Gandhinagar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
| Gandhinagar | |
 Location of Gandhinagar |
|
| Location | 23.15° N 72.45° E |
| State | Gujarat |
| District | Gandhinagar |
| Mayor | – |
| Altitude | 76 metres |
| Area | 57 km² |
| Population (2001) | 50,000 |
| Density | 14,228/km² |
| Codes • Postal • Telephone • Vehicle |
382 010 +079 GJ-? |
| Time zone | IST (UTC +5:30) |
Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat State, India. It is a planned city, like Chandigarh. It is also the headquarters of Gandhinagar District.
Contents |
History
In 1960, the old Bombay state was split into Maharashtra and Gujarat, with Ahmedabad as the first capital of Gujarat. Gandhinagar was planned to be the new capital of Gujarat, and the capital was moved there in 1970. It is named after Mahatma Gandhi, who was born in Porbandar in Gujarat.
The new city, developed 25 km north of Ahmedabad is located on the bank of river Sabarmati. The site is well connected by express ways with the Ahmedabad-Delhi National Highway No.8. Ahmedabad-Ajmer State Highway and with Ahmedabad Airport. It is also connected by railway line by extension of a broad gauge electrified line from Ahmedabad.
City planning
With an area of 57.38 km², Gandhinagar is spread on either banks of Sabarmati river. The main city is designed on the west bank of the river on 42.9 km² of land. The site is gently sloping, from north-east to south-west. Fine landscape lies along the west bank of the river Sabarmati.
Gandhinagar is perhaps the only new capital of a state in India that was designed and planned by Indian Town Planners - H.K. Mewada and P.M. Apte, then in service with the State Government. It is considered the ‘greenest’ new town in the world. Gandhinagar comprises thirty sectors. It is a highly-structured city and has a highly ordered street grid - comprising blocks that are divided by two types of streets, similar to U.S. avenues and streets. Gandhinagar has "letter roads" (CH, CHH, JA) and "number roads" (1,2,3). The letter roads run parallel across the city perpendicular to the number roads. The number and letter roads intersect each other forming a grid; each block or square in the grid is given a sector number. Each intersection is marked by signal names such as CH1, CH2, CH3 or JA1,JA2.
Educational and Research Institutes
Gandinagar is well known for its Educational and Research Institutes, some of the most famous being,
- National Institute of Design Gandhinagar (Post Graduate Campus)
- National Institute of Fashion Technology
- DA-IICT
- Institute for Plasma Research (Bhat, Gandhinagar, India)
- info-city[1]
Terrorist attacks
During the 2002 Gujarat violence, hundreds of Muslims were killed as violence spilled into Gandhinagar.
On September 26, 2002, two gunmen entered the Hindu Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar and started firing indiscriminately at worshippers. After a 13-hour siege, National Security Guard commandos gunned them down. Nearly a hundred Hindu devotees were left wounded and thirty were killed, including eleven women and children. Letters found in the pockets of the attackers revealed that they belonged to the Tehrik-a-Khasas ("Movement for Revenge").
See also
External links
- Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, India
- Gandhinagar - Capital of Gujarat
- Ultras storm Gujarat temple, kill 30
- South Asia Analysis Group Gandhinagar: An Intelligence Failure?
- The Hindu: Terrorists storm Gandhinagar temple
- Eyewitness Account: A temple visit that went horribly wrong
- Attack may be revenge for Gujarat riots
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