Santa Cruz (Mumbai)

Infobox Indian Jurisdiction
type=suburb
metro=Mumbai
state_name=Maharashtra
native_name=Santa Cruz
latd = 19.09
longd= 72.84
altitude=
district = Mumbai Suburban
inset_map_marker = yes

:"For other places named Santa Cruz, please see Santa Cruz."

Santa Cruz or Santacruz (Marathi:सान्ताक्रुझ) is a section of the municipality of Mumbai. It is also the name of the Santacruz (railway station) on the Mumbai Suburban Railway. The Domestic Terminal of the Airport of Mumbai and one campus of the University of Mumbai is in Santa Cruz.

History

The term "Santa Cruz" comes from the Portuguese words meaning "Holy Cross". The name was that given to a church that existed on a site on the western side of the railway station, at the site presently occupied by the Sacred Heart Boys High School/Sacred Heart Church on Swami Vivekanand Road, and which had been devastated by the Marathas during their conquest of the region from Portugal. This former parish church gave its name to the locality.The church was constructed in the early 1930s. The parish has around 14,000 parishioners with Fr. Abel as the present parish priest.

Geography

Santa Cruz is bordered by Vile Parle in north, Khar in south, Juhu in west and Kurla in east. It is broadly divided in two areas: Santa Cruz (East) and Santa Cruz (West) by the Mumbai Suburban Railway line. The Milan subway and Khar subway connect the two areas, passing under the rail line.

The East

Santa Cruz(East) consists of Prabhat Colony, Kalina and Vakola. It also consists of land belonging Airport Authority of India, which consists of the Mumbai Airport and Air India Colony (which comes in Kalina).

The main roads passing through Santa Cruz(E) are the Western Express Highway, Nehru Road and the Kalina-Kurla Link Road. The PIN code of this area is 400055.

Prabhat Colony

Prabhat colony is the residential area closest to Santa Cruz(E) station. The landmarks in this area include The Yoga Institute, the Reliance Energy (formerly BSES) office, Reverend C. F. Andrews High school, Municipal school and Municipal office.

Vakola

Vakola starts from the Western Express Highway which connects Mumbai's Town and suburbs, up to the Military Camp. It is a densely populated region with considerable number of Hindus, Muslims, Catholics and Jains. Vakola Bridge, Vakola Pipeline, and Vakola Masjid areas form most of Vakola.

Vakola also consists of Anand Nagar, the row houses in the locality and the growing commercial value of the society has turned it into the feature attraction of Vakola, undoubedtly the poshest area of Vakola.

Vakola is a predominantly middle class neighbourhood, although the property prices have been on a very steep upward trend in the last couple of years. Vakola has two schools run by the Archdiocese of Mumbai, St Anthony's Boys' School and St. Charles Girls' School.

Vakola hosts the corporate headquarters of Asian Paints Limited. Also, Vakola has a significant number of large commercial banks, including Canara Bank, Citi Bank, ICICI Bank. One of the biggest Hyatt hotels in the world, the Grand Hyatt is located at Vakola, on the erstwhile premises of the Standard Batteries factory. Housing societies and slums adjoining to the Grand Hyatt have seen rapid price appreciation over the past few years.

The road stretched from the Western Express Highway to the Military Camp is called Nehru Road.The infamous Mithi River flows through Vakola to the Mahim Creek. This river overflowed during The Maharashtra floods of 2005 on July 26, 2005. and caused massive damage to slums and housing societies along its banks. Some buildings were under ten feet of water

Kalina

Kalina starts from the Military Camp and stretches east up to the suburb of Kurla. It is a cosmopolitan area comprising of a number of schools, colleges and the Kalina Campus of the University of Mumbai and the Govt College of Pharmacy.

Kalina houses major large apartment complexes belonging to two major Government owned airlines, i.e., Air-India and Indian. Sunder Nagar is another large residential area, consisting of many row houses.

Kalina is midway between two suburban stations Kurla and Santa Cruz railway stations, which are on the Central and Western Railway Lines respectively. It is also close to the Bandra-Kurla complex and only 15 minutes from the domestic terminals of the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

Kalina has been experiencing high growth over the past few years. The proposed Mumbai Police Headquarters will be in Kalina. The Santa Cruz-Chembur Flyover will run through Kalina as part of the Mumbai Urban Transportation Project. Kalina is also an emerging hub for commercial real estate with big names such as Microsoft and Rolls Royce (Marine Engines) setting up shop there.

The West

Santa Cruz (West) is strikingly more affluent than the eastern part of the suburb. It is bordered by Khar, Juhu, and Vile Parle.

It is primarily a residential area, with the market situated near the railway station. The residential colonies include such as Amar Subway Society, the Reserve Bank of India Quarters, Vithaldas Nagar Colony, Rizvi Park, Bansraj Singh Estate, Khotwadi, Bhimwada, T.P.S. 6th Residential colony Ramas Plaza and Khira Nagar, Shastri Nagar,Main Avenue,Convent Avenue,St. Joseph's Avenue,St. Francis Avenue & Church Avenue. In the past most of the residences used to be small bungalows, which are now being replaced by high rise buildings.

The main roads in Santa Cruz(W) are Swami Vivekanand Road, Juhu Road, Juhu Tara Road and Linking Road (now officially called Vithalbhai Patel Marg).

Government Institutions

Postal Services
* Santacruz (West) Post Office : Located on Linking Road, adjacent to St. Lawrence High School.
* Vakola Post Office
* Kalina Post Office : Located on Vidyanagri Road, outside the University of Mumbai Campus
* Air-India Post Office : Located in Air-India Colony
* Santacruz East Post Office: Located next to the overhead Pedestrian Bridge of the Santacruz train station

Police Stations
* Kalina Police Station
* Santacruz (W) Police Station : Located on the intersection of Juhu Road and Linking Road, opposite Lion's Park.
* Vakola Police Station: Located at the intersection of Nehru Road and the Western Express Highway, on the Vakola side of the flyover

Miscellaneous
* BEST Bus Depot, Santacruz (West): Located on Swami Vivekanand Road near Milan Subway (after the intersection of Juhu Road and Swami Vivekanand Road).
* BEST Bus Station, Santacruz (East): Located near the station, in Santacruz (East).
* MTNL Office: Located inside the BSNL Campus on Juhu Road
* Military Camp: Located in Vakola - This is a training and command post of the Western Military command. The command houses quite a few artillery and infantry battalions and is one of the last tracts of greenery in the area.

Places of Interest

The Ramkrishna Mission has a yearly fest between October and December. As they celebrate the annual Bengali
* Durga Puja
* Lakshmi Puja
* Kali Puja
* Saraswati Puja

It is widely attended for its mix of eclectic stalls selling cultural wares, clothes, religious and spiritual books, devotional music and eateries. The food stalls outside the hospital are famous in Mumbai for "Chaat".

ee also

*Famous people
* Asif khan
*SEEPZ