs day and night. Also on third day, there is program of mass marriages for Sindhi Community. Lilaram s/o Topandas was born in Hyderabad (Sindh, now Pakistan) in March 1880. He was religious from his childhood. He lived in village Laad (south Sindh). He did not like hedonism so he came out in search of truth. He learned Hindi language, recited religious & Vedic books, lived amongst saints. He became disciple of Keshavaram, who later kept his name Lilashah. Lilashah traveled number of places in North India and ultimately while he was in Adipur (Kachchh, Gujarat), he fell sick and left for heavenly abode on 4 November 1973. As per his desire, he was buried in Adipur and now that place is known as Swami Lilashah Ashram.

Picnic Spot

The main picnic spot in Adipur is Adisar Pond consisting of Sadh Belo, Nirvasteshwar Temple, Gandhi Samadhi, Bhai Pratap Samadhi etc. Everyday in the evening hours this spot is inundated with public, particularly on Sundays, when people of Adipur and outside come to enjoy life. Point to be noted is that there are only 2 Samadhis of Mahatma Gandhi in India one in Delhi and other in Adipur where real ashes of Gandhiji are laid.

Gandhidham Day

12 February is celebrated as Gandhidham Day. Foundation stone of Adipur-Gandhidham town was laid on this day only after receipt of Gandhiji's ashes after 12 days of his passing away. It took almost 10 years for SRC Ltd to build this twin township and hand over possession of houses to Sindhi refugees.

Sindhi Tv

On 1 January 2011 a satellite channel Sindhi Kachchhi Television was started by Sindhi Kachchhi Entertainment Corporation Limited, Gandhidham which survived only till 13 May 2013. After closure of this SKTV, Ram Amarnani founded new channel Sindhi TV on GTPL network on 13 August 2013 which was inaugurated by hob'ble ministers of Gujarat.^[6] You can enjoy all Sindhi TV programs on youtube channel 'Sindhi Tv Gandhidham'.

Education

Schools in the area include

• Mount Litera Zee School
• Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel High School
• D.A.V. Public School
• Excelsior Model School, Adipur
• Bachpan Pre-School
• P.N. Amersey High School
• Twinkle Star School in 2B, plot No.48 (English Medium)
• Small Wonder School
• Delhi Public School
• Ananda Marga Primary school in Sector-7
• Ananda Marga High School in DC-2, Rambaug road (English Medium)
• Gurunanak Public School, Adipur
• Gurunanak School for Excellence
• Mount Carmel High School
• Modern School
• Delhi Public High School(D.P.S)
• Kakubhai Parikh School(K.P.S)
• Saint Xaviers at Adipur
• Kendriya Vidyalaya at IFFCO colony
• Kendriya Vidyalaya at Railway colony
• Aum Vidiya Mandir at IFFCO colony
• Sadhu Vaswani International School
• Amarchand Singhvi School
• Ambe bhavnath High School

Hindi Medium Schools are

• Dr. C.G. High School and
• Maitri/Adarsh Maha Vidhyalaya are the first and oldest schools situated in the heart of the city.

For professional courses like Chartered Accountancy and Cost & Management Accountancy the national professional accounting body of India like Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Institute of Cost Accountants of India have opened an examination centre at Adipur.

College and graduation

Colleges for graduation and higher studies are Tolani college of Science & Arts, Tolani Commerce College, Pharmacy college and Diploma in Engineering, Management Institute situated nearby in Adipur .DNV International Educational College is situated in Bharatnagar,courses provided are BCA and BBA

Transport

Gandhidham Junction main entrance

Kutch Express at Gandhidham Railway Station

(Visakhapatnam - Gandhidham) Express Route map

Gandhidham is connected by road and rail to the rest of India. Transport Nagar, on the outskirts of Gandhidham is the hub of all major transport activity. There are trains to, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Lucknow, Faizabad, Patna, Jodhpur, Ajmer, Alwar, Abu Road, Jaipur, Mumbai, Vadodara, Surat, Yesvantpur, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kollam, Kota, Delhi, Durg, Guwahati, Puri, Chengannur, Jalgaon, Bhusaval, Raipur, Vizag, Nagercoil and several other cities. Many private companies operate bus services to major cities in Gujarat like Ahmedabad and Rajkot. India's largest port, Kandla is around 11 km from the city. It also has connectivity to Kandla Airport near village Galpadar. Jet Airways used to operate the sole daily flight to Mumbai from Kandla airport^[7] before it ceased operations in 2012. Now from August 2016 Airconnect has started its daily services for Ahmedabad and Surat (Kandla-Ahmedabad-Surat @ 5:40pm & Surat-Ahmedabad-Kandla @ 7:45 am).

Trains

See also

• Kandla
• Adipur
• Galpadar
• Maheshwarinagar

References

1. ↑ List of cities in Gujarat by population
2. ↑
3. ↑ "Bhai Pratap". The Sindhu Resettlement Corporation, Gandhidham, India. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-09-28. To clean the desert where it was built, Bhai Pratap gave incentive of 25 paise to kill scorpions and 50 paise to kill snakes 
4. ↑ "Climate: Gandhidham - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 2013-12-04. 
5. ↑ 2001 Gujarat earthquake
6. ↑
7. ↑ "Air Deccan connects yet another unconnected sector – brings Kandla into the aviation map". Peanuts! Online. 4 October 2006. Retrieved 29 February 2012. 

Further reading

• Kripalani, J. B. 1951. Gandhidham. Bombay: [Mangharam N. Thadani for the Sindhu Resettlement Corp.]
• Adams, Howard & Greely. 1952. Report on a revised plan for the town and region of Gandhidham, Anjar Taluka, Kutch India, prepared for the Government of India Ministry of Transport, and the United States Department of State. [Boston: Adams, Howard & Greely].

External links

• Kandla Special Economic Zone
• Kandla Port Trust
• Arya Samaj, Gandhidham
• Tolani Foundation
• KutchForever.com - The First Internet Gateway of Kutch
• Sindhu Resettlement Corporation Limited (SRC Limited), Adipur
• Lions Club of Gandhidham Official website of Lions club of Gandhidham, India
• www.sindhology.org