Ahmedabad celebrates 600th birth anniversary

Ahmedabad, Feb 26 (PTI) The city today celebrated 600years of its existence amidst the demand being raised fromvarious quarters to declare the original area around the fortas a world heritage site.

Referred to as Manchester of east once, the city hasseen many upheavals in the last six centuries. It has alsobeen witness to historic events like Mahatma Gandhispearheading India''s freedom movement.

Though it originated as a dusty town established byAhmed Shah, it has now attained the distinction of being thethird fastest growing city in the world as per a survey.

On this momentous occasion, citizens from variouscommunities today walked together on the heritage route in theold city area and demanded that the original fort area shouldbe listed as a world heritage site.

City based premier institutions like IIM-A, CEPTUniversity, Mudra Institute of Communication and NationalInstitute of Design have already made suggestions to earnUnesco''s World Heritage City tag.

"If legends are to be believed Sultan Ahmed Shah wasastonished to see that the rabbits on the river bank, insteadof running away, confronted his hounds in defiance," thewebsite of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation(AMC) states.

"Believing the land to be sanctified, he laid thefoundation of Ahmedabad, "The city of Ahmed" in 1411," itstated. .