Santacruz | |
|---|---|
Suburb | |
 Domestic airport at Santacruz | |
  Santacruz | |
| Coordinates:19°04′54″N72°50′29″E / 19.081667°N 72.841389°E /19.081667; 72.841389 | |
| Country | India |
| State | Maharashtra |
| District | Mumbai Suburban |
| City | Mumbai |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipal Corporation |
| • Body | Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (MCGM) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Marathi |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| Area code | 022 |
| Vehicle registration | MH-02 |
Santacruz orSanta Cruz (Pronunciation:[saːn̪t̪akɾuːz]) is a suburb ofMumbai. TheSantacruz railway station on theMumbai Suburban Railway, the domestic terminal (T1) of theChhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, and one campus of theUniversity of Mumbai, are all located in Santacruz (East).
Santacruz and its neighbouring suburbKhar fall under the H East and H West wards of theMunicipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. The locality had a population of 675,951 in 1991, over an area of 12.98 square kilometers, giving it a population density of 36,668 persons per square kilometer.
The termSanta Cruz comes from the Portuguese words meaning "Holy Cross",[1] a reference to a 150-year-old Cross located on Chapel lane within the compound of a home for destitute women run byMother Teresa'sMissionaries of Charity trust. That name was also given to a church that existed on a site on the western side of the railway station along the currentSwami Vivekanand Road, presently occupied by theSacred Heart Boys High School andSacred Heart Church. This original church was destroyed by the Marathas during their conquest of theSalsette Island from Portugal. When the railways began operations in October 1888, the local railway station was named after the Holy Cross, and Santacruz as a locality came into being.[2]
The then British Government set upRAF Santa Cruz, a military airfield, in 1942. It was home to severalRAF squadrons during World War II from 1942 to 1947.[3] The Airport covered an area of about 1,160 hectares (2,900 acres) and initially had three runways.[4] The airfield was transferred to the Indian Government for civilian use upon Independence,[5] and came to be known as Santa Cruz airport, the city's main airport. Construction of a new passenger terminal and apron began in 1950 and was commissioned in 1958.[4] In the 1980s, a new international terminal was built atSahar, to cater for the increasing number of passenger movements and types of aircraft; the terminal at Santa Cruz was converted to serve domestic flights and was primarily used by Indian Airlines until the 1990s, when Jet Airways and East West Airlines appeared. The original terminal building still exists and has been given a new façade and host of interior upgrades. A second terminal complex has also been built to supplement existing facilities.[citation needed]
Santa Cruz is bordered byJuhu andVile Parle to the north andKhar andBandra to the south. It is broadly divided in two areas: Santa Cruz (East) and Santa Cruz (West) by theMumbai Suburban Railway line. The Milan Subway and Khar Subway connect the two areas, passing under the rail line. Recently Milan flyover has been built which has improved connectivity between Santacruz East and West. The Western express highway passes through Santacruz East. Because of its unique geography and connectivity, Santacruz is one of the prime locations in Mumbai.[citation needed]
Vakola hosts the corporate headquarters ofAsian Paints Limited and a significant number of large commercial banks, includingCanara Bank,State Bank of India, TheShamrao Vithal Co-operative Bank (Head Office in Vakola), CitizenCredit Co-operative Bank,Bank of Baroda,Central Bank of India,ICICI Bank,Axis Bank and NKGSB Co-Operative Bank . The GrandHyatt hotel is located at Vakola, on the erstwhile premises of the Standard Batteries factory. Vakola is also famous for its marble stretch which exists on the Nehru Road till theWestern Express Highway.The Domestic Terminal 1 andInternational Terminal 2 of Mumbai Airport lie 10 mins and 20 mins away respectively from Vakola. The prominent upscale commercial, business and residential district ofBandra Kurla Complex lies neighboring the Vakola and Kalina region.[citation needed]
The road stretching from the Western Express Highway to the Military Camp is called Nehru Road.A tributary of theMithi River, called as the Vakola Nallah flows through Vakola. This river overflowed duringthe statewide floods of 2005 on 26 July 2005 and caused massive damage to slums and housing societies along its banks. Some buildings were under ten feet of water.[citation needed]
The neighbourhood of Vakola is the setting for the 2011 novelLast Man in Tower, by Booker Prize–winning Indian authorAravind Adiga.[6]
Kalina is home to a number of schools and colleges besides the Kalina Campus of theUniversity of Mumbai and the prestigious Bombay College of Pharmacy India.[citation needed]
Other notable schools in the vicinity are Mary Immaculate High School, a school run by sisters ofAjmer, the Kalina Education Society School, which was set up by the late M.L.A, Mr. Hans Bhugra and Air India Modern School. During the statewidefloods in 2005, Air India Colony was flooded with water five to six metres deep. In many buildings, the water had entered in the ground floor and first floor level houses and the people had to take shelter on the upper floors. Rescue boats of Navy were requisitioned deployed in the area. Immediately after the deluge, restoration programme was implemented and portable pumps were installed at Air India colony, helping the early discharge of flood water.[7]
The Bombay Catholic Cooperative Housing Society constructed in 1930 a low-cost housing estate for the Catholic community, known as Willingdon Colony. It included pre-existing bungalows that the Cooperative had built as early as 1917.[8] The colony was spread over 5.5 acres (2.2 ha) and managed by the Cooperative. The members of the cooperative voted in 1966 to redevelop the colony, with 673 new flats to be built. The redevelopment was planned to provide permanent accommodation for 230 members, with the excess flats to be offered for sale. An additional, separate, building on the land was to provide capacity to temporarily house a further 530 people displaced by slum redevelopments, through the Slum Rehabilitation Authority. A small number of cooperative members opposed the redevelopment, and it was delayed by litigation for nearly 50 years.[9]
Despite heritage preservation concerns, and over the objections of the twenty remaining resident families, their final challenge was dismissed by theSupreme Court in 2014, allowing redevelopment to proceed. Demolition of historic bungalows commenced soon after. Further pauses occurred throughout 2014, as stays for proceedings continued.[10] Despite the court's rejection of the challenge to redevelopment, the same group began a new round of legal actions in 2015, with a petition to theHigh Court, challenging the validity of the permit issued to the developer to transplant 103 trees from the site. The petitioners were not successful in having the tree removal permit withdrawn.[9]