PLACES OF INTEREST

CHOPDA

Chopda (21°10'N, 75°15' E; p. 22,832), the headquarters of Chopda taluka, lies 51 miles north-east of Dhulia, 19 miles north of Erandol Road railway station (Surat-Bhusaval line) and six miles from the meeting of the Girna and the Tapi. Chopda has a large trade in cotton and linseed.

Population.

Of the total population of 22,832 according to the census figures of 1951, the agricultural classes number 9.793 and the non-agricultural classes 13,039. Of the latter. 3.565 persons derive their principal means of livelihood from production other than cultivation; 2,679 persons from commerce; 271 persons from transport; and 6,524 persons from other services and miscellaneous sources.

Municipality.

Chopda is a municipal town. It has an area of 1½ square miles. The Chopda municipality was established in 1869 and is now governed by the Bombay District Municipal Act, 1901. The municipality is composed of 20 councillors. There are two seats reserved for women; one rotating in ward Nos. I, II and III and the other in ward Nos. IV and V. In ward No. Ill there is one seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes and one for the Scheduled Tribes. The municipality has besides the Managing Committee, the Sanitary, Dispensary, and School Committees.

During 1956-57, the total income of the municipality, excluding extraordinary and debt heads, amounted to Rs. 2,43,998, composed of rates and taxes, Rs. 1,65,846; other sources. Rs. 23.994 and grants. Rs. 54,158. The total expenditure during the same year excluding extraordinary and debt heads, amounted to Rs. 2,57,908, general administration being Rs. 43,007; public health and convenience, Rs. 1,40,284; public safety, Rs. 32.159; public instruction, Rs. 24,048; contribution for general purposes, Rs. 3,314; and miscellaneous, Rs. 15,096.

There is no special water works in the town. Wells form the main source of water supply. There is no underground drainage, hut the town is surrounded by a net work of surface drains connected to a nala. In some parts of the town there are kaccha drains which are being converted into stone-lined drains (1957).

There is compulsory primary education managed by the District School Board, the municipality paying its annual statutory contribution to the District School Board. There is a high school named Pratap Vidya Mandir, conducted by the Chopda Education Society, to which the municipality pays an annual contribution of Rs. 6,000. The municipality also pays annually Rs. 500 to the Pratap Vidya Mandir, for purposes of social education, and Rs. 300 to the Lokmanya Vyayam Shala. There is a public reading room, named, "Nagar Vachan Mandir", to which an annual grant of Rs. 200 is paid by the municipality.

For the purpose of fire-fighting and road-watering the municipality has built one overhead tank which can hold 6,000 gallons of water. There are underground pipe-lines, 60 hydrants and hoses. There is also a trailer pump and a tractor carrying a tanker with 600 gallons capacity.

There is a vegetable market named as "Shri Sant Savata Mali Vegetable and Fruit Market". There is also one market for mutton and one for beef.

An allopathic dispensary named as "Chandrakant Municipal Dispensary, Chopda" is run by the municipality. The dispensary maintains a maternity ward of six beds, a male ward of six beds, and a female ward of three beds. No fee is charged for patients who take treatment in the dispensary. The District Local Board runs a veterinary dispensary, and the municipality pays an annual contribution of Rs. 1,700 towards its maintenance. A Government cottage hospital is being (1957) built on the Chopda-Tapi road. There is a gosala named "Shri Govardhan Samstha", to which the municipality pays an annual grant of Rs. 1,000.

The municipality has no cremation or burial ground under its management. There are in all 52 cremation and burial grounds. Two of the burning ghats are managed privately by the Gujarati and Marwadi Samaj.

Objects.

Chopda's ruined fort shows that it was a place of some consequence under early Hindu rulers. In 1600 it was a large and well peopled town, with a temple of Rameshvar, to which Hindus came down great distances. [ Gladwin Ain-i-Akbari, II. 53. In 1610 Finch mentions it as a great town, Kerr, VIII, 278.] About fifty years later, Tavernier (1660) mentions it, [ Harris, II. 352.] and a few years after (1676), when plundered by Shivaji, it is spoken of as a great mart.[ Orme's Historical Fragments, 84.] About the time it was known to the Musalmans as Mustafabad Chopda.[Muntakhabti-1-lubab in Elliot, VII. 307.] In 1750 it is mentioned as having a famous temple of Rameshvar. [Tieffenthaler Res. His. et. Geog. Sur. I'lnde, I. 368.] In 1820, when it was handed over by Sinde, [Hamilton_ Description of Hindusthim IT, 101] it was the head of a subdivision surrounded by country much covered with forest. [Or. Chris. Spec. VIII. 198.] In 1837 it was, restored to Shinde, and in 1844 again received by the British.

Traces of former wealth remain in some of the old houses notably in one with a richly carved hall in Navsari Ganj. The fort stands in the middle of the town close to the main street, and contains the Bhil lines and the Mamlatdar's Court and record-rooms.

Beside the fort are several mosques, chief among which is the Jama mosque, thirty-four feet by forty-eight, built, it is said, by Miran Muhammad Khan (1520-1535) the eighth of the Faruqi kings. Among the other mosques is the Black mosque, forty feet by forty-two, said to have been built by Dada Miya, a local Muhammedan saint. A third is Sylani Saheb's mosque, forty feet by thirty, said to have been built by Sylani Saheb, a religious devotee who lived 280 years ago. A fourth is the Shekhpura mosque, thirty-seven feet square, supposed to have been built by a saint named Miran Shaikh Muhammad Walajah Awliya. Two handsome old wells deserve notice; one, the Satkothadia well, sixty-five feet by forty-five, is said to have been built by Jawha Rana Duli. The other, in the Seven Palms garden, is said to have been built by a landholder named Jan AH Khan.

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