Dhoraji

Dhoraji
—  city  —
Dhoraji Location of Dhoraji in Gujarat and India
Coordinates	21°44′N 70°27′E / 21.73°N 70.45°E / 21.73; 70.45Coordinates: 21°44′N 70°27′E / 21.73°N 70.45°E / 21.73; 70.45
Country	India
State	Gujarat
District(s)	Rajkot
Population	80,807 (2001[update])
Time zone	IST (UTC+05:30)
Area • Elevation	• 73 metres (240 ft)
Codes • Pincode • 360410 • Telephone • ++912824

Dhoraji is a large and flourishing town on the banks of small river Safura, a branch of the river Bhadar. Dhoraji is a city and a municipality in Rajkot district in the state of Gujarat, India.

History

Sir Bhagwatsinhji, the noble ruler of Gondal State, was born at Dhoraji Darbargadh. He was a fellow of Bombay University and received honours from Edinburough University. During his extensive travels to Europe and England, he was greatly impressed by Paris and got interested in the principles of European town planning. On his return to Gondal, he established a town planning department and in the late 19th century, introduced town planning principals to regularize and monitor the growth of the fortified town of Gondal, Dhoraji and Upleta and Patanvav.

With the arrival of railways, a new part of the Dhoraji town, between the railway station and the old town, was designed using axial planning, having broad avenues, road junctions, parks, bazaars and public buildings. It is a good example of urban planning of an Indian town during British Raj. Its actual good

Near Bus Station Dhoraji

Tan Darvajaa Dhoraji

Demographics

As of 2001^[update] India census^[1], Dhoraji had a population of 80,807. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Dhoraji has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78% and, female literacy is 65%. In Dhoraji, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Dhoraji Fort

The fortification of Dhoraji was completed in 1755 AD. The massive fort wall has several bastions, 4 main gates and 3 smaller gates, known as baris. The four main gates are Kathiawadi Darwaja in the East, Porbandar Gate in the West, Halar Gate in the North and Junagadh Gate in the South. The smaller gates are- Darbari Bari, Bhimji Bari and Sati Bari. Darbargadh in Dhoraji is located at the highest point in the town and is approached by Darbari Bari; a beautiful gate adorned with jharokha, resting on brackets of 4 elephant statues in different poses. A finely carved entrance gate leads to Darbargadh in the middle of a courtyard. Darbargadh is a three a multi-storey structure on a high plinth. The facade is ornamented with sculptures of musicians, complex geometric pattern, images of lions in different postures on long caves, profusely carved pillars, horizontal friezes, decorative kanguras and windows framing the skyline. It is designed like a jewel box - in the same architectural style of Navlakha Places at Gondal.

Girnar Hills from Damodar Kund

Environmental Issues

• Major pollution is caused due to Jetpur cotton industries. There are many production units located in Jetpur. Jetpur is located 25 km on upstream of Bhadar river. Polluted water from Jetpur cotton industries is directly thrown in Bhadar river without treatment and it pollutes Bhadar river up to a great extent.

• In Last 5 years, Many of the Jetpur cotton Industries have closed down and business of cotton dyeing has shifted to Pali Town in Rajasthan and the present Cotton units are asked to take pollution control measures and also effluent disposal to avoid pollution of the river hence the pollution is much less now. Water for sanitation and drinking is now better than earlier. People are also more aware about environmental issues as they are educated and know the consequences of pollution.

Major Business

• Edible Oil production industry. There are many oil production units located in Dhoraji due to this, it is called in local terms, "Telia Raja" meaning King of Oil.
• More than 250 plastic production units are located in and near Dhoraji. First a production unit of Plastic Pipes was started in 1978 as Jolly Plastic Industries Limited which is now closed. In fact they were the first in the Saurashtra kutch region.
• Agriculture - main crops are cotton, groundnuts, peanut, sugar cane, corn, vegetables & onion etc.
• Nowadays Dhoraji is developing as a Plastic Hub. Here there are lots of Plastic Industries. Virgin products to Reprocess products are manufactured here by experienced people with using highly skilled employ and latest technology.
• Back in the old days there were lots of sugar factories (sugar mills) located on national highway 8B between Dhoraji and Upleta, Dhoraji and Junagadh.Dhoraji and bhavnagar
• There are many Mosaic tiles factories located between Dhoraji and Upleta. The tiles were known for its design and quality since many years....l

References

1. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01.