Kharghar
| Kharghar खारघर |
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|---|---|
| Suburb of Navi Mumbai | |
| Utsav Chowk at Kharghar
Utsav Chowk at Kharghar
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 Kharghar
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| Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Maharashtra |
| District | Raigad |
| Government | |
| • Body | CIDCO |
| Area | |
| • Total | 10 km2 (4 sq mi) |
| • Rank | fere |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Marathi |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 410210 |
| Telephone code | 022 |
| Vehicle registration | MH-43 (Vashi), MH-46 (Panvel) & MH-06. |
| Nearest city | Panvel |
| Literacy | 98% |
| Civic agency | CIDCO |
| Climate | Monsoon (Köppen) |
Kharghar is a node of the city of Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. It is developed and maintained by CIDCO. Kharghar is located on the Sion Panvel Highway at one and half hour (approx.) drive during peak traffic hours from the heart of Mumbai city. The area started developing in 1995 and now has a number of ready and under-construction projects both in the commercial and residential segments. Kharghar is said to be the third most developed node of Navi Mumbai after Vashi and Nerul. Now The Kharghar is Leading City in Navi Mumbai and the Biggest City Ever In Navi Mumbai.
Contents
Introduction
Navi Mumbai is envisaged as a metro sized counter magnet to reduce the pressure on the Mumbai metropolis. It is planned as a polycentric new town with a series of nodal concentrations along mass-transport corridors. When fully built, it is expected to have 14 such townships with a combined population holding capacity of four millions and one million jobs. Kharghar is one of these 14 nodes and is being developed by CIDCO for an estimated population of about 500,000.
Location
The site of Kharghar adjoins the CBD Belapur of Navi Mumbai and is bound by two major highways and the picturesque Kharghar Hills. Taloja industrial estate and the Taloja creek are located on its east. Kharghar is primarily a residential township, but houses a part of Navi Mumbai's Central Business District.
Characteristics
Kharghar measures about 1700 ha. of area, 7 km long and 5 km wide. There are 12 village settlements located in Kharghar node having a combined population of 20,000. Kharghar is divided into 45 sectors. The general levels vary from 1.5 to 15.0 meters within the site. A third of the site is almost flat, but the areas close to the creek are low-lying. The Kharghar hills bring a huge amount of rainwater, which is directed into the creek through the node as well as the Central Park area.
On one side Kharghar hills is there. During monsoon, it appears a beautiful place with lush green hills and waterfalls when central park area is visited. Kharghar is a nature lovers' delight, having loads of open space and greenery near the Central Park area and towards newly developing sec-35 areas.
However, same is not true for other older / developed areas viz. sector-4 to sector -21. These older/ developed sectors have become concrete jungle with low height to tall residential structures. These older nodes now have roads dotted with lots of vehicular movements and parked cars.
If one is planning to buy a new flat at Kharghar please make sure the builder is providing 100 - 150% parking spaces within the building. Otherwise due to growing affluence in the civil society, many cars of your own building would block the road leading to your building in few years from now.
As per CIDCO rules builders were required to keep provision of space for car parkings only for flats of certain plinth area. Almost every house owners has now become a proud car or two wheeler owners irrespective of the flat area sizes due to increased income and easy availability of car loans. This has lead to insufficient parking spaces within the buildings during last few years and one can see parked cars outside almost every residential towers.
The Kharghar is witnessing the pitfalls of the growth in population. At the traffic junctions near Utsav Chowk, Heeranandani and below Kharghar overbridge, one shall be prepared to wait long due to traffic during peak hours. Also, near Little world mall one shall be prepared for difficulty for parking the four wheelers in the evenings and specially during weekends. Kharghar railway station parking atop the railway station is almost full these days which was not the case few years ago. One is not sure when all sectors are developed at Kharghar where the vehicles would be parked by commuters.
Inspite of tremendous growth in populations, one can't find a single space earmarked for vegetable/ fruit vendors or a vegetable market developed by CIDCO for the residents. One has to buy the vegetables, fruits including chickens and muttons as per the whims and the prices asked by these uncontrolled / unhygienic road side vendors. These vegetable/ fruit/ fish/chicken vendors and vendors selling food on wheels create traffic jams near UTSAV chowk, opp-fire station, near PNB Bank, near Garden opp-SBI, Fish Market at Sec-20, near Shilp Chowk, near CIDCO garden at Sector -20 to mention a few. This was not the case few years ago. One can find every other day one vendor would start selling food items. In few weeks other vendors from no where would join him creating a mini bazar in the area and would cause hardship to pedestrians and the vehicular traffic.
