Gandhidham

History

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

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.

It is said that it was a barren land with so many snakes and scorpions that Bhai Pratap had to offer a compensation of 25 paise to kill a scorpion and of 50 paise to kill a snake in the area. 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.