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Bhandup भांडुप
—  neighbourhood  —
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	Mumbai
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Lok Sabha constituency	Ghatkopar

Bhandup is a suburb of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, in the state of Maharashtra, India and is also the name of a railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Central Railway line.

Bhandup is a word inherited from the Supreme God Shiva (Bhandupeshwar). The temple of Bhandupeshwar Mahadev Mandir is very old and is located at Station Road, Bhandup(W) next to Geeta Hall and IDUBS High School. It is of a very superior build and has statues of various god's and goddesses placed around including Nav-Grahasthan too.

Description[link]

Like most suburbs in Mumbai, Bhandup is one of the oldest suburbs in Mumbai. Bhandup is also home to Shivaji Talao, or Shivaji Lake, named after the great Maratha ruler, Chhatrapati Shivaji^{[citation needed]}. The pond witnesses hordes of Ganapati devotees immersing idols of the elephant god during the August–September month.

Bhandupeshwar Kundh is another place in Bhandup Village East where the pond witnesses hordes of Ganapati devotees immersing idols of the elephant god during the August–September month which is near by Eastern Express Highway.

Before real estate prospered 40 years ago, Bhandup was a dense forest area, which gradually saw the growth of industrialization with numerous set ups of industries, and now is becoming a very prominent destination for real estate investors, as it has a lot of opportunity of a further growth.

Bhandup has Asia's biggest water filtration plant at Bhandup complex^{[citation needed]}.

Kanjurmarg and Nahur (Eastern sections) almost blend into Bhandup on two ends and do not really have clear demarcations as such.

History[link]

The earliest records for Bhandup come from 1803, and show that the erstwhile Bhandup estate comprised Bhandup, Nahur and Kanjur Marg.^[1] The following is an excerpt from the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency:^[1]

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.^[2]

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) ^[3] 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^[4][5]

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.^[6]

Demographics[link]

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.^[7][8]

• The discordance between population and density could be due to re-drawing of ward boundaries

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[link]

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.

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

Industries[link]

According to the 2001 census, the number of industrial establishments in Bhandup (S-Ward) were 12380, cumulatively providing employment to 36921 residents of Bhandup.^[8] 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,^[9] 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.^[10] 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[link]

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

• Indian Education Society Bhandup (E)
• Adarsha Vidyalaya (English & Kannada medium) Nardas Nagar, Bhandup(W)
• Adarsh Vidyalaya, Datar Damle Colony, Bhandup(E)-website:^[11][12]
• Ahilya Vidyalaya, Jamil Nagar, Bhandup(W)
• Amar kaur, Bhandup(W)
• Bhandup Education Societies English High School (B.E.S)
• Bhandup People Education Society English High School (B.P.E.S)
• Bhandup Night High School, Village Road, Bhandup(W)
• Br. Nath Pai Vidyalaya, Nardas Nagar, Bhandup(W)
• Bright High School (BHS), Bhandup(W)
• Cosmos High School, qyarry road, Bhandup(W)
• D.A.V. High School, Bhandup(E)
• Gaytree Vidya Mandir (Hindi and Marathi medium), Tulshet Pada, Bhandup(W)
• Girish Swami High School, Bhandup(W)
• Guru Nanak English High School, Bhandup(W)
• Ideal Hindi High School, Sonapur, Bhandup(W)
• Jijamata Vidyamandir, (Maharashtra Nagar), Bhandup(W)
• V K K Menon High School, Bhandup(E)
• Kumari Kasturi Vidyalaya, Village Road, Bhandup(W)
• Mohammadi Urdu High School, Sonapur Bhandup(W)
• National Education Society's High School (NESHS), Bhandup(W)
• Navjeevan Vidyamandir, Tembipada, Bhandup(W)
• New English High School, Maharashtra Nagar, Bhandup(W)
• Oxford High School, Tank Road, Bhandup(W)
• Maharashtriya Shikshan Santha's Parag Vidyalaya, (Near-Shivaji Talao)
• Pawar Charitable Trust's Pawar Public School, L.B.S. Marg, Bhandup(W)
• Sahyadri Vidya Mandir (Near-Shivaji Talao), Bhandup(W)
• Shree Saraswati Vidya Mandir, (Nardas Nagar),Bhandup(W)
• S.P.S.Janata High School, Shivaji Talao, Bhandup(W)
• St. Francis Xavier's High School, Bhandup(E)
• St. Xavier High School & Junior College, Bhandup(W)
• Tank Road Municipal High School, Bhandup(W)
• I.D.U.B.S. Hindi High School, Bhandup (W)
• Uttari Bharat Sabha English High School, Bhandup(W)
• Yeshvat Chandji Sawant Vidyalay Utkarsh Nagar, Bhandup(W)
• Smt. R.S.S Vidya Mandir,English High School Sarvodaya Nagar, Bhandup(W)
• Yashwant Chandji Vidyamandir, Nardas Nagar, Bhandup (W)

