Gandhidham

Gandhidham is a city 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 the 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][2] most populous city in the state of Gujarat. The city is a popular destinations for conventions, business, and meetings.

Gandhidham
City
Gandhidham Junction station board
Nickname(s): 
Sardar Ganj
Gandhidham
Location in Gujarat, India
Coordinates: 23.08°N 70.13°E / 23.08; 70.13
Country India
StateGujarat
DistrictKutch
Founded byBhai Pratap
Government
 • TypeGandhidham Municipal Corporation
Area
 • Total63.49 km2 (24.51 sq mi)
Elevation
27 m (89 ft)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total248,705
 • Rank181
 • Density3,900/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
Languages = Official
Time zoneUTC+5:30
PIN
370201
Telephone code02836
Vehicle registrationGJ-12
Sex ratio0.879 ♂/♀
Distance from Bhuj60 kilometres (37 mi)
Distance from Gandhinagar365 kilometres (227 mi)
Websitehttps://www.gandhidhamnagarpalika.org/

History
Bhai Pratap Spinning Cotton yarn

Soon after the Partition of India in 1947, a large group of Sindhi Hindus refugees from Sindh of Pakistan migrated to India. The Maharaja of Kutch His Highness Maharao Shri Vijayrajji Khengarji Jadeja, donated 15,000 acres (61 km2) of land to Bhai Pratap, who founded the Sindhu Resettlement Corporation Ltd (SRC) to rehabilitate Sindhi Hindus that migrated from Sindh in Pakistan.[3]

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.[4] 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. The climate here is "desert." there is virtually no rainfall in a year in Gandhidham. This climate is considered to be BWh according to the Koppen-Geiger classification of climates. The average annual temperature is 26.8c. The average rainfall is 375mm.

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

Climate data for Gandhidham
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
(93.0)		 32.6
(90.7)		 33.8
(92.8)		 36.1
(97.0)		 33.1
(91.6)		 28.6
(83.5)		 33.8
(92.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) 18.2
(64.8)		 21.2
(70.2)		 26.1
(79.0)		 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)		 26.8
(80.3)
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)		 19.9
(67.8)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 2
(0.1)		 1
(0.0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 41
(1.6)		 184
(7.2)		 86
(3.4)		 49
(1.9)		 7
(0.3)		 4
(0.2)		 1
(0.0)		 375
(14.7)
Source: Climate-Data.org (altitude: 19m)[5]

Governance

The city is represented by a constituency in the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha. It forms part of the Kachchh Lok Sabha constituency

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. The shock, which measured 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killed 13,805–20,023, left roughly 166,800 injured, and many were left homeless including Gandhidham. The death toll in the Kutch region was 12,300. Bhuj, which was situated only 50 km away from the Gandhidham, was devastated. Considerable damage also occurred in City Gandhdidham and Bhachau and Anjar with hundreds of villages flattened in Taluka of Anjar, Bhuj and Bhachau.

Land of Adipur & Gandhidham
Lilashah statue at Gandhidham

Gandhidham (initially known as Sardarganj) was the dream of Pratap Dialdas. 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 – Provided by Ram Amarnani.

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. SpiceJet has announced one more flight for Mumbai from 11 July 2017 onward. Truejet has stated flight for Ahmedabad.

Education

Schools in the area include

CBSE SCHOOLS

  • Academic Heights Public School
  • Delhi Public High School (D.P.S)
  • Kakubhai Parikh School (K.P.S)
  • Amarchand Singhvi School
  • Podar International School
  • Savvy International School
  • The Fusion School
  • St. Thomas School
  • Atmiya Vidyapeeth School
  • D.A.V. Public School
  • Welspun Vidya Mandir(W. V. M)
  • Mount Litera Zee School
  • Kendriya Vidyalaya at IFFCO colony
  • Kendriya Vidyalaya at Railway colony
  • Aum Vidiya Mandir at IFFCO colony


STATE BOARD ENGLISH MEDIUM SCHOOLS

  • Mount Carmel High School
  • Saint Xaviers at Adipur
  • Modern School
  • P.N. Amersey High School
  • St. Marys School at Kandla
  • Gurunanak Public School, Adipur
  • Shree swaminarayan vidyalaya
  • Ananda Marga High School in DC-2, Rambaug road (English Medium)
  • Ananda Marga Primary school in Sector-7
  • Gurunanak School for Excellence
  • Sadhu Vaswani International School
  • Excelsior Model School, Adipur
  • Kairali English School
  • Cambridge School, Gandhidham
  • Shri Krishana Public School.


GUJARATI MEDIUM SCHOOLS

  • Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel High School
  • Saint Xaviers at Adipur
  • RP Patel High School
  • Shri Saraswati Vidhyalaya
  • Shri Sahyog Saraswati Vidhya Mandir
  • Ambe Bhavnath High School
  • M.P. Patel Kanya Vidyalaya

PRE-PRIMARY SCHOOLS

  • Bachpan Pre-School
  • Podar Jumbo Kids
  • Twinkle Star School in 2B, plot No.48 (English Medium)
  • Small Wonder School
  • Einstein School
  • Kangaroo Kids School
  • Makoons Pre School
  • Wonderland Kids Schoool


Hindi Medium Schools are

  • Dr. C. G. High School
  • Maitri School at Adipur
  • Maitri Kanya Mahavidyala at Adipur
  • Adarsh Maha Vidhyalaya at Gandhidham 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; the courses provided are BCA and BBA

Transport
Gandhidham Junction main entrance
Kutch Express at Gandhidham Railway Station
(Gandhidham - Kamakhya) 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, Vijayawada, Warangal, Rajahmundry 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. From August 2016 Airconnect has started its daily services for Ahmedabad and Surat (Kandla-Ahmedabad-Surat at 17:40 & Surat-Ahmedabad-Kandla at 07:45). Spicejet has announced one flight from Mumbai to Kandla Airport (Gandhidham) Departing at 13:05 and arriving at 14:30; and return to Mumbai with departure at 15:10, arriving at 16:50 from 11 July 2017 onward.

Trains
Train No. Train Name Runs From Source Destination Departure Days Arrival Days
18501-18502 Visakhapatnam-Gandhidham Express Gandhidham Visakhapatnam Friday Sunday
22973-22974 Gandhidham-Puri Express (via Vizianagaram) Gandhidham Puri Wednesday Friday
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
22955-22956 Kutch Express Bhuj Bandra, Mumbai Daily Daily
12993-12994 Puri-Gandhidham Express Gandhidham Puri Monday Wednesday
19116-19115 Sayajinagari Express Bhuj Bandra Daily Daily
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See also

References
  1. List of cities in Gujarat by population
  2. "Gujarat Population Census data 2011". www.census2011.co.in.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 January 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Bhai Pratap". The Sindhu Resettlement Corporation, Gandhidham, India. p. 1. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007. To clean the desert where it was built, Bhai Pratap gave incentive of 25 paise to kill scorpions and 50 paise to kill snakes
  5. "Climate: Gandhidham – Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 4 December 2013.

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].
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