Bhandup

Bhandup
भांडुप
Bhandupeshwar
suburb
Bhandup
Coordinates: 19°08′N 72°56′E / 19.14°N 72.93°E / 19.14; 72.93Coordinates: 19°08′N 72°56′E / 19.14°N 72.93°E / 19.14; 72.93
Country India
State Maharashtra
District Mumbai Suburban
Metro (Ward) S
Government
 • M.L.A Ashok Patil
Shiv Sena[1] (since 2014)
 • M.P. Kirit Somaiya
BJP[1] (since 2014)
Elevation 5.205 m (17.077 ft)
Population (2001 Census)
 • Total 6,91,227
Languages
 • Official Marathi
 • Others Hindi, Endlish, Gujarati, etc.
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 400078 (West) and 400042 (East)
Vehicle registration MH-03
Lok Sabha constituency Mumbai North East
Vidhan Sabha constituency Bhandup West

Bhandup is a suburban community within the municipality of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, in the state of Maharashtra, India and is also the name of a Bhandup railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Central Railway line. The word Bhandup is derived from the name Bhandupeshwar, which is one of the names of Lord Shiva. An old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva - the Bhandupeshwar Mahadev Mandir - still stands in Bhandup West.

Description

Bhandup is one of the oldest suburbs in Mumbai. Bhandup is home to Shivaji Talao, or Shivaji Lake, named after the great Maratha ruler, Chhatrapati Shivaji. At the lake, hordes of Ganapati devotees immerse idols of the elephant god Ganesh during the months of August through September. Bhandupeshwar Kundh in Bhandup Village East near the Eastern Express Highway also has hordes of Ganapati devotees immersing idols of the elephant god during the same season.

The residents of Bhandup are the original inhabitants of Mumbai(Bombay State).They consits of Agri and Koli(Sonakoli) as their sub caste and they are usually referred to be the Zamindars of Bombay State from 1830 till 1958.

Before real estate prospered 40 years ago, Bhandup was a dense forest area that gradually saw the growth of industries, and now is becoming a very prominent location for real estate investors, as it has considerable opportunity for further growth.

Bhandup has Asia's biggest water filtration plant.[2]

Kanjurmarg and Nahur (Eastern sections) almost blend into Bhandup without clear demarcation. The first train that ran from Victoria Terminus to Thane halted at Bhandup station, in order to have its engines watered.

History

The earliest records for Bhandup come from 1803, and show that the erstwhile Bhandup estate comprised Bhandup, Nahur and Kanjur Marg.[3] The following is an excerpt from the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency:[3]

Bhandup, in Salsette, four miles (6 km) South-west of Thana, with, in 1881, a population of 884 souls, has a railway station and a post-office. the railway traffic returns show an increase in passengers from 29,988 in 1873 to 51,664 in 1880 and in goods from 126 to 143 tons. It is the nearest railway station, about four miles (6 km), to Tulsi Lake. The Kanheri caves lie 2 miles (3.2 km) beyond Tulsi, but the road from Borivli station on the Baroda railway though not so pretty is shorter and easier. In 1803, on payment of a quit-rent, the East India Company granted the major part of Bhandup and parts of two other villages to Mr. Luke Ashburner, alderman of Bombay and editor of the Bombay Courier. In 1817, Mr. Ashburner sold the estate, together with the contract for supplying the government rum, to his manager Mr. Kavasji Mankeji Ashburner for a sum of £50,000 (Rs. 5,00,000). In 1832, machinery was brought from England to work the distillery, and in that year, about 100000 gallons of rum are said to have been supplied to the government.

Mr. Bell, in his excise report dated 1 October 1869 wrote: "The Bhandup distillery was started to supply European troops with rum. Besides to the troops, considerable quantities of rum found its way to Bombay." In 1857, the government stopped the rum contract and the distillery ceased to prosper and shut down in 1878. It was re-opened in 1879-80 but has again been closed."

A copper-plate found near Bhandup, about 1835, records the grant by Chhitarajadev Silhara in AD 1026 of a field in the village of Nour, the modern Naura, two miles (3 km) north of Bhandup. Other villages mentioned in the grant are Gomvanni, probably the modern Govhan, and Gorapavalli, perhaps an old name of Bhandup. The boundary of the field to the north and east was a main road, or rajapatha, which apparently ran from Thana much along the line of the present Bombay-Thana road.

The Silaharas, also known as Shilahara, were a mixture of people from Dravidian ancestry and the Kayastha Prabhus from Konkan. The Silaharas promoted the socio-economic progress in the 11th century around Bombay. To control the regions in Bombay and Thane, the built the Rajapatha, passing from the north of Bhandup, following the current Bombay-Thane road.[4]

Historical records indicate that the distillery at Bhandup was one of the two biggest sources of liquor (other being the Uran distillery) in the Bombay Presidency. The Report on the administration of the Bombay Presidency (1873–1874)[5] notes that:

The only other factories in the Presidency deserving of mention are a silk factory at Tanna, a dyeing factory at Wassind, tanning factories at Bandora, and brick fields at Kallian. At Uran, Chembur and Bhandup there are liquor distilleries on a larger scale than any in the rest of the Presidency, which supply almost all the liquor consumed in the city of Bombay. All these factories are in the Tanna Collectorate, and have doubtless sprung up in that district owing to its vicinity to the Presidency town.