Colleges[link]

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

Apart from these, there are several junior colleges in both Bhandup East and West.

• Ashish Jr. Night College, Ishwar Nagar, Bhandup(W)
• Bright College, Village Road, Bhandup(W)
• Br. Nath Pai Jr. College of Commerce, Bhandup(W)
• Guru Nanak College, Station Road, Bhandup(W)
• I.D.B.U.S. College, Station Road, Bhandup(W)
• Kumari Kasturi College, Village Road, Bhandup(W)
• Navjeevan Jr. College, T P Road, Bhandup(W)
• N.E.S. Junior College, N.E.S. Marg, Bhandup(W)
• Maharashtriya Shikshan Santha's Parag Junior College, Shivaji Talav, Bhandup(W)
• Smt. R.S.S Vidya Mandir,English High School & college Bhandup (W)
• St. Xavier's Junior college, L.B.S. Marg, Bhandup(W)
• Yashwant Chandji Sawant Vidyalay & Junior college, Utkarsh Nagar, Bhandup (w)

Technical[link]

• Navjeevan Polytechnic, Tembipada, Bhandup(West)
• Saraswati Vidyamandir, Nardas Nagar, Tembipada, Bhandup(West)
• jijamata vidyalaya, bhandup (west)

Medical[link]

• Parag Physiotherapy College, Shivaji Talao, Bhandup(W)

Shopping malls[link]

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 to come up 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.^[14]

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 one of the world's largest retail chains -Metro Cash and Carry.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.^[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.

Parks[link]

• Paranjape Garden, Datar Colony, Bhandup(E)
• Madhuban Garden, besides Police Station, L.B.S. Marg, Bhandup(W)
• Parivar Garden, Bhandup (E)

Sports[link]

Football clubs[link]

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 and the Ushanagar Youth CluB and Datar champs Football Club (DC)also the UshaComplex Football club (U.C.F.C).And also gunners football club

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

Cricket clubs[link]

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.^{[citation needed]}

Social organisations[link]

There are several social organisations in Bhandup such as Vijay Krida Mandal, Vikas Mandal (Vividha Karya Sahakari Mandal) and Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya and Jeevan Vidya Mission.

Places of worship[link]

• Sai Mandir: Sai Sachidanand Mitra Mandal, Pratap Nagar, Bhandup (W).
• Masjid: Pathan Colony, Bhandup(W).
• Ganesh Mandir: Bhandup(E)
• Hanuman Mandir: near D.A.V College, Bhandup (E).
• Datta Mandir: Ashok Nagar, Bhandup(E).
• Datta Mandir: Maharashtra Nagar, Bhandup (W).
• Shri Tirupati Balaji Temple: Swami chawl, Nardas Nagar T.P road Bhandup west.
• Shri Jain Shvetambar Murtipujak Tapagachh Sangh (Shri Chintamani Parshvanath Mandir): Ishwar Nagar, Bhandup (West)
• Shri Adinath Digambar Jain Mandir: L.B.S. Marg (opp. Badwaik Hospital, before Police Chowki), Bhandup (West)
• Shri Jagvallabh Parshvanath Jain Mandir: L.B.S. Marg (Kukreja Complex, before Badwaik Hospital), Bhandup (West)
• Bhattipada Jain Mandir: Bhattipada (towards Gaodevi Road), Bhandup (West)
• Maruti mandir: Lake road,Bhandup(w)
• Ganesh Mandir: Sthanik Nagrik Seva mandal,Kaju Tekdi, ganesh Nagar, quarry Road, Bhandup(West)
• Sai Baba Mandir: Kaju Tekdi, Near Union Office, Mangatram Petrol Pump, Bhandup (West)

See also[link]

• Mumbai
• Maharashtra
• India

References[link]