Alibag

Alibag
अलिबाग
Ramnath
Town

Alibag Fort in Alibag
Nickname(s): Colaba fort
Alibag
Coordinates: 18°38′N 72°53′E / 18.64°N 72.88°E / 18.64; 72.88Coordinates: 18°38′N 72°53′E / 18.64°N 72.88°E / 18.64; 72.88
Country India
State Maharashtra
District Raigad
Founded by Shivaji
Elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Population (2011)
  Total 20,743
Languages
  Official Marathi
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Postal Index Number 402 201
Telephone code 02141
Alibag 1896

Alibag (also spelled as Alibaug) is a coastal town and a municipal council in Raigad District of Maharashtra. It is the headquarters of the Raigad district.

History

Alibag was developed in the 17th century by Sarkhel Kanhoji Aangre the naval chief of King Shivaji's Kingdom. Alibag is a coastal town and municipal council in Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It is the headquarters of the Raigad district. Raigad's first name was "Kulaba". Today's Ramnath was the main village. A Bene Israelite named Ali used to live there at that time. He was a rich man and owned many plantations of mangoes and coconuts in his gardens. Hence the locals used to call the place "Alichi Bagh" (Marathi for "Gardens of Ali"), or simply "Alibag", and the name stuck.

Rewdanda, Chaul, Nagaon, Akshi, Varsoli, Thal, Kihim and Aawas villages were known as "Ashtagare".

A naval battle was fought at Varsoli between Kanhoji Aangre and Siddi of Janjira in 1706. In 1722 English and Portuguese jointly attacked on Kulaba fort, and they lost this war. At Chaul there was a battle between the English and Sakhoji in 1730. Sakhoji won and brought down the losing party along with their captain at Kulaba. Kanhoji even issued his own currency in the form of a silver coin called the Alibagi rupaiya.

Alibag and its surrounding villages are the historic hinterland of Bene Israeli Jews. There is a synagogue in the "Israel Ali" (Marathi इस्राएल आळी meaning Israel lane) area of the town.

Alibag houses a magnetic observatory which was set up in 1904. It serves as one of the significant observatories forming part of a global network now run by Indian Institute of Geomagnetism. The observatory has two buildings; the first building has magnetometers that record changes occurring in the geomagnetic fields. The second building consists of precision recording instruments, which give data about geomagnetic storms caused by solar storms which is shared with other countries.

It is from years that the Alibag Region and Raigad district is headed and ruled by the Bhartiya Shetkari Kamgar Paksha (Peasants and Workers Party of India).

Geography

Alibag is located about 100 km south of Mumbai, at 18°38′29″N 72°52′20″E / 18.64139°N 72.87222°E / 18.64139; 72.87222. The average elevation is 0 metres (0 feet).The District Government offices are located along the sea coast road.

Education

After the British took over the old Colaba and this region, they established four Anglo–vernacular medium schools and 30 government schools in the year 1865–66. In 1861 the first school for girls was started in Alibag. The Mission Church started the first English school in Alibag in 1879. The former Topiwala Industrial High School was renamed General Arunkumar Vaidya High School after General Arunkumar Vaidya who studied there. Other notable schools include R.C.F School and junior College, indian education school, varsoli ,St. Mary's Convent School, Chandrakant Hari Keluskar Homeopathic Medical College and J. R. H. Kanyashala Alibag.

Adv. Datta Patil College of Law, Alibag is the first law college in Raigad District. The other notable school is in the village Khandale which is run by Konkan Education Society. Taking over all the institutes Prabhakar Patil Education Society (PNP education Society) has turned out to become one of the most well-known institute of Raigad District having established and registered in 2001 by the inspiration of late Prabhakar Narayan Patil (“Bhaoo”), a great social worker in Raigad. His work in the field of education and politics was invaluable. Today the society runs 27 institutes: five primary English and Marathi schools; 27 secondary Marathi schools; one Arts, Science & Commerce Jr. and Sr. College; one English and Marathi medium D.Ed. college; one B.Ed. college; one polytechnic institute; and one MMS college.

This society was established to provide quality education to the people of Raigad District. Hence it started with establishing free high schools in the most under developed areas of the District. This provided a great impetus for students. Now they could get quality education at their doorstep. All teachers who work for the society are highly qualified.

After school the PNP education society has broaden its prospect by focusing on higher and higher technical education. PNP also has a good college.

