Gandhinagar is the capital of Gujarat State, India. It is a planned city, like Chandigarh. It is located in Gandhinagar District.
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.
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 US 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 Institutes
Gandinagar is well known for its Educational Institutes, some of the most famous being,
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National Institute of Design Gandhinagar (Post Graduate Campus)
- National Institute of Fashion Technology
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DA-IICT
Terrorist attacks
The Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar
On September 26, 2002, two Muslim 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").
Gandhinagar District
Gandhinagar District has an area of 649 sq km, and a population of 1,334,731 (1991 census). Gandhinagar city is included within the district. The district includes four taluks and 216 villages. Gandhinagar District is bounded by the districts of Sabarkantha to the northeast, Kheda to the southeast, Ahmedabad to the southwest, and Mehsana to the northwest.
See also
External links
Last updated: 05-21-2005 14:53:53