The report also gives an idea of why the large tracts of land in the modern-era Bhandup East continue to be marsh lands owned by the Salt Department of India:

In addition to the superintendence of the salt revenue the Salt Department', which is now presided over by a special Collector, is entrusted with the management of sea customs and port conservancy at all the ports of the Presidency except Bombay, with preventive duties and the collection of land customs on the foreign frontiers, with the coast guard service, and with the management of the distilleries at Uran, Bhandup, and Chembur, which supply the town and island of Bombay with country liquor. The customs revenue has already been treated of, and that which is derived from the distilleries above mentioned will be shown hereafter.

The report further goes on to note the reasons why the Bhandup distillery was facing economic hardships by 1873-1874:

The distilleries situated at Bhandup and Chembur in the Distilleries island of Salsette, and at Uran in the island of Karanja, which Collector of supply the greater portion of the country spirits consumed in Salt Kevenue Bombay, are not included in the statement in the Appendix (V.—A 3). They are under the control of the Collector of Salt Revenue. The excise is levied in the form of still-head duty, and the removal of spirit for exportation elsewhere than to Bombay is prohibited. The Uran distilleries, twenty in number, are the most important. The owner of the Bhandup distillery had for a long time the contract for supplying arrack to the Commissariat Department; but as it was found a few years ago that rum could be imported from the Mauritius at cheaper rates, the contract was not renewed, and the distillery has lately been standing almost idle.

Along with the drop in exports, it was also the rise in competition due to new distilleries in Bombay that caused the Bhandup distillery to shut down. These distilleries in Bombay manufactured cheap tadi (toddy, as mentioned in the report).

In addition to the distilleries above mentioned, there are distilleries within the town of Bombay at which spirit is extracted from the juice of date, brab, and cocoanut trees growing in the island...
It is clear, therefore, that, under the present state of the abkari law, the distillers at Uran, Bhandup, and Chembur cannot compete with the toddy distillers in the town of Bombay, who are permitted to distil spirits of any strength and in any quantity on payment of a fixed cess on each tree tapped...

Bhandup was also one of the first railway stations in India. The first train ran between Bori Bunder and Thane on 16 April 1853 with 400 passengers aboard 14 railway carriages, at 3:35 pm. It is said that the idea to connect Bombay with Thane and Kalyan occurred to Mr. George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay Government, on a visit to Bhandup in 1843.[6][7]

However, Bhandup was not a part of Bombay until 1950, when the boundaries of the Bombay municipal corporation were extended up to Andheri on the western side and Bhandup on the eastern side.[8]

Demographics

Bhandup falls within the S-ward, as defined by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. The population of Bhandup has risen exponentially in the last twenty years.[9]

Census Year Population Density per square km % change in population from previous year Sex ratio (females/1000 males)
1981 2,97,108 7860 NA 740
1991 5,68,028 15,027 91% 813
2001 6,91,227 10,800 21% 823

The majority of residents of Bhandup are Hindus by religion. The dominant language is Marathi. Although a large percentage of the residents are natives of Maharashtra, in the last few decades, there has been a huge influx of non-native residents into Bhandup, resounding the trend witnessed for Mumbai as a whole.

Approaching Bhandup

Bhandup is extremely well connected with the rest of the city through a dense road network. The arterial road of Bhandup West is the Agra Road i.e. L.B.S. Marg, while Bhandup East is flanked by the Eastern Express highway. Four buses (No.453, 509, 545 and 603), however, pass through Bhandup East, as the area is relatively sparsely populated. BEST also ply ladies special bus in the morning for female commuters from Bhandup to Andheri(E) as most of them do work at SEEPZ. Also there is a special State Transport Bus service in the morning which run between Bhandup and CWC (Navi Mumbai).

Bhandup is also a railway station on the Central line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network.

While traveling by Railway from CST, previous Railway station is KanjurMarg & next is Nahur.

Industries

According to the 2001 census, the number of industrial establishments in Bhandup (S-Ward) were 12380, cumulatively providing employment to 36921 residents of Bhandup.[9] The rest of the employed populace are employed outside the limits of the S-ward.

One of the first industries to start in this area was Crompton Greaves in 1937,[10] currently in Kanjur Marg. Currently, almost all of the industries in Bhandup are in Bhandup West. Some of them include CEAT Tyres, Asian Paints Limited, BASF,The Indian Smelting And Refining Company Limited etc. Apart from these big companies, there are several small-scale manufacturing units all over Bhandup West.

The presence of a large number of industries, coupled with large traffic flows all throughout the day had led to Bhandup's air being one of the worst in Mumbai a few years ago.[11] However, several of the polluting industries have moved out of Mumbai in the past few years, leading to the air quality being slightly better.

