Kurla | |
|---|---|
Suburb | |
 Panaromic view ofEast Indian village of Kurla | |
  Kurla Kurla,Mumbai,Maharashtra | |
| Coordinates:19°04′21.4″N72°53′04.2″E / 19.072611°N 72.884500°E /19.072611; 72.884500[1] | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Maharashtra |
| District | Mumbai Suburban |
| City | Mumbai |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal Corporation |
| • Body | Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (MCGM) |
| Elevation | 18.18 m (59.65 ft) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Marathi |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 400070[1] and 400072 west 400071 |
| Area code | +9122 |
| Vehicle registration | MH 03 |
| Civic agency | BMC |
Kurla (Pronunciation:[kuɾlaː]) is a suburb of EastMumbai, India. It is the headquarters of the Kurlataluka ofMumbai Suburban district. The neighbourhood is named after theeponymousEast Indian village that it grew out of. It falls under Zone 5, Ward 'L' of theBombay Municipal Corporation. Itsrailway station, spelt asCoorla until 1890,[2] is one of the busiest on theMumbai suburban railway on the central and harbour railway lines of Mumbai as is theLokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) for out-station passenger/express trains.
Kurla gets its name from theEast Indian village of Kurla, whose name, in turn, originated from "Kurli", the local name for crab, as these were found in plenty in marshes in the vicinity of the village.The village of Kurla came under Portuguese rule when theTreaty of Bassein (1534) was signed bySultan Bahadur of Gujarat and theKingdom of Portugal on 23 December 1534. In 1548, the village of Kurla and six other villages were given by the Governor ofPortuguese India toAntonio Pessoa as a reward for his military services.[3] Kurla remained under Portuguese rule until the British occupiedSalsette Island in 1774. The island was formally ceded to the East India Company in the 1782Treaty of Salbai.
In 1805, Kurla was connected toSion on Bombay Island by theSion Causeway. Coorla, as it was spelt during theBritish Raj until 1890, was a major station on theGreat Indian Peninsula Railway between Bombay and Thane, the first railway line inBritish India when it opened in 1853.
In 1808, Kurla, along with the villages of Mohili,Kolekalyan,Marol,Sahar,Asalphe, and Parjapur, were given by the British to aParsi merchant of Bombay, Mr. Hormasji Bamanji Wadia in exchange for a piece of land near the Apollo pier gate in Bombay. His Son, Mr. Ardeshir Hormasji Wadia, after whom the A. H. Wadia Road was named, paid for them a yearlyQuit-rent of £358 (Rs. 3587).
Kurla had twocotton mills, one of them, the Dharamsi Punjabhai, being the largest cotton spinning and weaving mill in theBombay Presidency, with 92,094 spindles and 1280 looms. The other was the Kurla Spinning and Weaving Mill. Kurla village had a population of 9,715 at that time. About half of them worked in the mills, while the rest were fishermen,husbandmen (farmers) and salt-makers. TheHoly Cross Church at Kurla, built during the Portuguese rule and rebuilt in 1848, is one of the oldest churches in Mumbai.[4]
The Mithibai Hormasji Wadia Dispensary was built by Mr. Bamanji Hormasji Wadia in 1855, and endowed by him with £1200 (Rs. 12,000). It was in charge of an assistant surgeon, and, in 1880–81, had an attendance of 7367 out-patients. The salt pans covered an area of about 66 acres (270,000 m2) and yielded a yearly revenue of £3418 (Rs. 34,180). There was also a considerable manufacture of shell lime. The Stone quarries of Kurla were well known[5] and supplied material for the construction of most of thecity's famous heritage buildings[6] like thePrince of Wales Museum,[7] and theGeneral Post Office[8] among others.
