• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • REVIEWS
    • TRAILERS
  • BUSINESS
  • CELEBRITIES
  • HOLLYWOOD
  • REGIONAL
  • TV
  • MUSIC
  • TOP LISTS

Bollywood Presents

Exotic locations where popular Bollywood movies were shot

You are here: Home / Film & Media Business / Surat: Once Plague Ridden, Its One of the Cleanest & Fastest Growing Cities

Surat: Once Plague Ridden, Its One of the Cleanest & Fastest Growing Cities

August 24, 2015 by BollywoodPresents Team

Surat: Cleanest & Fastest Growing Cities in IndiaOnce considered to be one of the filthiest cities in India, not only is Surat today one of the cleanest cities in India, but also one of the fastest growing cities in India. Most surveys/polls in fact consider it to be one of the best cities in India to live in.

In 1994, when the city was hit by plague, just the mere mention of Surat was enough to scare people from visiting that place, the city saw an exodus of frightened inhabitants leaving the city in hordes, and there was hysterical media coverage all over the world.

Fast forward couple of decades and Surat has turned out to be not only is one of the cleanest cities in India, but also a place that would give most urban cities in India a run for the money, when it comes to infrastructure and development.

Just take a drive from Mumbai to Surat, and you’ll be impressed with the quality of the roads. The four and a half hour drive (around 320 kms) is smooth and once you enter Surat, you’re going to rub your eyes in disbelief looking at the development, especially if you’ve not been to Surat for a long time.

Strong Entrepreneurial Spirit & Culture

Even the world acknowledges the diamond city’s rapid growth & transformation. A recent survey conducted by ‘The City Mayors Foundation’, an international think tank on urban affairs, had ranked Surat as the fourth fastest developing city in the world (not India).

Diamond, textile, embroidery are some of the industries attracting big investments and in turn helping development of the city. With virtually no Law and order problem, the city offers improved quality of living.

So what is it about Surat that works in its favour?

Top businessmen believe that the absence of a political environment has helped the economic growth and development of surat the most.

Here, people are business oriented (they have inherited this culture of trade) and hard working; its very common to hear stories of how people came to this city in just one pair of clothes and have went on to build businesses worth hundreds & thousands of crores of rupees.

The older generation have the experience and the contacts, and with their children getting educated in foreign universities and having knowledge of cutting edge technologies, family businesses are poised for bigger growths.

That’s also the reason why compared to other cities, its the non-conventional business sectors like like diamonds, embroidery (art silk and zari) that have contributed to the growth of the city.

Strong local governance (and state governance) coupled with the right infrastructure, has resulted in almost zero unemployment, despite heavy migration and population growth in last couple of decades.

You can expect the people hear to be practical. They’re punctual, especially when it comes to business meetings (so don’t keep them waiting for meetings). At the same time they also love to enjoy the good things and also love some spare time to socialize & gossip (especially in the afternoons), but then most of them can afford to do so as most of them are the bosses themselves.

Great Opportunity for Entertainment Industry

Being one of the fastest growing cities, and home to a thriving business community, Surat is also a market that people associated with the entertainment industry are waiting to tap into.

Catalogues, ad films & corporate films, high-end weddings are some of the segments that offer good opportunities. There’s good demand for celebrities as well, to endorse new projects.

There are many who are already working to get a pie of the lucrative wedding business. From event managers, set designers, fashion photographers, to caterers, all are visiting Surat to meet potential clients.

Great Infrastructure & Cleanliness

The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) today has one of the best water-treatment plants and one of the best solid waste-disposal systems in the country.

If you live in one of the metros of India, you’ll surely be left spellbound seeing the city’s wide roads & flyovers, the way buildings have comes up (with lots of open spaces & wide interior roads) several gardens, cleanliness, and more.

Do you know that shop keepers, street vendors and restaurant owners fear the SMC sanitation workers more than the policeman in Surat? The SMC’s sanitation workers are really strict when it comes to cleanliness. If there’s filth around a paan shop, the owner will be slapped a big fine and in worst case even asked to close shop. If you’re caught throwing a cigarette, be prepared to cough up a fine.

SMC also has a hugely effective road-cleaning project, where SMC workers, armed with brooms, water and scrubbers clean up all the major roads every night.

Well, I guess that’s what is the need of the hour in every city in India.

Besides, the numerous new roads and flyovers ensure motorists have a smooth ride, and one rarely finds traffic snarls (so common in other parts of India). Of the several state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities in Surat, you’ll find several swimming pools of global standard.

Booming Businesses Set to Grow Further

Surat has a huge diamond polishing business (almost half of the world’s diamond-polishing industry is based here) and is also known as India’s diamond capital. It will even grow bigger as the diamond bourse in BKC Mumbai is planning to shift to Surat.

The growth in the diamond, textile and other businesses, along with the focus on infrastructure, has sent the land prices soaring, and real estate is not really cheap here. Although it seems as if most of the real estate owners are inverstors & NRI’s as most of the buildings seem to be vacant.

