| Ambarnath | |
| — city — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Maharashtra |
| District(s) | Thane |
| Population | 203,795 (2001[update]) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 35 metres (115 ft) |
Ambarnath (or Ambernath, Marathi: अंबरनाथ)[1] is a city and a municipal council in Thane district in the state of Maharashtra, India.
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The name Ambarnath literally means Lord of the sky. Ambarnath is the site of a very old temple dedicated to Lord Shiva, dating back, to 10th century. It is a beautiful temple carved out of stone in Hemad style construction. Ambarnath lies on Mumbai to Pune, railway route. Most people rely on the railway link to commute to Mumbai for work. Like all Mumbai suburbs Ambarnath is divided into east Ambarnath and west Ambarnath by railway. Ambarnath west is in an industrial zone and is home to hundreds of small and large chemical factories. An Ordnance Factory has been established by the government, which is one of the reasons for Ambernath developing into a residential neighbourhood. It is of a metropolitan nature like Mumbai that houses people from different origins & places from across India. A large manufacturing facility of WIMCO,India's largest manufacturers of safety matchsticks, is also located in Ambarnath on the Kalyan-Badlapur Road.
Ambarnath east has beautifully planned residential housing society called Suryodaya Housing Society. probably the largest housing society of bungalows in entire Asia which contains more than 655 plots and covers around 4 km² of area. The housing society has 4 sections namely Kansai, Saai, Kher(Herambh) and Vadavali. Out of these Kansai and Vadavali were small villages in the past. The area in the west was named Javsai and the one in east was known Kansai. Ambarnath east was once a pristine area of beautiful bungalows but unplanned development over the years has taken its toll. The infrastructure is getting stretched to support the current population growth and the bungalows have all been replaced with cookie cutter apartment buildings. Ambernath West is known for the Ordnance Estate. It is a colony of the employees of the Ordnance Factory, and consists of apartments provided by the government itself for the Factory employees. The colony is self-sufficient with a CBSEschool, hospital and other amenities. The estate is equipped with many facilities like 24 hrs power supply, good water supply and is great on maintaining a hygenic environment. Many people from the adjacent township of Ulhasnagar come to enjoy a peaceful refershing morning walk in its tree lined lanes. Places to see in Ambarnath - Shiva Temple, Fatima Catholic Church and School, GIP Tank, One Tree Point, Ayyapa Temple, Shantisagar Water Resort, Chikloli Dam , Barvi Dam and Labour statue (which is probably the only statue representing Labour in India). Malang Gadh, a pilgrimage place known as Haji Malang Dargah, as well as hiking spot, is also close by.
Heramb Mandir is a renovated temple of Lord Ganesha.
In Sai Section area there is a temple for Hanuman and Shani Dev. Every Saturday people visit this temple in large numbers to seek blessings.
Ambarnath is a self contained township which has very prominent schools like Bhausaheb Paranjape Vidyalaya, InnerWheel School, Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School), SICES, Fatima High School , Mahatma Gandhi Vidyalaya and FR. agnel multipurpose school. It also has two junior and senior colleges offering Bachelors degrees in Commerce, Science and Arts streams.
A popular hill station called Matheran, and Titwala, which has a famous Ganesh temple, are close by.
Ambernath is also growing fast in terms of the business opportunities it offers. Many traders of Thane district have warehouses in Ambarnath.Ambarnath East has a MIDC area which has many MNCs setting up manufacturing units. The industries have grown by many folds in the past decade. There is a new MIDC area planned next to it in an area called Palegaon. Many big companies like Godrej, Ceat Etc. have started building their plants over here. It is connected to Navi Mumbai And Taloja Industrial Area by roads. The retail market is quite developed with the area around the railway station thronging with shops and hawkers.
Dharamsi Morarji Chemicals Co Ltd.(DMCC) first set up, what was then the largest plant in Asia to manufacture sulphuric acid, in Ambernath- West, on the Kalyan- Badlapur Road (also known as M.G.Road). Though defunct now,its huge expanse and towering walls are a prominent landmark in Ambarnath.
As of 2001[update] India census,[2] Ambarnath had a population of 203,795. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. 13% of the population is over 60 years of age.
People claim that Guru Nanak visited Ambarnath Shiv Temple on 25 February 1415 while Surinder Singh Kohli and other historians mention the period to be earlier than this. Ambarnath is not the actual name of this town. It was "Hallyacha Pada" , a village near the Welfare Center in Ambernath East was the original name of this town. Dr. Rajendra Prasad inaugurated the railway station "Hallyacha Pada" after independence. This town started flourishing after the arrival of DMC, WIMCO and got rechristened as Ambarnath( before this there were only two villages recognised in this area as Kohoj-Khuntawali at west and Hallyacha Pada at East). When first Nagarpalika came in existence, Leaders like Meheruddin Pathan, Madan Singh, Manvir Singh, Nalwade, Laxman Jathar, D.K.Bhandarkar(Shiv Sena leader) transformed this city into a high standard little town. Subsequently arrival of MIDC pumped in more productivity in this town. Those days the OCTROI revenue from this town was 2nd in the entire Maharashtra state after Pimpri-Chinchwad.
There is also an ancient Dargah located in the Kohoj Village Popularly known as Baba Gaiban Shah Dargah, located between 3 different areas - Kohoj Village, Chinchpada, and Woollen Chawl.
As per the recent excavations, there existed an urban civilization in the Area of Ambarnath since 200BC. The bricks found date back to the Satavahan era.
Merwyn Fernandes, a former Indian hockey player, played for the famous Indian Airlines hockey team in the 70s. His name has become synonymous with Indian hockey. He was a consistent performer for the Indian team. Merwyn with his body-serve and excellent finish was an exceptional forward. He represented India in 1980, 1984 and the 1988 Summer Olympics. He was part of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal in 1980 Summer Olympics at Moscow.. He also received the Arjuna award in 1992.[3]
Evaristo Cardoz, donned the India Colours for the Super Soccer Series against PSV Eindhoven, a Dutch top football team, when they visited India in 1990. He again donned colours for Nehru Cup at Thiruvananthapuran in 1991 & Pre-Olympic qualifiers in 1991. Maharashtra won the Santosh Trophy at Pallakkad (Kerala) in 1991, under the captainship of Evaristo Cardozo after long 27 years.
As a result of the recent objections being raised by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on the current proposed location of the Navi Mumbai International Airport near Kopra Panvel area, apparently because the construction of the airport would involve reclamation of low-lying areas in an ecologically fragile zone as well as destruction of several hectares of mangroves, other locations are being actively being considered, which includes the one off village Nevali near Kalyan-Ambernath 55 km away from the current airport in Mumbai. There exists an old and abandoned air-strip of World War II era and the Union Defence Ministry owns the 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of land on which it is located. The proposal is now centred around those 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of land. If the current location at Kopra Panvel does not go through, then the Kalyan-Newali location would be considered for a future Kalyan International Airport which would serve as a much needed second International airport for the Mumbai Metropolitan region.
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