Economy

Tourism is the mainstay of the town's economy.

Since the late 1990s the town and municipality have seen development of industrial sites. Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) was the first industrial unit set up near Alibag at Thal. Other companies include JSW Steel at Dolvi (formerly Ispat industries Ltd of Mittal Group), JSW Steel at Salav (formerly Welspun Maxsteel Ltd of Welspun Group), Gas Authority Of India Limited (GAIL), HP LPG and Reliance Petrochemicals (RPCL) are near the town.

Transport

Road

One can reach Alibag via Pen (30 km), which is on the Mumbai (78 km) – Goa road. From Mumbai, one can reach Alibag by traveling on the Mumbai-Goa highway (NH-17) till Wadkhal (or Vadkhal) and taking the right fork from Wadkhal – the left fork being the road to Goa. It is approximately 108 km from Mumbai.

Railways

The nearest rail railway station is at Pen. Through Pen, it is connected to Panvel and onwards to Mumbai and the Indian Railways network.

Boat services

The nearest jetty is Mandwa From where catamaran/ferry services are available to Mumbai.[1] Another port in the vicinity is Rewas, from where a ferry service is available to Ferry Wharf (Bhau cha Dhakka) (Dockyard Road). There is a jetty at Custom Bandar from where fishermen in Alibag set sail.

Ferry service between Mandwa and Gateway of India, Mumbai. They run at a frequency of an hour throughout the year from morning 6 to evening 6, except during monsoon.

One can reach Alibag by catamaran through Gateway of India to Mandwa or from Bhaucha Dhakka to Rewas and from Mandwa/Rewas to Alibag by bus. Ticket includes journey from Gateway to Mandwa and bus journey from Mandwa to Alibag bus stop. From Rewas to Alibag one needs to take State Transport bus or a rickshaw. Take the ferry from Gateway to Mandwa. Services are usually available from 6:00am till 6:00pm. The trip takes 40 to 55 minutes depending on the type of boat. From Mandwa operators carry passengers to Alibag in their own chartered buses. The bus journey time is 45 minutes. Alibag beach is walking distance from the bus-stop.

Another option is to take a ferry from "Bhaucha Dhakka" to Rewas. Timings are the same but schedule may change depending on the tide. From Rewas take state transport bus or rickshaw to Alibag. Bus Journey time: 1 hour to reach Alibag. One benefit of using the Bhaucha Dhakka - Rewas route by ferry is that you can take a two-wheeler along on the ferry on this route for a nominal charge. You can go to Alibag by S.T. bus from Mumbai. From Mumbai to Alibag having daily 35–40 S.T. buses. Borivali, Thane, Kalyan, Pune, Kolhapur, Miraj, Nashik have buses to Alibag.

Speedboats from the Gateway of India to Mandwa Jetty take roughly 20–25 minutes depending on the weather and can be hired at the Gateway of India at Jetty No. 5 which is opposite the Taj Mahal Hotel. The new jetty installed in 2014 at Mandwa ensures safety of guests traveling by speedboat.

Air

The nearest airport is Mumbai, 140 km.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,[2] Alibag had a population of 19,491. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Alibag has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with 54% of the males and 46% of females literate. 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Famous People from Alibag

Famous celebrities who are born in Alibag are Sarkhel Kanhojio Angre, V.P. Karmarkar, 1964 Padmshree award winner sculpturer Saswane, General Arun Shridhar Vaidya who led Operation Blue Star, Maharashtra Bushan-Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari (Jesth Nirupankar-Revadanda), Padma Vibhushan, Magsaysay & Templeton Award Winner Pandurang Shastri Aathavale-Dadaji (Swadhya Parivar-Roha), actor Nana Patekar - Murud, child singer Mugdha Vaishampayan, Juilee Bhandre-Mumbai Monorail captain, actress Ashwini Bhave, novelist Arun Tamhankar.

Alibag is the weekend home for rich and famous like Sachin Tendulkar, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar, Ratan Tata, businessman Godrej, Singhaniya of Raymond etc. who have sea-facing bungalows in and around the town.

Tourism

Beaches The following are the main tourist attractions in and around Alibag:

Mandawa Beach as seen from Mandawa Port.

Gallery

Other attractions

Kankneshwar Temple

References

  1. Census of India

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.