Dhandraਧਂਡਰਾ

Where is Dhandra?

Dhandra is a village in Ludhiana West tehsil of Ludhiana district, in the Malwa region of Punjab, India. It stands about 7 kilometres from Ludhiana city, on the Dhandra road that runs south-west from the Dugri side of the city. The village covers 1,142 hectares and carries PIN code 141116 and Census 2011 village code 033572. With 1,311 people per square kilometre it is packed far more densely than a typical Punjab village, and its name labels a whole corridor of south-west Ludhiana: post offices, addresses and bus routes across the area use Dhandra and its PIN code.

A village of seven panchayats

Dhandra is unusual in how it is governed. The census village is served not by one gram panchayat but by seven: Dhandra itself, and Dev Nagar, Basant Avenue, Satjot Nagar, Janta Enclave, Roop Nagar and Teg Nagar. Most of those names belong not to old farming hamlets but to the housing colonies that have grown on the village's land as Ludhiana has spread outward. The old village core keeps its own panchayat, while the plotted colonies settled by city families elect theirs. Few villages in Punjab show the meeting of village and city as plainly as Dhandra does.

The seven panchayats also explain Dhandra's everyday geography. Shops, schools and services cluster along the Dhandra road and around the old village, while the colonies run their own streets and parks behind it, so that a single revenue village contains what feels like several small neighbourhoods of a city.

Population and literacy

The 2011 census counted 14,972 people in Dhandra, 7,827 men and 7,145 women, in 3,050 households. That works out at just under five people in every household, and the census counted 913 women for every 1,000 men. Children under seven numbered 1,756, and Scheduled Castes made up 2,528 residents. Literacy stood at 85.06 per cent, 88.86 per cent among men and 80.92 per cent among women, a level far above the Punjab village average and closer to that of a town. The figure reflects Dhandra's character: a settlement of city workers, traders and students as much as of farmers.

From fields to the city: work in Dhandra

Work tells the same story. Of the 5,409 workers counted in 2011, only 665 were cultivators and 317 were agricultural labourers. A far larger number, 4,258, were other workers: people employed in Ludhiana's factories, workshops, offices, shops and transport, who live in the village and travel into the city each day. Farming continues on 892 hectares of net sown land, all of it irrigated, mostly by tube-wells, but the village economy now runs mainly on the wages and salaries of the city next door.

The land itself shows the change. Of the village's 1,142 hectares, 249 hectares were already under non-agricultural use in 2011, covered by houses, roads, schools and workplaces, a share few farming villages reach. The 892 hectares still sown were irrigated almost entirely by tube-wells, 840 hectares against only 52 hectares watered by canal.

Religious places in Dhandra

Religious life in Dhandra centres on the village Gurdwara Sahib, a landmark by the bus stand, near which the village health sub-centre also stands. Hindu families worship at temples on the village's roads, among them the Shree Sati Mata Mandir on the Dhandran Tobba road, the Shri Maa Baglamukhi Dham on the Dugri-Dhandra road and the Kali Mata Mandir on the Manakwal road. On the road toward Dugri stands Gurdwara Khu Sahib, a white-domed gurdwara that its followers hold to be a historic place, passed daily by villagers travelling into the city.

Schools, health and village life

The 2011 Village Directory recorded a government primary, middle, secondary and senior secondary school in the village, together with a community health centre, a health sub-centre and a veterinary hospital. Treated tap water, a sub post office and private bus services were all available. The village also had a commercial bank and a cooperative bank of its own and an ATM, services that match its semi-urban character. Village institutions have kept growing since: in October 2021 the area's MLA dedicated three projects in Dhandra, a library for the village's readers and students, a Neki Da Ghar where donated clothes are remade into reusable cloth bags by women's self-help groups, and a solid waste management project serving a cluster of 21 villages around Dhandra, turning segregated waste into compost for the fields.

Getting to Dhandra

Dhandra is reached by the Dhandra road from Dugri in Ludhiana, and private buses run through the village. The nearest railway facilities are within about 5 kilometres, and for longer journeys residents use Ludhiana's stations. The closest airport is the city's Sahnewal airport, across Ludhiana.

Is Dhandra a village or part of Ludhiana city?

Dhandra remains a village in law and in the census, governed by gram panchayats in Ludhiana West tehsil, even though housing colonies have filled much of its land and most of its workers earn their living in Ludhiana, about 7 kilometres away.

What is the population of Dhandra?

The population of Dhandra was 14,972 at the 2011 census, living in 3,050 households in Ludhiana West tehsil of Ludhiana district.