Bhai Pratap ( sd, ڀائي پرتاب ڏيئل داس) (April 14, 1908 – August 30, 1967), was an Indian businessman, philanthropist and freedom fighter, best remembered as the founder of the city of Gandhidham-Adipur to resettle refugees from

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

after the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan in August 1947.Bhai Pratap: Tribute to a Forgotten Hero
/ref> Pratap Moolchand Dialdas was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

, British India on 14 April 1908 into an affluent family. Bhai Pratap was widely travelled and had established his businesses in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as well as internationally. His ethnic as well as international taste is reflected amply in Pratab Mahal, which also had a huge library with books from around the world. After the partition of India, he left along with his family for Bombay, India, and established a city for the displaced

Sindhi Hindus Sindhi Hindus are Sindhis who follow the Hindu religion, whose origins lie in the Sindh region and spread across modern-day India and Pakistani Sindh province. After the Partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi Hindus were among those who fled ...

. Actually it was two twin cities that he founded one next to the other by the names of

Gandhidham Gandhidham, initially known as Sardarganj, is the largest and most populous city in Kutch District, Gujarat, India. It was created in the early 1950s for the resettlement of Sindhi Hindu refugees from Sindh (now in Pakistan) in the aftermath ...

and

Adipur Adipur is a town in Gandhidham Municipal Corporation of Kutch District in the state of Gujarat, India. The town is situated approximately from Gandhidham. History Adipur was initially founded as a refugee camp after the partition of India, ...

, as well as the

Kandla Port Kandla, now officially Deendayal Port Authority, is a seaport and town in Kutch district of Gujarat state in Western India, near the city of Gandhidham. Located on the Gulf of Kutch, it is one of India's major ports on the west coast. It is a ...

, in Kutch. Bhai Pratap died at the age of 59 in London on August 30, 1967. His body was brought to Adipur and cremated in the Nat Mandir compound where his samadhi was built adjacent to the Gandhi Samadhi.

Gallery

File:Bhai Pratap with Prince George, Jan 1931.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap. Commemmorative Brochure in Sindhi. 8th Anniversary.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap, Commemmorative Brochure in Hindi. 8th Anniversary.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap with Gandhiji.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap. Caricature Drawing.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap took this picture of HRH the Prince of Wales.jpg, File:Maitri Bhavan, Bhai Pratap ´s home in Hyderabad, Sindh.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap. Brochure of M.Dialdas branch in Gibraltar. page 1.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap. Brochure of M.Dialdas branch in Gibraltar. page 2 and 3.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap. Brochure of M.Dialdas branch in Gibraltar. page 4.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap. Cotton Khadi Movement.jpg, File:Bhai Pratap. Visiting card of the Port Said (Egypt) branch of M. Dialdas & Sons.jpg,

References

Sindhu Resettlement Corporation, about Bhai Pratap
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1908 births 1967 deaths People from Hyderabad, Sindh Sindhi people Businesspeople from Gujarat 20th-century Indian philanthropists {{Philanthropist-stub