ગુજરાતી
English
225 town planning schemes approved in 3 years
Dilip Patel
Ahmedabad, May 25, 2025
51 percent of the population in Gujarat now lives in cities. When there were 4 metros, 43 percent of Gujarat’s population lived in cities. With the emergence of 8 metros, the prevalence of urbanization increased to 47 percent. With the emergence of 17 metros, now 51 percent of the population lives in cities.
The population will increase from 44 percent in 2008 to 66 percent in 2030. The population in Gujarat’s cities will increase by 23 percent in a period of 22 years.
When India became independent, 83 percent of the population lived in villages and only 17 percent of the population lived in cities. In 2011, 40% of India’s population lived in cities and 60% in villages.
Per capita expenditure
In 2023, people will have to spend Rs 9740 in Ahmedabad, Rs 9400 in Surat and Rs 10520 in Vadodara only if they can live in cities.
With 51 percent of the population being from cities, 95 out of 182 MLAs are elected from cities. Of the last 10 Chief Ministers of Gujarat, all except Suresh Mehta and Amarsinh Chaudhary have come from cities.
Population growth in percentage
The urban population in Gujarat was growing at an average rate of 5 percent per decade. For the next two decades, it grew at a rate of 6 percent per decade. During the two decades to 2020, the urban population was growing at a rate of 10 percent per decade.
The urban population of Gujarat increased from 2.57 crore in 2011 to 3.40 crore in 2021.
Industry reasons
As the number of industries is increasing and the size of industries is becoming bigger, cities are also becoming bigger. Now cities with a population of more than five lakh are becoming a reality, so such cities are called metropolises and not towns.
Meaning of metropolises
The state government has declared 9 municipalities as metropolitan municipalities, which include Nadiad, Surendranagar, Gandhidham, Morbi, Navsari, Mehsana, Vapi and Porbandar. There have been 17 metropolitan municipalities. 348 projects worth Rs 11 thousand crore have been completed in 6 smart cities.
Vapi, Navsari, Anand, Nadiad, Mehsana, Surendranagar, Porbandar, Morbi and Gandhidham municipalities have been given the status of metropolitan municipality. When the state of Gujarat came into existence in 1960, there were 17 districts. Today with the formation of Vav-Thrad district, there are 34 districts. Now with Tharad becoming the headquarters of the new district, its urban development will accelerate. Now the pace of urbanization will accelerate further. Gujarat has become a state of urban people in 20 years by declaring 2005 as the Urban Year. The year 2025 was declared as the ‘Urban Development Year’ for world-class cities in 2025-26. Under the ‘Smart City Mission’ launched by the Government of India, 6 cities of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Gandhinagar and Dahod were selected. 354 projects worth Rs 11,451 crore were started in these 6 cities. Of which 348 projects have been completed. 6 projects worth Rs 395 crore are in the process of completion. Strong roads in Gujarat
The municipal corporations and municipalities of the state have 28,618 km of roads. In February 2024, the state-of-the-art Signature Bridge Sudarshan Setu connecting Dwarka and Bet Dwarka was inaugurated at a cost of ₹979 crore.
Jamnagar-Bhatinda Highway, Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway, Porbandar-Dwarka National Highway were built.
Two Greenfield Expressways will be built along with Somnath-Dwarka Expressway.
A 430 km expressway will be built from Deesa to Pipavav at a cost of Rs 36,120 crore.
Somnath-Dwarka Expressway will be a 680 km long route at a cost of Rs 57,120 crore.
Ahmedabad and Surat Metro Rail projects were launched. Ahmedabad Metro Thaltej to Vastral route was launched in September 2022. The second phase was launched in September 2024.
The country’s first bullet train project is progressing rapidly in Gujarat.
The first new Vande Bharat train was launched in Gujarat from Gandhinagar Railway Station to Mumbai in September 2022. Three other Vande Bharat trains were launched in Gujarat.
Under the Amrit Bharat Station Yojana, 89 railway stations in Gujarat were renovated.
18 railway stations are going to be rejuvenated, out of which 18 railway stations were inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi yesterday on 22 May 2025.
Hirasar Airport was built in Rajkot at a cost of Rs 1405 crore.
Surat International Airport was built at a cost of Rs 3400 crore.
Surat Diamond Bourse has been constructed in December 2023 at a cost of Rs 3400 crore. It will become an international hub for the trade of diamonds, platinum, gold, silver and diamond jewellery. 8.96 lakh houses have been built in urban areas. A total of 1144 houses have been built under the Light House Project in Rajkot city. BRTS Bus Project There has been significant urbanization in major cities of Gujarat, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot. Among these, the city of Ahmedabad is India’s first heritage city. Sabarmati Riverfront, BRTS-Janmarg Project, Metro Train, Atal Foot Overbridge are urbanization projects. Ahmedabad has 350 electric buses of BRTS on 16 routes. About 1.5 lakh passengers come every day. In Surat also, BRTS has 870 buses running on 67 routes and about 1.80 lakh passengers are taking advantage of it every day. Be it a village or a city, it keeps changing with time.