Infrastructure
Kharghar has one of the most prestigious educational institution of India viz. National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), it was shifted to Kharghar from Dadar in 2002-03. It offers undergraduate courses in fashion design, fashion communication and apparel manufacturing and information technology as well as postgraduate courses in fashion management and fashion design space. NIFT is otherwise headquartered at New Delhi.
Kharghar has a number of ready and under-construction projects both in the commercial and residential segments. The 10-storey office building of Siemens India Ltd. near Kharghar railway station is the oldest Commercial Structure. Kendriya Vihar is the oldest and the biggest residential complexes of Kharghar. While the Indian Armed Forces have two residential enclaves – Jalvayu Vihar and Raghunath Vihar. The Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC)located in Sector 22 is the state-of-the-art R&D satellite of the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), which also includes under its umbrella the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), the largest cancer hospital in Asia.
Hikers enjoy the hills around Kharghar during the monsoon season when waterfalls and rivulets burst forth.
CIDCO has also built an 18-hole golf course opposite Central Park in Kharghar along with shopping malls which should make the city one of the best locations in Navi Mumbai. The much awaited Central Park in Sector 23 is being planned on the concept of London's Central Park and will span around 80 hectares and cover three sectors. The park is intended to provide an excellent place for active and passive recreation. It also attempts to put Navi Mumbai on international map. It was expected to be completed around mid 2010 but still all areas have not been completed. The Central Park when completed will have jogger’s tracks, food courts, fountains, botanical gardens, amphi theatre, theme parks & conservatory (green house).
ISCKON has commenced construction of their temple at the start of the Central Park. It is believed this will be the biggest ISCKON temple in India.Sector 12 also has a park called "Krantiveer Phadke Garden" catering to residents in Sector 12 and nearby sec-20 and 21. Sector -20 also has a CIDCO park for morning joggers, senior citizens and children.
Currently Kharghar has two Malls with multiplex movie screens. First one is located at Little World Mall, second at Glowmax Mall. Few movie screens with limited seats are also available at Tiara complex near Raghunath Vihar. There are retail brands like DMart in Sector-15, Reliance fresh at Sec-21, Star daily at Sec-20 and More at Little world mall. There are adequate utility shops, departmental stores and super markets in every sector.
Pedestrian Skywalk at Kharghar
CIDCO has constructed skywalk to facilitate hindrance free movement between Kharghar railway station & city node. This skywalk is crossing the national highway with cable suspension bridge resting on 41 m tall pylon. Total length of skywalk is 1780 m which makes it India's longest skywalk ever built. The Skywalk has open type escalator in the entrance foyer portion of Kharghar railway station with ramp for alighting. There after the skywalk runs parallel to highway between Bharati Vidyapeeth up to entrance of Pravesh Marg & then along Pravesh Marg up to Utsav Chowk. There is also a NIFT college stop in between.
Transportation
Rail
Kharghar is located on the outskirts of Mumbai. It falls in Raigad district. Kharghar railway station lies on the harbour line, a part of Mumbai suburban railway. It takes about 65 minutes to reach Kharghar by suburban train from Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST).
Road
A drive by road from CST takes about 60 minutes via Eastern Freeway. Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) , another important Railway Station is also 45 minutes drive by road from the Kharghar via Santacruz - Chembur Link Road (SCLR). The six lane Mumbai-Pune Expressway starts at Kalamboli (4 km from Kharghar). The place is easily approachable from Pune and the other major cities of the state like Thane, Kalyan, Nashik etc. Within the suburb, NMMT buses are available frequently between stations, nodes and within sectors. NMMT buses are available from Kharghar to Vashi, Thane, Dombivli, Panvel, Khopoli, Uran & Taloja. NMMT runs their AC Volvo buses from Kharghar to Dadar & Borivali. BEST buses are also available from Kharghar to Vashi, Borivali,Chembur, Sion, Dadar & Ghatkopar.
