Morbi

Morbi Morvi
city
Population  (2006)
• Total	250,000

Morvi or Morbi (Template:Lang-gu) is a city and a municipality in Rajkot district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was a Princely State ruled by Jadeja clan of Rajputs until Indian independence in 1947. It is situated on the Kathiawar peninsula. In 1981, the city's population was determined to be 73,327. Its chief products are cotton and grain. The town is a railroad junction. The town of Morvi is situated on the river Machhu, 22 miles (35 kilometres) from the sea and 60 kilometres from Rajkot.

The prosperous city-state of Morbi and much of the building heritage and town planning is attributed to the efficient administration of Sir Lakhdhiraji Waghji , who ruled from 1922 until 1948. Sir Waghji acted as a ruler, manager, patron and policeman of the state with great authority, always keeping the interests of citizens in mind. Sir Waghji, like other contemporary rulers of Saurashtra, built roads, a railway network of seventy miles connecting Wadhvan and Morbi and the two small ports of Navlakhi and Vavania for exporting the state's production of salt and cloth. The Morbi railway station is a beautiful example of railway architecture, combining Indian and European architectural elements.

Overview

The most important Morbi buildings are: Darbargadh, Mani Mandir, Wellingdon Secretariat, Suspension Bridge, Art Deco Palace and Lukhdhirji Engineering College.

Darbargadh, on the banks of the Machhu, is an original residence of Morbi rulers. It can be reached by crossing an imposing gate arcaded facade. Now it is the only heritage hotel at Morbi.

Mani Mandir is a temple situated in the courtyard of Wellingdon Secretariat. The images of Laxmi Narayan, Mahakali, Ramchandraji, Radha-Krishna and Shiva are worshiped in this temple. Mani Mandir is made out of Jaipur stone with excellent workmanship and exquisitely carved elements: arches, brackets, jalis, chhatris and shikhara. Wellingdon Secretariat is an excellent example of the application of the principles of Rajput architecture by master craftsmen at the turn of the century.

The Suspension Bridge was built at the turn of the century. It is 1.25 metres wide and spans 233 metres on the Machchhu River, connecting Darbargadh Palace and Lukhdhirji Engineering College. Recently this bridge has been renovated and opened up to tourists.

Green Chowk is a town square approached by a series of three gates. European town planning principles inspired the creation of these gates as landmarks in the town. The Nehru Gate is made out of stone using elements of Rajput architecture with a central clock tower, while another one uses elements of western architecture and is capped by a three-storey cast iron frame structure with a dome.

The Art Deco Palace (1931–1944) is a marvelous example of the influence of the last phase of the European art deco movement. It is poetry in granite, a low two-storey structure with banded horizontal fenestration, curves and bays, which resembles the London underground stations of Charles Holden. The palace has six drawing rooms, six dining rooms, and fourteen bedrooms. The decorated subterranean bedroom, with many erotic murals and a bathroom made from seashells are also noteworthy.

Lukhdhirji Engineering College is housed in Nazarbag Palace, a former residence of Morbi rulers. The other places worth visiting at Morbi are: V C High School, the main Railway Station and the Nazarbag Railway Station.

Excursions in Morbi

The hanging bridge over Machhu river is one of many architectural marvel of Morbi. Others are The Darbar Gardh (Old Palace), the New Palace, the Mani Madir, the green tower, and so on. According to some sources the State of Morvi owned an airport when there were only six airports across India.

Dhrangadhra (royal palaces) 75 km, Wadhvan (Royal Palace, bazaar, step wells) 107 km, Halvad (Ek-dandia Mahal-Zalawzad Darshan, wooden palace, Cenotaphs) 48 km, Wankaner (Royal Palaces, step wells) 29 km, Maliya (Royal Palace) 32 km, Rajkot (princely architecture, Watson Museum, Ramkrishna Mission, Kaba Gandhi no Delo) 67 km

Education

Morbi has many schools and colleges that provide a good education in different streams like commerce, arts, science, home science and different branches of engineering. The Mahila college is one of the major colleges of Morbi. It is situated behind the new bus-stand, Shanala road and offers a variety of courses including Computer Applications. St.Mary's Higher Secondary School, V. C. high school, Om Shanti school ,OMVVIM college, M. P. Sheth girls high school, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Kanya Vidhyalay etc. are some of the major schools available in Morbi. Among these, Sardar Patel Kanya Vidhyalay has been providing a very good opportunity to hundreds of poor village girls to be literate. Many private educational institutes have been functional in recent times in and around the city.

The engineering college which hosts over 3,000 engineering students is also a major source of income into morbi. Lukhdhirji Engineering College (L.E. College) is one of the oldest colleges in Gujarat. Maharaja Mahendrasinhji College and Smt.G.J.Sheth College are well known and old colleges in the Saurashtra University

Industry

The main industry of Morbi is ceramic manufacturing, with six hundred manufacturing units flanking the 8/A National highway. The main products of Morbi are ceramic tile, vitrified tiles, floor tiles, glazed wall tiles, Luster wall tiles, sanitary wares, porcelain tiles, spartek tiles, glaze tile, roofing tiles and mosaic tiles. Morbi's ceramic factories belong to small and medium scale units but together they have the largest ceramic production in India.

A major industry of Morbi is clock manufacturing. Sonam Quartz, Ajanta Clocks and Samay Clocks are the world's largest clock manufacturers and lead the clock manufacturing industry. The majority of these companies' workforce consists of females from neighbouring villages. Goods are manufactured and exported nationally and internationally, with major international shipments to Middle-East, and East Asia. Some of the tile manufacturers like Lavish ceramics,Silk Ceramics, Croma floor tiles, Real Ceramic,Regency Sanitary,Samrat Sanitary,Classic Ceramic, lead in the tiles industries. Also in sanitary wares it has big names like Simpolo, Solo, Solitaire, Sonet, Eros, Sona, Sorona etc.

Today Morbi alone produces 80% of the country's gross ceramic production and around 80% of compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) production. There are around 550 ceramic manufacturing unit alone in Morbi which is considered to be an industry worth 40,000 million rupees (4,000 crore) annually.

How to reach Morbi

You can reach Morbi by road from Ahmedabad in roughly 3 hours. There are buses available run by the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation and also by private travel companies. The nearest railway station is in Wankaner taluka (MORBI) from which one can get trains to many major cities of Gujarat a few other states. To reach Morbi by air, the nearest airports are about 67 km away in Rajkot and 247 km away in Ahmedabad. Indian Airlines run regular flights from Mumbai to Rajkot and Mumbai to Ahmedabad.

References

Resources

• Morbi History