Talking about urbanization of Gujarat, Gujarat is the fastest urbanizing state in India. Urbanization in Gujarat is always ten percent more than the average of India.
No bride wants to marry a young man who does farming in the village. The bride does not want to go and live in the village. The youth leave the village and migrate to the cities. Only old people are seen in the village.
Banaskantha’s Vav, Tharad, Bhabhar 1819
Until 1990, there were old business areas. Rivers flowing in Pakistan’s Sindh province also provided water here. The flow of rivers changed and agriculture became weak. Most of the traders moved to Mumbai or Surat.
After 2010, the original business families had to return to the village.
If the population is up to five lakhs, then it gets a municipality. Municipality is a separate unit from the law. Apart from the metropolitan law, urban planning laws are also applicable here.
Tribal
Development has been accelerated by making Maharashtra a metropolitan. There is no such situation where there is a municipality in the tribal area. There is no municipality in the former tribal and hilly area. There is also no municipality with a population of more than five lakhs.
There were four municipalities in the Saurashtra-Kutch coastal region and now four more have been formed. 40% of the country’s maritime trade is carried out through the ports of Gujarat.
Political Factors:
Some cities in India have developed due to their political importance. State capitals, district/taluka headquarters, administrative and judicial centres have expanded. Such places are also gaining importance in the field of trade, commerce, industry, education, etc. As a result, the population of nearby villages is induced to migrate and settle there. After India became independent, it became necessary to build some new cities on the part of the state for the rehabilitation of refugees. Planned cities like Faridabad, Chandigarh, Gandhidham are examples of this.
On the other hand, cities like Pathankot, Khadakvasla have been formed due to military camps. In this way, political factors are also considered responsible for urbanisation.
Education: In ancient and medieval times, some cities developed due to their famous education centres. Vallabh Vidyanagar, Kadi, Roorkee, Kota, Pune, Takshashila, Nalanda, Banaras, Mathura etc. are examples of this. In today’s time, the development of education has contributed significantly to the process of urbanization. Due to universities, those places have developed as cities. Migration:
The population of villages in India is increasing rapidly, so people cannot depend on farming. Youths move to cities for employment and opportunities, followed by their families. On the one hand, while the attraction of cities has increased, on the other hand, the burden on agricultural land in villages is increasing. Due to this, villagers are migrating to cities for employment. Migration of population from villages to cities is the main source of urbanization.
Religion:
Religion has played an important role behind the emergence of many cities in India. Religion has played a role behind the emergence of Somnath, Dwarka, Pavagadh, Dakor, Ambaji, Nathdwara, Banaras, Gaya, Prayag, Haridwar, Mathura etc. Small and big traders started settling in such cities of religious importance to meet the needs of pilgrims.
Trade:
Cities of trade importance are found in the state. Such centers are initially like villages, but due to trade and commerce they gradually turn into cities. Hapur, Valsad, Unjha, Vapi, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Surat, Gandhidham, Kandla, Alang etc. are examples of this.
When the Aryans came to India around 1400 BC, they destroyed the cities that existed here; this is why information about urban life in the Vedic era is not available.
After the Vedic era, political factors gained importance in the field of urban development in India. At that time, since India was divided into many small and large states, each state or kingdom had a separate capital.
Remains of more than 200 ancient villages and towns of the Indus Valley Civilization such as Lothal, Surkotada, Dholavira are in Gujarat.
Dwarka, Bharuch, Patan, Vallabhpur and Khambhat were important cities in ancient times.
In the Middle Ages, Ahmedabad, Champaner and other small towns gained an important place.
Many cities were built during the British period.
After independence, Gandhinagar, Vallabh Vidyanagar, Fertilizer Nagar and many other towns came into existence.
As of 2004, the urban area of Gujarat was 1,42,46,000 square kilometers.
In 1901, Gujarat had a total of 165 large and small central towns falling in the community category, which increased to 267 towns in 2001.
The number of cities with a population of more than one lakh in India was 1,22,291. While Gujarat has 264 (1991).
Since most of the districts of South Gujarat have been industrialized, about one-fifth of the total population of Gujarat lives in the towns of South Gujarat.
The least urbanization was in Kutch, now after the 2001 earthquake it has increased more than any other district.
Financial Allocation
Rs 43,000 crore allocated till 2023. Swarnim Jayanti Mukhyamantri Shahri Vikas Yojana (Swarnim Thar Utsav Yojana) of Rs 7000 crore launched.
The budget provision of the Urban Housing Department increased to Rs 19685 crore during the year 2023-24.
The budget provision of the Urban Development and Urban Housing Department in the year 2004-05 was only Rs 126 crore, which increased to Rs 19685 crore during the year 2023-24.
There are 95 thousand industries in Gujarat. Out of which 9 thousand polluting industries are located in or around the cities.