| BEST / NMMT | Route No. | Route | |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEST | 503 | Rani Laxmibai Chowk (Sion) to Kalamboli Bus Stn (Passes by Hiranandani Highway & Kopara) | |
| BEST | 504 | Wadala Depot to Jalvayu Vihar (Kharghar) | |
| BEST | C-52 EXP | Wadala Depot to Kalamboli Bus Stn (Passes by Hiranandani Highway & Kopara) | |
| BEST | C-53 EXP | Ghatkopar Depot to Kalamboli Bus Stn (Passes by Hiranandani Highway & Kopara) | |
| BEST | AS 503 | Wadala Depot to Kalamboli Bus Stn (Passes by Hiranandani Highway & Kopara) | |
| NMMT | 24 | New Panvel Bus Stn to Thane Rly Stn (Cidco) | |
| NMMT | 26 | Kharghar (Jalvayu Vihar) to Thane Rly Stn (Cidco) | |
| NMMT | 29 | Kharghar (Jalvayu Vihar) to Thane Rly Stn (Cidco) | |
| NMMT | 30 | Kalamboli (Roadpali) to Uran (Passes by Hiranandani Highway & Kopara) | |
| NMMT | 44 | Kharghar (Vastu Vihar) to Dombivli | |
| NMMT | 50 | Kopar Khairane Bus Stn to Panvel Rly Stn (Passes by Hiranandani Highway & Kopara) | |
| NMMT | 51 | Kopar Khairane Bus Stn to Kalamboli Bus Stn (Passes by Hiranandani Highway & Kopara) | |
| NMMT | 52 | CBD Belapur Rly Stn to Taloja | |
| NMMT | 53 | Kharghar Rly Stn to Murbi Village via Vastu Vihar | |
| NMMT | 54 | Kharghar Rly Stn to Taloja | |
| NMMT | 55 | Ghansoli Gharonda to Taloja | |
| NMMT | 58 | Vashi Bus Stn to Khopoli (Passes by Hiranandani Highway) | |
| NMMT | AC 123 | Kharghar (Jalvayu Vihar) to Borivali Rly Stn (E) | |
| NMMT | AC 125 | Kharghar (Jalvayu Vihar) to Borivali Rly Stn (E) |
Private cars and two wheelers continue to serve as the prime means of transport. Private taxi offers services from Kharghar to other parts of Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. However, the auto service is worst in this part of the satellite city. Local public transportation within the node is difficult as the auto rickshaws are operated by the native villagers of the area & charges exorbitant fares. Because of wide roads, sparse population and virtually non existent traffic police, several vehicles ply on the wrong side of the road and blatantly break traffic rules.
The first phase of Navi Mumbai Metro will be from "Belapur" to "Pendhar" via "Kharghar". The planning and construction of the Navi Mumbai Metro is being overseen by the "City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO)". The foundation stone for the project was laid on 1 May 2011 under construction and is expected to be operational from early 2016. The following stations will passes through Kharghar:
| # | Station Name[1] | Inter-station Distance (km) | Cumulative Distance (km) | Opening | Connections |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CBD Belapur Terminal | 0.06 | 0.06 | Suburban Railway | |
| 2 | Sector 7, CBD Belapur | 0.71 | 0.77 | None | |
| 3 | CIDCO Science Park, Kharghar | 1.27 | 2.04 | None | |
| 4 | Utsav Chowk, Kharghar (through Skywalk) | 1.37 | 3.41 | Suburban Railway | |
| 5 | Sector 11, Kharghar | 0.71 | 4.12 | None | |
| 6 | Sector 14, Kharghar | 1 | 5.12 | None | |
| 7 | Central Park, Kharghar | 1 | 6.12 | None | |
| 8 | Pethpada, Kharghar | 1.32 | 7.44 | None | |
| 9 | Sector 34, Kharghar | 1.23 | 8.67 | None | |
| 10 | Panchanand | 1.48 | 10.67 | Suburban Railway | |
| 11 | Pendhar Terminal | 0.95 | 11.10 | None |
The proposed new Navi Mumbai International Airport was initially expected to be operational by 2014 in the Kopra area between Khandeshwar and Kamothe. This was passed by CIDCO on August 1, 2009. Despite getting environmental clearance from the Centre almost three years ago, the project was stuck due to protracted negotiations with farmers who wanted a compensation package of Rs 20 crore per hectare or 35 per cent of the land bank as a developed plot.