But its definitely great to see attractively designed cluster of buildings with wide roads, footpaths & gardens.

One of the Best Cities in India

Whenever a study gets as to which are the best cities in India to live in, based on several parameters like “mobility, water supply network, cleanliness, public amenities, pollution control, greenery, safety, and easy processes of getting work done at the corporation”, Surat’s name definitely comes up at the top in the list.

Probably the only thing that surat needs is a good airport! The current airport has limited capacity and doesn’t have night landing or morning take-off facilities.I’m sure the authorities have that in mind.

The SMC’s Rs 150 crore Tapti riverfront project is to develop the banks of the Tapti on the lines of “London-on-Thames”. So in the coming years, you can expect to see walkways, gardens, roads and small commercial hubs on the banks of the river.

Historically, although surat was already a big city when the Britishers were here, its growth was stopped by the rise of Mumbai (Bombay then) but that happened only for a short period. After all, business acumen is built into a Surti’s (native of Surat) genetic code and today Surat is home to several booming businesses.

It’s also a city of diversity, people seem to be more tolerant (historically peaceful), its easy to find non-vegetarian meals considering that majority are vegetarians (they also seen to love food as there are several eating outlets/joints), and its a place where people basically want to focus on enjoying the good things of life.

The only reason why a lot of people have not made the move to Surat yet is because its still a place where you need to be a part of a business. You won’t find good white collar job opportunities here yet and the services industry is not big, compared to other big cities in India.

However, Surat is definitely an interesting city and if you’re from any other big city in India, you definitely would wish that your city offered some of the amenities /facilities that this city offers to its people.

For someone, who’s lived in the metro cities like Mumbai, Surat comes like a breath of fresh air. I hope other cities in India take a cue from Surat and implement some of their practices (especially the cleanliness part and the construction-to-open-space ratio).

However, one thing is for sure! Surat’s transformation into a top-class city is because of the perceptible change of Surtis towards cleanliness; for them cleanliness now is a strict habit and not just awareness.



Filed Under: Film & Media Business

RELATED POSTS

shahrukh family

Top Brands endorsed by Shahrukh Khan

Here are the top brands endorsed by Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan. Shah Rukh Khan is brand ambassador of Online grocery store ‘BigBasket’ Those who live in the metro cities probably have already heard about BigBasket, a leading online grocery store in India. The company is on its way to becoming India’s largest online grocer, and […]

Bollywood Actresses Feel They Get Paid Peanuts Compared to the Top Actors

With the success of women-centric Bollywood Films, the top actresses feel they should be paid more. Some of the biggest hits in Bollywood in recent times had female-oriented story lines. Examples being ‘Mary Kom’, ‘Queen’, ‘Piku’, ‘Tannu Weds Mannu’, etc., many of which crossed the Rs.100 crore mark (1 bn rupee gross earnings) that is […]

Movie Theatres Mumbai

List of Movie Theatres in Mumbai BIG Cinemas Cinemax.co.in Movie Time Cinemas Movie Time Cinemas Fame Cinemas Broadway Cinemas

film production houses Bollywood

Top Film Production Houses in Bollywood

List of the Top Film Production Houses in Mumbai In case you dream of working in Bollywood films, these are the studios you need to approach. Some of the biggest blockbusters produced by the Hindi film industry (or Bollywood) come out of these studios. Yash Raj Films Private Limited Set up by Yash Chopra in […]

Amol Gupte

Bollywood is only about ‘dhanda’ (business), says filmmaker Amole Gupte

Amole Gupte, the versatile actor-cum-filmmaker, hates commercial Bollywood cinema (even though he has high regards for filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap and Vishal Bhardwaj). Bollywood cinema is not cinema, offers no value, and is only a consumable product. Please don’t confuse Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt with Bollywood, but says film directors like Vishal Bhardwaj and […]

flight

For $61, woman gets plane to herself on flight to Greece

When Karon Grieve boarded her flight from Glasgow to the Greek island of Crete, she was told that there would be just three passengers in the flight, but the other two did not turn up, leaving Grieve with what she calls a “surreal” experience on her $61 flight. “You have your own private jet today,” […]

‘Kodaikanal won’t’ protest song against industrial pollution uses Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda” as soundtrack

“Kodaikanal Won’t” is a protest song, composed by Indian rapper, against industrial pollution. The protest video uses Nicki Minaj’s ‘Anaconda” as the backing soundtrack. Well, if you (somehow) disagree with the politics involved, you can still enjoy the good music by this talented rapper. Chennai-born rapper Sofia Ashraf creates a protest video against FMCG giant […]

the jungle book

‘Jungle Book’ Author Rudyard Kipling’s Bungalow in India is a Tourist Attraction

The Kipling bungalow, housed in Sir JJ school of Art campus in South Mumbai, and named after the famous writer, novelist, poet and author of Jungle book stories ‘Joseph Rudyard Kipling’ will be preserved as a tourist attraction. Although Kipling was born in 1865 in a house adjacent to where the bungalow stands today, the […]

TV Actors: Overworked & Overstressed

In one of our earlier posts we had mentioned how our Bollywood actors were putting in long working hours, but most of them do have a choice to slow down. However, in the case of our television actors, it seems they do not have much choice in the matter and have to sweat it out […]

burj khalifa dubai

Dubai may have its first dancing skyscraper with rotating apartments.

