| Ankleshwar | |
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| Coordinates | 21°36′N 73°00′E / 21.6°N 73°ECoordinates: 21°36′N 73°00′E / 21.6°N 73°E |
| Country | India |
| State | Gujarat |
| District(s) | Bharuch |
| Population | 67,952 (2001[//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ankleshwar&action=edit [update]]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Ankleshwar, (sometimes written Ankleshvar Gujarati: અંકલેશ્વર) is a city and a municipality in the Bharuch district of the state of Gujarat, India. The city is located approximately ten kilometres from Bharuch.
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Ankleshwar is known for its industrial township called GIDC (Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation), which is one of the biggest in Asia. Ankleshwar also has an office of the ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited). Today, Ankleshwar has over 5000 big and small chemical plants. These chemical plants produce products such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, and paints.
The pharmaceutical companies Cadila Healthcare and Mahrshee Laboratories have a plant to make active pharmaceutical ingredients in Ankleshwar. Not only Cadila but other leading pharmaceuticals of India had started their pharmaceutical producing plants over here. The resin industry like Resins & Plastics Limited and Pragati Chemicals Limited also have manufacturing facility at Ankleshwar which are catering for auto coating as well as general industrial coating resins.
The multi-national firm Hoechst India Limited, which became Aventis has now changed to Sanofi Aventis after the merger with Sanofi, has a plant to make the Rabies vaccine - Rabipur, pharmaceuticals and agro chemicals. Thus Hoechst sold its Rabies vaccine division to Chiron Behring Vaccine India which has now been taken over by Novartis. The Pharmaceutical plant is now run by Sanofi Aventis and the Agro Chemical plant is now run by Bayer. Also famous Lalbhai Group company named ATUL Ltd has one of its Aromatic Division plant at Ankleshwar manufacturing Aromatic Chemicals. All these above mentioned industries as well as domestic consumers are supplied eco-friendly piped natural gas by the Gujarat Gas Company Limited, a subsidiary of BG Group plc. Rather than this, Lupin Ltd has one manufacturing plant at Ankleshwar.It Supplies the Ethambutol HCL in largest quantity in world.
India's no. 1 paint manufacturer Asian Paints has one of its paint manufacturing facility here with a production capacity of 100,000 KL of paints per year.
Because of the high presence of Industries, the city is adjudged as most polluted city of India.[1]
As of 2001[update] India census,[2] Ankleshwar had a population of 67,952. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Ankleshwar has an average literacy rate of 76%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 56% of the males and 44% of females literate. 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.
Among the Hindus, ghanchis (oil traders) are an important caste, residing in the town for centuries .The ghanchi women folks possess fair skin and pretty faces; once served as courtesans to the royalties of Rajpipla (a tiny kingdom city of the past). The city also has a sizeable Muslim population. The Casbathi-wadi region of the town once used to be the hub of Jain merchants, but in later periods there was a gradual migration of Jain population to Bombay and hence Casbathi-wadi apparently turned into a Muslim ghetto. But the old Jain temples still stand beside the relatively newer mosques. In the 17th century when Brighukacha (present-day Bharuch) served as a mini port; the city of Ankleshwar, located on the other side of the river Narmada, also flourished during this period. And the town had accountable population of various trader castes. Among other important traders, Parsis were a dominant community contributing to the city's growth.
Ankleshwar is well connected by Indian National Highway 8 (Mumbai to New Delhi) and by the Western Railway Division of Indian Railways. The railway division also runs the narrow gauge train services to Rajpipla. The 132 year-old Golden Bridge connects Ankleshwar to Bharuch across the Narmada on the station front while a new bridge connects the highway, the other bridge on the highway has been under maintenance for some time causing regular traffic jams at the four lane NH:8.
There are many auto rickshaws (3 wheeled passenger accommodating petrol/diesel vehicles) and utility vehicles in Ankleshwar providing the means of transport within most of the city. Intra-district and Inter-state buses also serve Ankleshwar frequently, to most of the nearby cities and states. In addition to this there are private bus operators ferrying passengers across Ankleshwar.
The main road which connects the highway to Valia is being widened, which will reduce the time taken for traveling. This road meets the widened road from Ghadkol-Patiya, Pragati-Path.
Among the schools, there are Shree Gattu Vidyalaya (Gujarati & English medium),shreemati puspawati devidas shroff sanskardeep vidyalaya (Gujaraati medium) , Shravan Vidyabhavan School, Unity English Medium School, Swami Vivekananda School (English Medium), Swami Vivekananda School (Gujarati Medium), the E.N. Ginwala High School, the Zenith High School, the Aaddarsh School, the Lions School, Sanskar Deep, the Gurukul, UBMM, the National High School, the Saraswati Vidya Mandir, the Kendriya Vidhyalaya.
The most famous schools in Ankleshwar are:
Government Schools in Ankleshwar are:
The St. Paul's English medium school in ankleshwar at kosamdi village.
There are also very important Darul-Ulooms in surrounding villages which are of considerable importance to Muslims in area for teaching Islamic knowledge, including Shariah law.
There are many parks (such as The Millennium Park and old parks in Ankleshwar city), the GIDC Water Reservoir, Sports center (Ankleshwar Gymkhana, One of the best Culb in Ankleshwar having all facilities like, Badminton, Table Tennis, Tennis, Swimming Pool, Garden, Gymnasium, Steam Saunna, Canteen,etc.) Swimming pools, Joggers Park, Children Park, Rotary library and other recreation centres in the GIDC area. Small and big shops near the Chauta Bazar and Sardar Park area (in GIDC) are the central shopping zones however recently brands of costume jewellery like "Sia" and fashion shops like Aura have opened in Rustom Plaza, Station road which is certainly a first for Ankleshwar. Prominent hotels in Ankleshwar include the Sadanand Hotel, Lords Plaza, The Shalimaar (3-4 star hotels) and other budget hotels like Sun Plaza, Royal Palace, Sha's Inn and so on.
Most of the clinics and hospitals are owned and operated by individual doctors and medical professionals. Pharmacies are also operated and run by individual people. Private hospitals are generally in good condition and include modern technology.
Hospitals include the Jayaben Modi Hospital[4] is the biggest in Ankleshwar and has state-of-the art technology. The Sarvajanik Hospital is also large and one of the popular and is served by pediatricians and physicians. Other hospitals include facilities of x-rays, sonography, and other necessities. the sardar park area has a mogini's outlet which is a major attraction for the young.
