Morbi Ceramic City

Morbi or Morvi is a city and a municipality in Morbi district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It was a Princely State ruled by theJadeja clan of Rajputs until Indian independence in 1947. It is situated on the Kathiawar peninsula. In 2011, the city's population was determined to be 194,947. Its chief products are cotton and grain. The town of Morbi is situated on the river Machhu, 35 km from the sea and 60 km from Rajkot.

The city-state of Morbi and much of the building heritage and town planning is attributed to the administration of Sir Lakhdhiraji Waghji, who ruled from 1922 to 1948. Sir Waghji acted as a ruler, manager, patron and policeman of the state with great authority. Sir Waghji, like other contemporary rulers of Saurashtra, built roads and a railway network (of seventy miles), connectingWadhwan with Morbi and the two small ports of Navlakhi and Vavania, for exporting the state's production of salt and cloth. The Morbi railway station combines Indian and European architectural elements. Today, Sir Waghji Thakor's grandson Shivam Thakor is still the Prince of the state and resides in the royal palace.

Contents

   

• 1History
• 2Education
• 3Industry
• 4Transportation
• 
  
  

History

During the British Raj era, Morvi State was one of several princely states governed by the Jadeja dynasty of Rajputs. It was classified as an 11-gun salute state. Morbi has many Heritage site like New Palace, Mani Mandir (Vagh Mahel), Darbar Gadh, Zulta Pul (Hanging Bridge), Nagar Darwaja, Green Tower etc.

Education

Morbi has one of the oldest Engineering Institutes of Gujarat which is Lukhdhirji Engineering College which have been started since 1951. Institute run more than 8 Graduate courses, 4 post
graduate courses, 8 Diploma in Engineering. Major branches are Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Specially Production and Industrial Engineering in Bachelor of Engineering. This Institute is only Institute in Gujarat which has Ceramic Engineering in Diploma course.

Morbi has many schools and colleges of commerce, arts, science, home science and different branches of engineering.

Industry

Major Industries in Morbi are Ceramic, Clock, CFL and other Electronics Product, Oreva Electric Bike, Sanitary ware, Traditional Roof Tiles, Packaged foods and Drinking water, Soft drinks, Cotton Processing etc. Morbi produces 70% of India's gross ceramic production and 5% of the world's.  around 80% of the country's Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) production and is the largest producer of wall clocks in India. There are around 600 ceramic factories with production worth Rs. 40 billion annually. The main products areceramic tiles, together with some sanitary ware. Morbi's ceramic factories are mainly small and medium scale units which together comprise the largest ceramic production in India.

Another major industry in Morbi is clock manufacturing: Samay Clocks, Sonera Industries and Sonam Quartz are some of the manufacturers. The majority of these companies' workforce are female from neighbouring villages. Clocks are manufactured and sold both nationally and internationally, with major international shipments to the Middle-East and East Asia.

A paper mill produces a wide range of paper products and some paper craft.

Multinational Ceramic Brands Like Kajaria, Simpolo Group, Varmora, Somany, Oasis, Ramoji and another lots of Companies are there.

Transportation

Morbi can be reached by road from Ahmedabad in approximately 4.5 hours via: 1. National Highway 8A via Limbadi and Chotila - approximately 232 km 2. State Highway 7 via Viramgam and Dhrangadhra - approximately 200 km Buses are run by the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation and private travel companies.

The nearest railway station is in Wankaner Taluka of Morbi district, from which one can get trains to many major cities of Gujarat and other states. To reach Morbi by air, the nearest airports are about 62 km away in Rajkot and 247 km away in Ahmedabad and 1,015 km away in Pune. Air India and other airlines operate regular flights from Mumbai to Rajkot and Mumbai to Ahmedabad.

There are various connecting flights to Ahmedabad from all Indian cities and frequent buses are available from Ahmedabad.