The beginning of the twentieth century saw Kurla develop as an important centre of the mill industry. In 1910, there were reported to be several mills in Kurla, engaged in the manufacturing of cotton cloth and woollen cloth in steam factories. Kurla, however, was an old textile industrial core, an outlier to the main cotton mill zone. A relatively cheaper land value and nearness to water and power mains enabled rapid industrial expansion of the suburbs and the Kurla-Ghatkopar–Vikhroli–Bhandup belt soon developed into the largest industrial zone in the suburbs of Mumbai.[9]
The Central Railway began its Harbour Line services from Kurla toReay Road station on 12 December 1910. This service was extended toVictoria Terminus in 1925.[10] The Kurla Railway Car-shed was constructed in 1925 when electrification of theGreat Indian Peninsula Railway (GIPR) Harbour line was undertaken. The first electric train in Asia that ran between CST and Coorla on 3 February 1925 was maintained at this car shed.[11] TheSalsette–Trombay Railway, also known as the Central Salsette Tramway, opened in 1928. The 13-kilometre line, a project of theBombay Improvement Trust run by the GIPR, ran from Trombay to Andheri via Kurla and lasted only a few years.[12]
Premier Automobiles Limited built their first automobile assembly plant in Kurla in 1946[13] and began production in March 1947,[14] collaborating with American automobile manufacturerChrysler to manufactureDodge,Plymouth andDesoto models in India. The iconicPremier Padmini car was also built at Kurla from 1964[15] until the plant closed down in 1997.[16]This resulted in the development of the old Kurla neighbourhood into an automobile industrial zone during the late fifties and sixties.[17]
The Bombay Taximen Union began building the Taximens Colony close to the Mithi river in Kurla in 1969. It was inaugurated by union leaderGeorge Fernandes in 1972. The Bombay Taximens Cooperative housing society is Mumbai's second largesthousing society.[18]
The Dairy Development Department of the State Government, in order to cope-up with the increasing demand for milk, established a dairy at Nehru nagar, Kurla (East) in 1975.[19]
Kurla lies on the southern end ofSalsette Island along the east bank of theMithi River. Kurla may be divided into two parts: Kurla (East) and Kurla (West), separated by theCentral Railway line. Kurla East is bordered by the suburban neighbourhoods ofChunabhatti in the south,Chembur in the East andGhatkopar in the North. Kurla West is surrounded by Ghatkopar andSaki Naka neighbourhood ofAndheri East to its North,Kalina and theBandra Kurla Complex to its West and theSion –Dharavi area to its south across theMahim Creek. The Mithi River enters into Kurla's north-west corner near Sakinaka, running south along theChhatrapati Shivaji International Airport boundary wall and the Bail Bazar locality, past the CST road and Taximens colony areas and empties into the Mahim Creek at the southern end of Kurla.[citation needed]
Kurla is the headquarters of the Kurlataluka ofMumbai Suburban District. The taluka was carved out of South Salsette Taluka in 1920. It covers an area of 135 square kilometres, covering a total of 29 villages in two circles. This taluka occupies the east side of the district and is bordered by the Bandra taluka in the West, theSanjay Gandhi National Park to the northwest, theThane District in the north, theThane Creek to the east, andMumbai City district to the south.[20]
The entire suburb falls under Zone 5,Ward 'L' of theBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. The Ward municipal offices are located in the Municipal market building on S. G.Barve Road. Residents of Kurla come under theKurla (Vidhan Sabha constituency) (Number 174).[21] The number of electorates in 2009 was 284,951 (male 161,459, female 123,492).[22]
Kurla displays an urban blend of residential colonies, big and small, industrial estates commercial enclaves and slums. The L-Ward has the highest number of public open spaces subject to encroachment in the city with 80 of its 139 open spaces being encroached upon.[23]
The earliest settlements in Kurla were in this area in the northern end of Kurla West. It consists of the Kurla Christian Village, anEast Indian pocket of Christians who stem from Portuguese and Koli traditions,[24] and the adjoining predominantly Christian Hall Village and Culbavour.[25]
Kohinoor city is an integrated township in Kurla west, comprising about 900,000 sq ft of commercial space and about 300,000 sq ft for retail, residential, hospitality and education.[26] promoted by Kohinoor Group founded byManohar Joshi. The site was formerly a motorcar manufacturing company calledPremier Automobiles Limited which used to manufacture its famous Padmini car here.[27] The factory was closed and the Joshis bought 36-acres from Premier Automobiles in 2005.[28] The neighbouring Premier residency buildings[29] byHDIL[30] and the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) buildings[31][32][33] were built on land previously owned byFiat Automobiles.[34]
Kurla is accessible from all parts of Mumbai by road and rail due to its central location.
