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 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)

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. Gandhidham is an economic capital of Kutch and it is a fast developing city in Gujarat state.

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 Sindhi Resettlement Corporation to rehabilitate Sindhi Hindus uprooted from their motherland of Sindh in Pakistan[1]

The Sindhi Resettlement Corporation 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.[2] 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).

Climate data for Maiduguri
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 26.8
(80.2)		 30
(86)		 34.8
(94.6)		 38.5
(101.3)		 39.8
(103.6)		 38
(100)		 33.9
(93)		 32.6
(90.7)		 33.8
(92.8)		 36.1
(97)		 33.1
(91.6)		 28.6
(83.5)		 33.83
(92.86)
Daily mean °C (°F) 18.2
(64.8)		 21.2
(70.2)		 26.1
(79)		 30.2
(86.4)		 32.7
(90.9)		 32.7
(90.9)		 30.1
(86.2)		 29
(84)		 29
(84)		 28.7
(83.7)		 24.2
(75.6)		 19.8
(67.6)		 26.83
(80.28)
Average low °C (°F) 9.7
(49.5)		 12.4
(54.3)		 17.5
(63.5)		 21.9
(71.4)		 25.6
(78.1)		 27.5
(81.5)		 26.4
(79.5)		 25.5
(77.9)		 24.2
(75.6)		 21.3
(70.3)		 15.3
(59.5)		 11
(52)		 19.86
(67.76)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 2
(0.08)		 1
(0.04)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 41
(1.61)		 184
(7.24)		 86
(3.39)		 49
(1.93)		 7
(0.28)		 4
(0.16)		 1
(0.04)		 375
(14.77)
Source: Climate-Data.org (altitude: 19m)[3]

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.[4]

Entertainment

There are many places to visit in Gandhidham for leisure. Theaters such as Vinay Theater, Madhuban, Om Cineplex show the latest Bollywood movies. Restaurants like Green Palace, Sarovar Portico, Madhuban, Lazeez, Fun n Food, 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 Radisson Club, Holiday Village Resort, Sharma Resort, Lions Club for recreational activities. Many marriages also take place in these clubs occasionally.


Lilashah statue at Gandhidham

Gandhidham has several schools providing high school education.

Schools in the area include

The other schools are :-

and Hindi Medium Schools are

For professional courses like Chartered Accountancy & 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 Gandhidham.

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. and KapCom Institute for E-Commerce and Technology Provide the Courses on E-Commerce and Digital marketing

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. Gandhidham also has its own airport called Kandla Airport or Galphadar Airport which is located six kilometers north of Gandhidham.Jet Airways used to operate the sole daily flight to Mumbai from Kandla airport[5] before it ceased operations in 2012.

Trains

Train No. Train Name Runs From Source Destination Departure Days Arrival Days
18501-18502 Visakhapatnam-Gandhidham Express Gandhidham Visakhapatnam Wednesday Friday
19453-19454 Gandhidham-Puri Express (via Vizianagaram) Gandhidham Puri Thursday Saturday
16335-16336 Nagercoil Express Gandhidham Nagercoil Friday Thursday
16505-16506 Gimb Sbc Express Gandhidham Bangalore Tuesday Monday
11091-11092 Ahimsa Express Bhuj Pune Wednesday Tuesday
15667-15668 Kamakhya Express Gandhidham Kamakhya Saturday Saturday
14312-14311 Via Ahmedabad & 14322-14321 Via Bhildi Ala Hazrat Express Bhuj Bareilly Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday For 14312. Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Saturday For 14322 Friday, Saturday, Monday For 14311.Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday For 14321
22829-22830 Bhuj - Shalimar Superfast Express Bhuj Shalimar Tuesday Monday
22904-22903 Bandra Terminus Bhuj AC Superfast Express Bhuj Bandra Monday, Thursday, Saturday Thursday, Saturday, Monday
12937-12938 Garbha Superfast Express Gandhidham Howrah Saturday Wednesday
12960-12959 Bhuj Dadar Superfast Express Bhuj Dadar Monday, Thursday Wednesday, Saturday
14802-14801 Gandhidham Jodhpur Express Gandhidham Jodhpur Monday, Wednesday, Saturday Monday, Wednesday, Saturday
19132-19131 Kutch Express Bhuj Bandra,Mumbai Daily Daily
12993-12994 Puri-Gandhidham Express Gandhidham Puri Friday Wednesday
19116-19115 Sayajinagari Express Bhuj Bandra Daily Daily

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "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
  3. ↑ "Climate: Gandhidham - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  4. ↑ 2001 Gujarat earthquake
  5. ↑ "Air Deccan connects yet another unconnected sector – brings Kandla into the aviation map". Peanuts! Online. 4 October 2006. Retrieved 29 February 2012.

Further reading

External links

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