Thakur village

Thakur Village is a planned but congested residential township, nestled snugly between the green foothills of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park towards the east with the forest land controversy and the Western Express Highway (Mumbai-Ahmedabad NH8) towards the west. It offers the perfect combination of living in nature's proximity whilst being connected to all major areas of the city. An upcoming flyover at the busy Mahindra junction promises to ease the traffic woes, which Thakur Village has been notorious for in addition to the everyday waterlogging during rainy seasons, since the past few years. Thakur Village stands apart from other planned localities in Mumbai, due to its spectacular skyline, mostly upper-middle-class citizens, and self-sufficient nature.

Geography

Geographical Co-ordinates (Central Point)

*Location: Asia > India > Mumbai > Western Suburbs > Kandivli > Thakur Village

*Latitude: 19.210205

*Longitude: 72.872980

*Thakur Village on Google Maps [http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=103722223755102497506.000444d538d728a8e864c&ll=19.210873,72.874632&spn=0.010658,0.019956&t=h&z=16&om=0]
*Area: 4 sq. km. approx

*Population: 30,000 (estimated)

Connectivity

Thakur Village is well-connected to the domestic as well as international airports at Mumbai.Though it is yet unclear that which suburb in Mumbai is not well connected to airports, Western and eastern express highways are open for everybody who wants to use them. It is equidistant from the Kandivli and Borivli railway stations. Borivli is the terminus and the most crowded western suburb station for the main section of the suburban railway, and is a halt for slow trains as well as fast trains. Most inter-city trains also halt at Borivli. The Omkareshwar Mandir junction, which is a hub for all Gujrat bound inter-city buses, is just a 10-min drive from Thakur Village. Sukurwadi and Nancy Colony Bus Depots of MSRTC (S.T.) are also located within 15 minutes of travel time.

*Nearest Airport : Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (Sahar, Mumbai) (~ 20 km)

*Nearest Railway Station : Kandivli / Borivli (~ 2 km)

*Nearest Road-head : Western Express Highway (< 1 km)

*Bus Routes: 287, 209, 703, 40 Exp, 348, 701, 708, 309, 226, 461, 498, 489, 526, 300, 400
*Hired transport: Auto-rickshaw, standard cabs, Cool Cabs, MERU taxis, Mumbai Gold Cabs

Auto-rickshaws and taxis ferry passengers to and from the are at all times of the day as well as night. Hardly would you ever encounter a driver who will refuse to ply to this area specially from Kandivali station, even at odd hours. Transport modes & routes servicing this area are safe for women commuters traveling during odd-hours.

Introduction

Thakur Village, a planned, residential, self-sufficient township offers following facilities:
* Public Schools
* Junior, Degree, Engineering and Mangement Colleges
* Large gardens & children's parks
* Retail Showrooms
* Post Office
* Telephone Exchange
* 2 single-screen theatres (Thakur-FAME)
* Restaurants and eateries

It offers high-speed connectivity to the prime business districts of Mumbai, such as SEEPZ(45 Min to 1hour 30 min), MIDC, BKC (Bandra-Kurla-Complex)(45 Min to 1hour 30 min), and Mindspace (20 Min to 45 Min). Most of the township is connected to Tata Power's electrical grid, which, unlike Reliance Energy, offers clean and uninterrupted power supply throughout the year. The mobile-phone networks are extremely dense in this area, giving better voice quality and high-speed wireless data access. The entire area now has an underground drainage system, upgraded under the JNNURM (Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission). Though the work on the underground drainage is going on from last 1 year, there are many places in Thakur Village where slightest of rain will bring the sewage wate on the road. A storm-water drainage system has also been put in place recently to take care of the chronic flooding experienced during the monsoons in this area, until now.

Thakur Village has one of the biggest children's parks in Mumbai, the Evershine Dream Park. The park attracts large crowds of people from all over the Western suburbs, especially on weekends and you will find it difficult to walk on the adjoining roads let alone drive a vehicle. Finding a parking is by miracle only.It has been exquisitely designed on the lines of Mysore gardens. It features neatly landscaped gardens, playing pits, observation decks, food courts, and mini-train rides. It has a number of water fountains and waterfalls.

Central Avenue

This is the road that passes through the dead centre of the location, bisecting the area into the eastern-and western halves. It is 120 f.t wide DP road, the broadest avenue in Thakur Village. All the prominent outlets and landmarks are located on this road. The major bus routes, 287, 209 and 703 pass along this road.

The road serves as a mere connecting road during the day, but comes alive at night, with the brightly-lit showrooms dotting the side-walks, and people thronging the street-side chat-vendors, and other road-side vendors that sell everything from novels and pirated DVDs to handicrafts, pottery and plants. After sunset, it becomes a Mall Road, with vehicular traffic taking secondary status.

The energy of this road is simply unavoidable, and even if you plan to zip through in your car, you will be simply tempted to get down and enjoy the night-life found here.

