Question

Which is the satellite city of Ahmedabad?
A) Surat
B) Gandhinagar
C) Rajkot
D) Vadodara

Answer 1

Hint: Smaller municipalities that are next to a major city that is the centre of a metropolitan area are known as satellite cities or satellite towns. Outside of their bigger urban areas, satellite cities could be self-sufficient communities. A satellite city, on the other hand, undergoes cross-commuting as part of a metropolis.

Complete answer:
Gujarat, an Indian state, has Ahmedabad as its most populous city. The administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court are both located here. Ahmedabad has grown into a major commercial and industrial centre in India. It is India's second-largest cotton producer, earning it the nickname "Manchester of India" alongside Kanpur.

Let us analyze the given options:
A) Surat: Surat is a city in Gujarat, a western Indian state. It used to be a significant seaport at the mouth of the Tapti River. It is currently the commercial and economic heart of South Gujarat, as well as one of Western India's main urban centres. Though it is a prominent city in the state of Gujarat, it is not near to the city of Ahmedabad, hence cannot be considered as a satellite city of Ahmedabad. Thus, is an incorrect option.

B) Gandhinagar: Gandhinagar, Gujarat's state capital, is a planned satellite city of Ahmedabad. Gandhinagar lies around 23 kilometres north of Ahmedabad, on the west-central point of the Industrial Corridor connecting Delhi, India's political capital, with Mumbai, India's financial capital. Thus, this is the correct option.

C) Rajkot: After Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara, Rajkot is the fourth-largest city in Gujarat, India. It is located in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. Rajkot is India's 35th-largest metropolitan region, having a population of about 2 million people. Thus, Rajkot is not a satellite city for any other larger cities and hence, this option is an incorrect one.

D) Vadodara: Vadodara, commonly known as Baroda, is the second-largest city in Gujarat, India. It is located on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, 141 kilometres from the state capital of Gandhinagar, and acts as the administrative seat of the Vadodara district. Thus, it is clear that Vadodara is an independent large city and is not a satellite city of Gandhinagar. Hence, this is an incorrect option.

The correct answer is (B) Gandhinagar. Thus, Gandhinagar, the capital city of the state of Gujarat, is a satellite city of Ahmedabad.

Note: Chief Architect H.K. Mewada, a Cornell University graduate, and his assistant Prakash M Apte designed Gandhinagar. In the 1950s, both Mewada and Apte were trainees under famed architect Le Corbusier on the Chandigarh Project. Gandhinagar's streets are numbered, and cross streets are named after Gujarati alphabet letters. Every kilometre, all streets cross, and at each crossing, traffic circles reduce the pace of vehicles.