Alipore, Navsari

Per folklore, there was a religious and devout Muslim named Ali who is believed to have migrated to Gujarat from Hadhramaut. Ali is believed to be a descendant of Muhammad. The land surrounding this village was open and mostly uninhabited. He found lush green land here and decided to live on an elevated piece of land.

Gradually the ancestors of the now Aliporean Sunni Surti Vohra Community began to migrate, to this unnamed town, in search of spiritual guidance. Whenever people visited Ali's place they would say "Ali ne ta jawana" or "Ali wara gaam ma jaawana." The people of the surrounding villages spoke mostly Gujarati; hence they would say "Ali por (gaam) jawaana".

As people surrounded the religious leader, the place where he had his small tent was converted into a prayer area and later became a mosque. That is how the present day Jumma Mosque came in to existence.

With an increasing population of Vohra moving to this part of the world, they began to build their houses near to the mosque. This migration formed a new settlement and they called their village Alipore.

Alipore (pronounced Aalipore) is a village near Chikhli, of the district Navsari in the state of Gujarat in western India. It is approximately 130 miles away from the city of Mumbai, 17 miles from Navsari, 19 miles from Valsad and around 35 miles away from Surat.

The population of 7500 is mainly Muslim, with Hindus forming the rest. The village has around 20 main streets (Mahollas) with many side-streets. The original population of the village are Muslim Vohras.

The main language spoken in Alipore is Gujarati, whilst English and Hindi can be understood by most.

Alipore has some wonderful landmarks. There are at least five Mosques (for the Muslims), a Mandir (for the Hindus), a well equipped General Hospital, two Islamic learning centers i.e. Darul Uloom, Bank, Post Office and a Primary and Secondary High School.

Alipore has a new large General Hospital located ideally on the Highway. The Alipore hospital is run by the Alipore Welfare Trust. It is a modern building built around 15 years ago and has just undergone further extension and now also incorporates conference facilities. It has many departments including a very busy A&E along with state of the art CT scan facilities. It has excellent Dialysis facilities with 5 modern dialysis machines. There are also the Departments of Medicine, Surgery, Dental, Maternity, Orthopaedics and Paediatrics. It serves thousands of patients each year. In addition to this hospital, there are two medical practitioners within Alipore who hold daily surgeries and a dispensary.

The village presently has one primary school named alipore English school at karolia mohalla and a secondary school named K and B High School. The High school provide rolex watches education for around 885 students, up to the age of 17. A new High school is under construction and once completed will include science laboratories, a gym and ICT suite.

Alipore contains two main water works, one of which is situated in the centre of the village and the other in the Karolia Maholla. There is a further water purification plant using advanced filtration technique, which supplies clean water for both drinking and domestic use to every household in the village.

Alipore has a good road system with access to a major highway in India. The National Highway 8, which passes through the middle of Alipore connects Delhi to Mumbai. It has recently been developed and expanded with the addition of a third lane. Public bus transport connects Alipore to surrounding towns and cities. There are numerous taxis and rickshaws to take one around the village. There are also future plans for a new express highway, which will run parallel to Alipore.

Alipore has 3 cemeteries, the main cemetery is located on the outskirts of Alipore adjoining the Dairy, it is well maintained through the hard work of the village youngsters. The other two smaller cemeteries are used occasionally.

Alipore has a big dairy plant called Vasudhara Dairy, which is run by the milk co-operative society of Valsad, Navsari and Dang Districts. It employs over 1000 people, and produces over 300,000 litres of milk a day which is packaged in cartons. It also produces other dairy products such as butter and a variety of ice-creams.

The village is surrounded by acres of paddy fields, used for growing rice and sugarcane. Traditionally, the village survived on farming, producing rice as a main crop. Other products include cattle grass, cotton and mangoes, indeed Alipore has become famous for Alphonso and Kesar.

Alipore was once well known for producing a handcrafted local cloth call Khadi, which was later replaced by electric hand looms that produced fine cotton cloth. The village's cotton industry diminished as its population began migrating to the UK in the early 1960s.

Aliporian migration to other countries has occurred since the 1880s. The first migrants went to South Africa entering through Mozambique of through the eastern shores at Durban and now largely settled in Johannesburg. After the end of the First World War and during India's fight for independence, The people of Alipore, mainly young, looked for opportunities elsewhere. Some went to Mumbai to seek jobs. In the 1950s, during the economic boom in the UK some migrated to the UK to work in the mills. Since then their descendants have played an integral part in their newly adopted countries. They now represent the social fabric of Britain and South Africa and have excelled in all spheres of life.

As a result of migration the village currently is occupied by few to none of its "local" inhabitants.

• Alipore Social Welfare Trust's Alipore Hospital & Research Centre
• My Alipore
• Alipore Hospital
• Alipur/Alipore on Bing Maps
• Alipur/Alipore on Google Maps