Realty

Thakur Village, is tightly bounded as follows:
*North: Dheeraj Enclave
*East: Sanjay Gandhi National Park
*South: Mahindra & Mahindra assembly plant
* West: Western Express Highway.

The construction activity in this area, which began in the early 1990's is now showing signs of a sharp slow-down, as no more land is available. Since the area is tightly bounded, there s no space for lateral expansion. All the constructions being new and of good quality, are unlikely to be demolished in the next 15 years to make way for any redevelopment. Residential prices are in the range of Rs. 6,500 to Rs. 8,500 per square-foot.

Citizen profile

At the start of its development, Thakur Village offered the promise of a dignified lifestyle to the scores of middle-class urban population. Initial constructions such as Aangan and Vasant Utsav are primarily occupied by the quintessential middle-class. Most of the citizens are employed with prominent industries and business houses, and take pride in earning an honest living.

However, since 2006, the soaring realty prices have put this area beyond the reach of the general working class, and new residents are primarily from the business community, or working professionals from India's sunrise sectors such as IT, BPO, finance, hospitality and avaiation.

Besides, there are also co-operative housing societies owned by public-sector employed professionals, such as
* Mineral Engineers

* Geo-scientistsMost such professionals are employed with the public-sector oil companies such as ONGC. ONGC operates a bus-service to ferry its employees residing in this area. Company-operated buses of all major IT and BPO companies also service this area.

Prominent housing complexes

*Challenger
*Gundecha's Valley of Flowers

*Vasant Sagar

*Vasant Utsav

*NG Suncity

**Oberoi Gardens

*Oberoi Parkview

*Viceroy Park [http://www.bredco.com/viceroy.htm]

*Viceroy Court

*Technopark

*Mineral House
*VASUNDHARA - Suraj & Chandrama
*ISM House
*Hill-View Park

*Ekta Greens

*Gokul Gagan

*Evershine

Banks in Thakur Village

Following banks have their branches and 24-hour ATMs in Thakur Village:

*HDFC Bank

*ICICI Bank

*UTI Bank

*Centurion Bank of Punjab

*Andhra Bank

*Indian Bank

*Karnataka Bank

*Allahabad Bank

*Bank of Baroda

*Bank of Maharashtra

*Central Bank of India
*Canara Bank
*Saraswat Co-op Bank
*Pratap Co-op Bank

Stand-alone ATMs

Apart from the banks mentioned above, the following banks have an ATM, but no branch in Thakur Village:
*Kotak Mahindra Bank
*Citibank
*State Bank of India (3 ATMs)
*Oriental Bank of Commerce
*Indusind Bank

Supermarkets

*DMart
*BigBazaar (in proximity)
*Spencer's Hyper
*Spinach
*Reliance Fresh

*Godrej Nature Fresh

*Subhiksha

Retail Showrooms

There are shops in Thakur Village to fulfill practically every single shopping need. Apart from the host of shops that line the Central Avenue and other streets, following major brands have their presence in Thakur Village

* Planet M

* BigFlix

* The Mobile Store

* Vodafone Store

* BPL Gallery

* GKB Optolabs

* Gala Optics
* Aayush

* Kaya Skin Clinic

Gardens, sports grounds and play parks

*Evershine Dream Park

*Evershine Jogger's Park

*Gundecha Jogger's Park

*Viceroy Jogger's Park

*Thakur Jogger's Park
*Thakur Cricket Ground and Stadium
*Thakur Engineering College Ground (Football)

Schools and Colleges

*Thakur Public School [http://www.tpsmumbai.in/] (Primrose Playgroup [http://www.tpsmumbai.in/playgroup.htm] , Nursery, KG to 10th, ICSE Board, 11th and 12th ISC board)
*Gundecha Education Academy (KG to 11th, ICSE Board)

*Thakur Shyamnarayan School (KG to 10th, SSC Board, Hindi & Marathi Medium)

*Oxford Public School (KG to 10th, SSC Board)

*Thakur College of Engineering & Technology (IT, CMPN & EXTC -- Mumbai University)

*Thakur College of Science & Commerce (Junior & Degree College, including post-graduation)

*Thakur Institute of Management Studies and Research
*Thakur Toonskool Animation Academy

Pizza Parlours

*Pizza Hut
*Domino's Pizza
*Smokin' Joes Pizza
*Papa John's Pizza

*Garcia's Pizza

Cafes

*Cafe Coffee Day (CCD)

*Barista (in proximity)
*Nescafe

Restaurants

*Cascade / Village Avenue

*Bermuda Triangle Lounge

*Southern Treat

*Konark

*Tandoori Table

*YOKO Sizzlers

*Rama's Restaurant

Ice-cream parlours & Cake shops

*Baskin Robbins
2 OUTLETS
*Naturals

*Monginis

*Croissants

*Hang-out

*French Connection