Dubai is known for its impressive architectural feats, and has some awe-inspiring sky scrapers. However, this one will take it to another level altogether. Dynamic Architecture is designing an 80-story tower that can transform its shape. So the exterior of the building will go from a curvy design to one that resembles a stack of […]

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Yogesh Somaiya says

    August 29, 2014 at 10:50 am

    Lot of people say that proximity to Mumbai has helped surat but I feel that proximity to mumbai has never helped surat in any way. Due to proximity to mumbai, in fact, Surat had to struggle for Domestic Airport. The Traditional Diamond Businesses which originated and grew in surat shifted their main offices to Mumbai due to lack of export infrastructure (say Airport), the same goes for textile business. Surat is the highest revenue earner for Western Railway but due to proximity to Mumbai it has never got the status of a full fledged railway division.

Primary Sidebar

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

RECENT POSTS

Bobby Deol

Bobby Deol completes 25 yrs in Bollywood

Son of Bollywood veteran Dharmendra and brother to Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol recently completed 25 … [Read More...] about Bobby Deol completes 25 yrs in Bollywood

Shabana Azmi

Shabana Azmi: One of the finest actors of Indian cinema

Shabana Azmi, an alumnus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) of Pune, made her film … [Read More...] about Shabana Azmi: One of the finest actors of Indian cinema

war movie

Here’s how much Hrithik Roshan was paid for his 2019 hit film ‘War’

Hrithik Roshan is a superstar in Bollywood and is among the highest paid actors in the film … [Read More...] about Here’s how much Hrithik Roshan was paid for his 2019 hit film ‘War’

sooryavanshi movie

Bollywood facing losses of 5000+ crore due to pandemic lockdown

Almost everybody associated with the film industry is despondent about the future. With COVID-19 … [Read More...] about Bollywood facing losses of 5000+ crore due to pandemic lockdown

Money Scandals

Indian film celebrities caught in Tax Controversies

In Bollywood and other film industries in India, there's a saying that "there's no business like the … [Read More...] about Indian film celebrities caught in Tax Controversies

celebrity endorsements

It’s 2020 and Bollywood is still obsessed with fair skin

Makers of the upcoming movie 'Khaali Peeli', starring Ananya Panday and Ishaan Khatter, are facing … [Read More...] about It’s 2020 and Bollywood is still obsessed with fair skin

Kangana Ranaut's pali hill office

BMC demolish illegal constructions by Bollywood actors & filmmakers

BMC begins the demolition of illegal alterations to Kangana Ranaut's office in Bandra. The … [Read More...] about BMC demolish illegal constructions by Bollywood actors & filmmakers

deepika padukone

Deepika Padukone: Net worth and luxury splurges

Deepika Padukone is one of the leading actors in Bollywood and commands a higher remuneration than … [Read More...] about Deepika Padukone: Net worth and luxury splurges

Hrithik Roshan

Rakesh Roshan completes 50 years in Bollywood, talks about Bollywood

Veteran actor and filmmaker Rakesh Roshan has completed five decades in the film industry. However, … [Read More...] about Rakesh Roshan completes 50 years in Bollywood, talks about Bollywood

Sushant Singh Rajput

Showik Chakraborty, Samuel Miranda admit to Drugs Procurement, arrested by NCB

Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested Showik Chakraborty and Samuel Miranda in connection with … [Read More...] about Showik Chakraborty, Samuel Miranda admit to Drugs Procurement, arrested by NCB

Amazon Fashion

Footer

Upcoming Bollywood Movies

  • Love Aaj Kal Movie
  • Hum Bhi Akele Tum Bhi Akele Movie
  • Hawayein Movie
  • Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan Movie
  • The Hundred Bucks Movie
  • BHOOT: Part One – The Haunted Ship Movie
  • Haunted Hills Movie
  • 'O' Pushpa I Hate Tears Movie
  • Guns Of Banaras Movie
  • Thappad Movie

Bollywood Movie Reviews

  • Malang Review
  • Jawaani Jaaneman Review
  • Panga Review
  • Street Dancer 3D Review
  • Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior Review
  • Chhapaak Review
  • Good Newwz Review

Top Celebs

  • Ajay Devgn
  • Kajol
  • Saif Ali Khan
  • Shraddha Kapoor
  • Varun Dhawan
  • Deepika Padukone
  • Kangana Ranaut
  • Tabu
  • Aditya Roy Kapur
  • Disha Patani
  • Rajinikanth

About Us

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Write for Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure
  • Sitemap
  • Newsletter

Copyright © 2021 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in