Gujarat State villages moving towards urbanization: Census

 Gujarat's urbanization process is all set to offer major surprises. If the latest Census of India figures handed over to the Gujarat government last week are any guide, it is not just the big cities which are contributing towards massive urbanization of the state, which is already 42.6 per cent of 6.04 crore population in Gujarat, next only to Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The rural areas, especially villages adjoining the industrial areas in the Golden Corridor from Vapi in South Gujarat to Mehsana in North Gujarat, as elsewhere, have shown a very sharp movement towards urbanization.
The figures show that as many as 153 villages with a population of 5,000 or above have qualified to become urban townships. "Identified as 'census towns' in the official jargon, these are the villages where 75 per cent of the population is dependent on non-agricultural activities", a senior Sachivalaya official told TOI, adding, "This is compared to just 73 villages with a population of 5,000 plus which fulfilled the 'census town' criterion in the 2001 Census. The expectation in the government is, the new revelation would add many of these to the list of Gujarat's statutory towns."


As many as 73 of these villages have 5,000 to 10,000 population, another 70 have a population between 10,000 to 20,000, and the rest of 10 have 20,000 plus living in each of them. Three dozen villages, currently ruled by panchayats, can immediately be converted into municipalities, as their population has achieved its basic criterion of 15,000 plus population. Top ten among them are Kotharia in Rajkot district, Bopal in Ahmedabad district, Madhapar and Mundra in Kutch district, Jhadeshwar, Gadkhol and Bholav in Bharuch district, and Sachin, Kadodara and Chalthan in Surat district.
Kotharia, whose population was 20,857 in 2001, today has 53,821 people living in it. Similarly, Bopal which had the population of 12,181 in 2001, today houses 34,030 people. Mundra village, next to which the Adani port and SEZ have already been established, currently has 20,329 people living in it, though in 2001 its population was 12,931. Most of these villages have more than doubled their population because of the urbanization process having overtaken them. "If one adds urban outgrowth around these towns, their population would be even higher", the official insisted.
Similarly, Census of India figures suggest that there are 10 towns which have already become very large municipalities and, if one adds their "urban outgrowth" into them, they can easily be turned into municipal corporations. These are Gandhidham, Nadiad, Anand, Morvi, Mehsana, Surendranagar, Navsari, Vareval, Bharuch and Vapi. The population of first four has already crossed 2 lakh. One can see the growth of these towns – Gandhidham's population stood at 1.51 lakh in 2001, but now it is 2.48 lakh. Vapi's population was 71,406 in 2001, but now it is 1.63 lakh.