Charkop

Charkop is a municipality in the suburb of Kandivali(West),North Mumbai. It was originally intended as a housing project by MHADA,but now covers residential areas and businesses.

History

Charkop's original name is 'Char Khop' which means place of 4 huts or small village with four houses. Charkop originally was marshy land, drained by the MHADA organisation to provide low-cost housing to people. It was a project originally intended to provide society-based plots around 200 square feet (19 m²) to every owner. This ownership was established by having a lottery and allotting lottery numbers. The next step was to provide all necessary civil amenities, which MHADA has provided to full effect. The late 1990s and beyond has brought a drastic change in people's mindsets towards Charkop.In latter years,Mhada has begun to gradually free land for bungalows and buildings. The climate and ecology was another conscious consideration towards making this choice. Towards the year 2000, Charkop had established itself as a truly cosmopolitan area with its cleanliness and low population. The close proximity to both the railway stations of Kandivali and Borivali have made it an attractive place to live in.Today's Charkop is clean, pollution-free and well connected.

Demographics

Charkop is predominantly Hindu, but there are also tiny sprinklings of Christians, Sikhs and Parsees and other communities such as Dalit Buddhists.Muslims live together in clusters, in the cosmopolitan area of Ganesh Nagar, which borders Malad. Most residents can be classified as lower middle-class or middle class. Professions are mainly of the service type and businesses are run in the Ganesh Nagar(Ganesh Chowk) area and the Charkop Industrial Estate. The majority of populace is Maharashtrian, followed by Gujarati people and then others.

Recent bad developments

With the sprawling of new and sophisticated buildings, towers and complexes, many early settlers have begun to think about the negatives of development in Charkop. The public transport system has drastically improved however, and there are hardly any areas in Charkop, which can be classified as remote. But the ecological destruction has continued to persist. About 2004, a lake in Sector-1 , Sahayadri Nagar was filled with sand to provide for a housing complex there. Another lake in Sector-2 was attempted to be filled, before the citizens of the area raised an alarm. But the worst example of congestion by people is at the Gorai bridge where the lake has been filled with faeces and rubbish and is a popular squatting ground. With such a lack of interest by the government and vested interests by realty builders, it remains to be seen whether Charkop will continue to remain ecologically beautiful and pollution free. Sector 8 a relatively new addition to Charkop also faces environmental damage - constant dumping of debris and religious waste into the Mangroves will ultimately lead to Environmental hazards. While the residents are trying to combat this with plantation of trees all along sector 8 the BMC does not seem to be doing their bit. Further the conditions of the roads on Sector 8 and 9 are deteriorating and many road accidents especially on 2 wheelers have occurred.

An image of the vast stretch of mangroves at Charkop

Recent tree plantation drive held by concern residents

Illegal dumping of waste is damaging the mangroves and is not a pleasing site.

Landmarks

MTNL Telephone Exchange (Sector 8)
New Charkop Police Station (Sector 2)
Turzon Point (Sector 8)
Apna Bazar (Sector 5)
Lalit Bakery (Charkop Market)
Noble Chemists 24x7 (Charkop Market)
Sunrays Mall (Charkop Market)
Ekveera Vidyalaya (Sector 1)
Mother Teresa High School (Sector 1)
Indian Education Society School (Sector 2)
Bhagwati Restaurant (Charkop Market)
Charkop Depot (Sector 4)

Proposed developments

Metro connecting Charkop to Colaba is next to follow, after Mumbai Metro One is complete.
MCGM has planned to create a bird sanctuary to preserve and exhibit the various types of birds that frequent the mangrove areas of Sector 8.

Nearest station

Kandivali Station is approx 3.5 km away from Charkop
Borivali station is approx 4 km away

ST buses have started from Sector 8 to Nashik,Pune,Malvan

References