Dahod

As per the 2011 census,[1] Dahod had a population of 130,503. Males constituted 51% of the population and females 49%. Dahod had an average literacy rate of 83.57%, higher than the national average of 74.04%.

Educational institutions in Dahod include: Hindi Higher Secondary School, Hindi Primary School, Edunova Higher Secondary School, St. Stephen's Higher Secondary School, Government Engineering College, St. Mary School, Government Polytechnic, M.Y. High School, Little Flowers School, Shashi Dhan Day School, Jamali English School, Burhani English Medium School, R.L. Pandya High School, Sunrise Public School, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Shree Gnanjyot Secondary and High Secondary School, and Aadivasi Secondary and Higher Secondary School.

Kachori, Samosa, Ratlami sev and Panipuri are the main namkeen of the city. Dahod is also known for Mattha and Pakwan. Ratlami Sev Bhandar is the hotspot for snacks in Dahod and is famous for its Kachori all over Gujarat.

Dahod is also a medical hub for Gujarat, and surrounding areas of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Dahod hosts some non-profit health centers like Urban Bank hospital, Anjuman Trust, and Government Hospital. Drashtri Netralaya[4] is a famous non-profit eye clinic with a staff of 20+ specialists. It also offers a Diploma in Optometry course.

In recent years, the real estate in Dahod has increased in value considerably. Dahod has been part of international service organization Lions Clubs International, five clubs are active in community service here. Ln Saifee Pitolwala, Ln Yusufi Kapadia are actively serving Blind n Differently able d community through Lions International.

The town's Najmi Masjeed mosque, inaugurated in 2002, is one of the largest mosques in the Dawoodi Bohra community. Sachin Desai wrote Gujarati books about Dahod: 'દાહોદ ડોટ કોમ' and 'Atit na ovare, vikas na pagthare Dahod'. He also wrote a weekly column Dokiyu from last 24 years. Sachin Desai & Gopi Sheth have also managed a Gujarati news website,[5] founded in 1995–'96. They both give daily updates of Dahod to more than 45,000 residents via Dahod Google Group. Dahod Online is another website, created by the youth of Dahod. The people of Dahod are very polite and secular to every religion and live peacefully which makes the unique feature of Dahod. Many legends are born here working in the different fields such as doctors, engineers, scientists, actors etc.

Dahod Television Network also known as DTN is the local news channel of Dahod which telecasts weekly news of Dahod owned by Kaidbhai Chunawala and anchored by Dr. Bhupendra Chaudhary who has worked in many Gujarati, Hindi, Haryanvi films as well as done many serials on channels such as Star Plus and Colors.[6] Dahod is also famous for its handicraft products by Sahaj-An Organisation for Women's Development, an NGO with outreach to 3000 women, Founded in 2001 by Jabeen Jambughodawala, Sahaj Create fine handicraft products and an established brand in tribal handicraft in India and the world. Sahaj India is their website which provides information on their products and events. [7]

GSRTC Bus station, Dahod

Road ways

Road Connectivity Dahod is connected to all major towns of Gujarat by public transport service operated by GSRTC.

Railways

Dahod comes under the Western Railways of Indian Railways and it is on New Delhi–Mumbai main line. The specialty of Dahod is that it marks the beginning and the end of Gujarat on Western Railways line. Few years back the facade of Dahod Railway station was also modernized. The fastest train to reach Mumbai or New Delhi (Hazrat Nizamuddin) from Dahod is August Kranti Rajdhani Express. On 25 April 2018 Ministry of Railways decided to give stoppage of August Kranti Rajdhani Express at Dahod plus, prestigious trains like Golden Temple Mail, Avantika Express, Paschim Express and Mumbai Jaipur (Gangaur) Superfast also halts at Dahod. Other than that Dahod is well connected to major cities of India. Dahod handles the traffic of around 106 trains out of which 7 trains originates and terminates at Dahod. After completion of Dahod-Indore rail line project Dahod will turn into a Junction.

Dahod was selected for construction of POH workshop for steam locomotive fleet because of its pleasant weather, availability of cheap land and sincere workforce. Dahod is also ideally situated mid-way between Bombay and Delhi, the main route of BB&CI Railway broad gauge system. Initially trained staff was transferred from Parel to Dahod. A full fledged colony was constructed for accommodating full strength of staff. Mr. Hendree Freeland established the colony that is named after him as Freelandganj. The foundation of Locomotive workshop, Dahod was laid by Sir Clement Hindlay Kt, then Chief Commissioner of Railways (India), on 14 th January 1926. It took about 4 years to complete the construction of the workshop and a steam powerhouse attached to the workshop, the office complex and staff amenities like colony, main hospital, area health units, railway institutes etc. Originally, the workshop at Lower Parel (Bombay) was catering to the requirement of POH of locomotives, passenger carriages and freight cars of then Bombay, Baroda and Central India (BB&CI) Railway. With the increase in the train services, Lower Parel workshop was not able to cope with the arising of all the three types of rolling stock. Therefore, it was decided to shift locomotive POH activity from Lower Parel to some other place.

Airport

Nearest Airports are Vadodara Airport (125 km) and Ahmedabad Airport (210 km).

• www.dahod.com