The project, which will come up on 1,160 hectares of land, will be built in four phases. The first phase with an annual capacity of 10 million passengers will be completed by 2018. After the completion of the whole project, it will cater to about 60 million passengers a year.[2]
The affected villagers will mostly be rehabilitated in a new township called Pushpak Nagar and in Wadghar and Wahal villages around the project area. Under the project plan, the rare island village of Waghivali in Panvel creek will be converted into a mangrove lagoon and its ecology will be maintained[3]
There is also a plan to build a sea link between Nhava Sheva and Sewri, thus making the new airport accessible to not only Navi Mumbai residents but also the residents of south Mumbai as well.....
Land use distribution
The land use distribution proposed for Sector-23, 24 & 25 is as under:
- Open space - 80 ha. 66.0%
- Residential - 10.59 ha. 3.6%
- Commercial - 5.56 ha. 14.6%
- Social facilities - 9.28 ha. 11.0%
- Public utilities - 10.85 ha 21.0%
- Circulation - 4.41 ha 3.5%
- Total - 119.77 ha 100.0%
It is one of the most planned nodes of Navi Mumbai and lies close to CBD Belapur, Vashi. This area is proposed to be developed as an education centre with a number of primary and higher education institutes opening their campuses in the vicinity.
Site for Central Park
The proposed park occupies an area of 119 Ha. (approx.) spreading over into Sector 23, 24 & 25 in Kharghar. An area of 80 ha. (approx.) is earmarked for 'Central Park'. It is a relatively flat terrain that has sporadic vegetation. The site acts as a link between two natural elements: hill and water. Mumbai: A sprawling hill plateau spread over 250 acres at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai will soon be up for grabs. The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) will hold a global auction with a reserve price of Rs 2,000 crore to create a themecum-entertainment city on the lines of Hollywood, Disneyland and Sentosa park in Singapore.
Since its inauguration, the Central Park at Kharghar, is the centre of recreational activities for people in Kharghar as well as others. For safety purpose there are[4] four CCTVs at the Central Park, which will keep a check on the visitors and keep a track of all the people. This move aim at ensuring maximum security for those who visit the park,” a senior Cidco official said. He added that the cameras have been operational since a week.
Research Center
The origins of the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC) are rooted in the Indian Cancer Research Centre (ICRC), which was established in 1952 in Parel, Mumbai, under the purview of the Ministry of Health, Government of India. In 1966, ICRC was renamed the Cancer Research Institute (CRI) and amalgamated with the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH), creating the first comprehensive cancer centre in India - the Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), an autonomous grant-in-aid institution of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India.
Over the years, as the institute grew in repute and staff strength, with several new disciplines introduced into its repertoire, an acute shortage of space led to the search for a larger campus. The ACTREC project was conceptualized by the DAE in November 1983. During the period 1985-1987, DAE acquired a huge 60 acre plot of land from CIDCO in Navi Mumbai, the newly developing city across the harbour, and it was decided to set up a much larger institute on this campus.
The foundation stone for this campus - the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), located near the foothills of the Sahyadri mountain ranges in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, was formally laid in May 1997 by Dr. R. Chidambaram, Chairman, AEC and Secretary, DAE. In August 2002, in its 50th year, CRI moved in toto from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai to become the basic research wing of ACTREC, and started functioning from its new premises at Kharghar. In December 2002, CRI celebrated itsGolden Jubilee, with the pledge to 'not remain content' with its stature and recognition worldwide as the premier Indian institute conducting research on cancer, but to scale new heights at its ACTREC campus.
Today, ACTREC serves as a new state-of-the-art R&D satellite of TMC and has the specific mandate to function as a national centre for treatment, research and education in cancer. ACTREC, which at present comprises of the basic and clinical research wings and a 50-bed hospital, will carry out mission-oriented research and development on cancers prevalent in the Indian sub-continent, and where there are internationally competitive opportunities, will use state-of-the-art technology in partnership with TMH.
References
- ↑ http://www.cidco.maharashtra.gov.in/NMM_Stage_1.aspx
- ↑ http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/phase-1-of-navi-mumbai-airport-to-be-completed-by-2018-114020500216_1.html
- ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/navi-mumbai/Three-opposing-villages-go-for-Cidco-compensation-deal/articleshow/32688286.cms
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
