Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar
Coordinates: 19°02′04″N 72°51′51″E / 19.034331°N 72.864203°E Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar (Marathi: गुरु तेग़ बहादुर नगर(Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਤੇਗ਼ ਬਹਾਦੁਰ ਨਗਰ ), formerly known as Koliwada, is a neighbourhood in Sion, Mumbai, named after Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, the ninth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism. This region is populated mostly by Punjabis and Sikh migrants from Pakistan and has many Sikh Gurudwaras. Dasmesh Darbar is the largest Gurudwara in this area. Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar is also known as mini-Punjab.
It has mainly 25 buildings made around 1947–1950 for residences of refugees who came from Pakistan and also has many Chawls. The place also has many Kolis residing there. Hence it is also known as Koliwada.
Location
Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar (also known as Koliwada- Village of Indigenous Aboriginal Tribes of Mumbai and largest Fishing Village ) is in South Central Mumbai. Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar railway station is on Harbour Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.
Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar Mumbai has a college started by the Sikh community of this area called Guru Nanak Khalsa College, King's Circle (Matunga), affiliated to Mumbai University.
The Nearest Hospitals are Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital(Sion), Mata Laxmi Hospital and AntopHill Hospital
Sikh festivals are celebrated with pride and glory. Procession is taken out on the occasion of Guru Nanak's birthday. People from all over Mumbai gather here to celebrate the main festivals.
Special prayer service is held from June 4–6 at Gurdwara Dashmesh darbar to pay homage to the people who lost their lives during the Operation Bluestar and the Delhi riots in 1984.
Langar (free community meal) is served in all Gurdwaras 24x7. The followers of "Sanatan Dharam" have built Shree Sanatan Dharam Hari Mandir All the festivals are celebrated here in a very grand way, every Saturday there is Mata Ki Chowky; it is a very beautiful mandir. Many refugees from attock in Pakistan came here in 1967 when there were chances of war during Indo-pak and was found severe threat to surrounding communities.
The Transits Camps were built by the then Indira Government for temporary settlement of Refugees from Border area. Before the settlements of Sikhs and Hindu communities the land was swamp area and total mangrove plot used for fishing and fish breeding by Koli communities. Still you will find the records of land belonging to Koli communities as their names still exist on land records and still spoken in day-to-day life.
Plot Ravli, Paigambri, Sheikh Mistry, Kokri, Korba, Kalpak, Matsyagandha, etc. are old plot names given by the koli community and Bori Muslim saints who use to trade with Koli community for products like, dry fish, bhandar - Sacred alcohol (somras)/tadi, Dry fruits etc. And Koli people use to get Pathani Hing (Asefoetida), Kabuli swaad (chana, grains), etc.
The GTB also consist of government colonies named as CGHS Colony. This colony consist of 7 sectors 1–7 which are allocated to different Central Government employees from different fields (CPWD, dockyard, Indian navy etc.).
Currently GTB is going into reconstruction i.e. chawls are broken and buildings are set up; this will enhance the GTB and will give a new look.
There are other areas such as Pratiksha Nagar, Makawadi, Indira Nagar, Antophill etc.
Religious places
Gurdwaras
- Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar
- Gurdwara Singh Sabha
- Panchayati Gurdwara
- Gurdwara Bhai Joga singh Ji
- Gurdwara Raoli Camp
Mandirs
- Shree Mothya Devi (Saat Aasra) Mandir - Shiv Koliwada Sion Village
- Shree Lada Devi Gavdevi Mandir (Near Sion Fort or Shiv Killa)
- Shree Marubai Mandir (Koliwada - Chubhatti Track near Sion Fort)
- Motimsar Gramdaivat Mandir - Shiv Koliwada Sion Village
- Shree Sanatam Dharam, Geeta Bhavan, Hari Mandir
- Phadiwala Mandir (Shree Gandhiya Mahadev Mandir)
- Shree Neelkanth Mahadev Mandir
- Kalimaa Mandir
- Satyam Shivam Mandir (Bldg No.7)
- Hanuman Mandir (Hanuman Tekri - old Motimsar Baba Mandir now shifted to Sion Village)
- Vara Siddhi Vinayakar Devasthanom(Ganapati Mandir situated at Indira Nagar)
Schools and colleges
Schools
- Sion Koliwada Municipal School
- Guru Nanak High School (Hindi & English Medium)
- Shree Sanatam Dharam High School
- Chetumal Bhoolchand Murlidhar (C.B.M.) High School
- A.M. Kewalramani Premier High School – also known as Trinity High School
Colleges
- Guru Nanak College of Arts, Science and Commerce
- Shree Sanatam Dharam Junior College
Notable former residents
- Parmeet Singh Ji
- Padmabhushan Anant Shivram Koli
- Akshay Kumar
- Johny Lever
- Veeru Devgan
- Ramchandra Ganpat Patil
- Sardar Sohan Singh Kolhi
- Shri Laxmi Narayan Bhatia-
- Vivek Julka
- Shri. Parasram Thapar-Founder Member Sanatan Dharam School & Mandir
- Shri. Darshanlal Khosla- Khosla Stores
- Shri. Roshanlal Jhulka
- Shri. Khanchand Wasan-Founder Member Sanatan Dharam Mandir
- Shri. Prem Wasan-Social Worker
- Sardar Harbanslal Jhulka- Hazara Hotel
- Shri. Chamanlal Talwar- Punjabi Sewa Samiti