Schools

The're are over 35 schools in Bhandup. Most of these schools are affiliated with the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education

Colleges

Bhandup has four major accredited colleges, out of which two are in Bhandup (East) and two in Bhandup (West). All of them are affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The breakup is as follows:

Name of college Location NAAC accreditation status Class levels
National Education Society's Ratnam College of Arts, Science & Commerce N.E.S. Marg, Bhandup (West) A[12] Junior college to Postgraduate
V. K. Krishna Menon College of Commerce and Economics & Science Bhandup (East) B[12] Junior college to postgraduate
Ramanand Arya D. A. V. College, Station Road Datar Colony, Bhandup (East) A[12] Junior college to Bachelors
Jijamata Junior College, Maharashtra Nagar Bhandup (West) B[12] Junior college to Bachelors

Shopping malls

In recent years, several mall construction projects have been initiated in Bhandup. One reason for Bhandup being a prime location for malls is its proximity to affluent areas like Powai and Mulund. In the past few years, several industries in Bhandup have shifted or started shifting out of Mumbai, rendering vast tracts of land vacant. These land-plots are being used for construction of huge residential complexes, in turn, providing the customer base for these malls.

Dreams the Mall, being developed by Satra Properties, is one of the biggest malls in Bhandup. It is located in close proximity to Bhandup Railway Station. It has a frontage of approximately 1,400 square feet (130 m2) on LBS Marg. The estimated built up area for the entire project is approximately 1,110,000 square feet (103,000 m2) and is estimated to have a plinth area of approximately 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2). The project involves construction of a retail mall with multiplex, food court, amusement park and parking space for 650 cars at the basement level. Recently they have also opened hospital on the top floor of the mall.[13]

Neptune Magnet mall, Neptune Magnet Mall is a 1,056,000-square-foot (98,100 m2) shopping mall, is part of a 22-acre (89,000 m2) satellite township, Living Point, comprising 6 towers of 22 stories each being developed by Neptune group. Mall tenants will include a 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) lifestyle store, Piramyd and a 10-screen Movietime multiplex.Mumbai's biggest two level food court. Neptune Magnet Mall is planned to be the first international standard shopping center in the city. The mall have a Family Entertainment center. The mall also contain with two of the world's largest retail chains -Metro Cash and Carry and Walmart.Metro Cash and Carry is an international self-service wholesale retailer. It operates across Europe and in some countries of Asia and Northern Africa. It is the largest sales division of the German trade and retail giant METRO AG.[14] USA's Walmart is world's leader in Retail Market. It also has World's 4th largest and 1st International Cinema Exhibitor- Cinepolis Multiplex which is known for its 3D Experience.

There are many well-known shoe stores which have their outlets in Bhandup west area.[15]

Some of the other malls in the area include the Leo Mall and a shopping space being developed by HBS Centrix.[16]

Bhandup is also close to other malls and supermarkets such as Nirmal Lifestyles, D-Mart, R Mall, Home Town, Huma Outlet Mall. Metro Cash and Carry which are located in surrounding areas of Mulund, Kanjur Marg, Vikhroli and Powai.

Sports

Football clubs

Bhandup has several Football clubs which are members of the Mumbai District Football Association(MDFA). Some of the prominent of them are the Sunday Boys Football Club,[17] the GKW Rangers,Ushanagar Youth CluB,DATAR CHAMP'S Football Club(DC),Samarth Garden Football Club(S.G.F.C),UshaComplex Football club (U.C.F.C).And Gunners Football Club and GN Boys and also Satya Vijay Football Club (SVFC). M

Bhandup also has its own football association called the Bhandup Suburb Football Association ( BSFA)

Cricket clubs

Bhandup has several Cricket clubs which prominently provide guidance and sport education to a lot of youngsters. Some of the players have got selected for Mumbai under-12, under-16 and Mumbai under-19 cricket teams.

Social organisations

There are several social organisations in Bhandup among which Sarvajanik Pooja Samiti bhandup village east founded by the villagers of Bhandup village is oldest samiti of bhandup since 1946 with Adrash Sports Club founded by the villagers of Bhandup since 1956 followed by Vijay Krida Mandal, Shree Saibhajan Sanskrutik Mandal, Vikas Mandal, Sai Vihar, Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jeevan Vidya Mission and 'Rotary Club of Mumbai Bhandup' ,Late Smt. Shakundevi Eye Bank (Affiliated to Eye Bank Co-ordination and Research Centre) has been operative in Bhandup since May, 2007 which collects eyeballs after death. . "PAHEL FOUNDATION BHANDUP" NGO engaged in social, Education & Medical Health among the people of Bhandup Sonapur, Tulshet Pada, Khindi Pada, Since 2010.

Prime minister's Swach Bharat Abhiyan is reached to Bhandup also. Mr. Yogendra Shukla with his two friends Mr. Alok Tiwari & Mr.Harish Mehta is cleaning the roads of bhandup every Sunday for four to five hours.

Notable people from Bhandup

References

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