TheLal Bahadur Shastri Marg (formerly known as Old Agra Road) is the arterial road for Kurla West. The road begins at the southern end ofSalsette Island, passing through Kurla and continuing up north intoGhatkopar towardsThane. The Andheri – Kurla road links Kurla withAndheri viaSaki Naka, The road is notorious for its long traffic jams. while CST road (Central Salsette Tramway Road) leads toSantacruz. The Kurla Depot Junction is one of LBS marg's busiest junctions, with one arm proceeding towards the Western Express Highway and the other leading to the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road flyover.[35]
The 6.45 kilometre longSanta Cruz – Chembur link road was opened in April 2014. It connects the east and west sides of Kurla via a Road over bridge (ROB) over the Central railway line, which is also the city's firstdouble-deckerflyover[36] The road finally connects to theEastern Express Highway at the Amar mahal junction. The Eastern Express Highway is the main thoroughfare for Kurla East. It runs fromSion Causeway in the south toMulund in the North.
BEST buses travel from Kurla to all areas of Mumbai. The Kurla BEST Depot on the west suffered serious damage during theMumbai floods of 2005 and has since been shut for redevelopment. Buses from this depot used to cater to Mumbai University (Kalina Campus),Bandra Kurla Complex andChembur.[37]Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation buses ply from their depot at Nehru Nagar in the East to major towns in the State.Auto rickshaws and taxis are also available.
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Kurla railway station is a junction of theCentral Railway Suburban line and theHarbour Line.
Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, formerly known as Kurla Terminus, is situated in the East. It was inaugurated in the 1980s and renovated in 2013.[38] The Terminus handles severalCentral Railway Zone outstation trains every day.
Line 2B andLine 4 ofMumbai Metro will pass through Kurla.
Metro 2B is 23.643 km (14.691 mi) long and connectsD.N. Nagar toMankhurd. It will have stations atSG Barve Marg,Kurla (East) andEastern Express Highway.[39]A metro station for Kurla Terminus was originally proposed for Metro 2B but was cancelled in September 2020 because it was in the path of the restricted funnel zone forMumbai Airport. Further, the proposed SG Barve Marg station was only 474 metres away from the proposed Kurla Terminus station. Another issue was that the Kurla Terminus station would have been located in between theSanta Cruz–Chembur Link Road (SCLR) rail overbridge and another permanent structure.[40][41]
The 32-km long Wadala to Kasarvadavali Mumbai Metro Line 4 corridor will pass through Kurla East. TheSiddharth Colony station will be the interchange station on Line 2B and Line 4. The stations on the two liners were originally designed around 480 metres apart. However, in May 2019, the MMRDA modified the designs and decided to merge both stations for the convenience of commuters.[42]
Phoenix Marketcity (Mumbai), one of Mumbai's largest malls, is situated on L.B.S. Marg, Kurla (West)
Kurla has one engineering college,Don Bosco Institute of Technology, and several schools, including:-.
The Khan Bahadur Bhabha Municipal General Hospital, on Belgrami Road, near Bharat Cinema, is one of Mumbai's 16 peripheral hospitals run by theBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. It has more than 300 beds and provides secondary-level referral health care services. The hospital started off in 1935 as a 30-bedmaternity home called Khan Bahadur Hospital. Anoutpatient department (OPD) was added in 1950, converting it into a general hospital. Several other departments like surgery andpediatrics were added from 1962 on.[47]
Additionally, 'L' Ward has 9 municipal dispensaries, 12 municipal health posts and 67 privately run nursing homes and hospitals.[48]
Kohinoor Hospital was founded in 2005.[49] Its 227,500 sq.ft, structure is the firstLEED – Platinum rated Hospital in Asia.[50] The hospital was acquired by CritiCare Asia Multispecialty Hospital and Research Center and was renamed CritiCare Asia Multispeciality Hospital Kurla in 2022. The hospital is equipped with 24X7 Trauma care, ICU, ICCU, NICU, MICU, state of the art Operation Theatre for minor, major, and supra major surgeries, pathology & diagnostic centre and stroke unit, nephrology and oncology center among others catering to all medical emergencies.[51]
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