Pedder Road

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Pedder Road (officially Dr. G. Deshmukh Marg) is the former name of a busy arterial road in South Mumbai passing through the affluent Cumballa Hill neighborhood. It was named after Mr. W. G. Pedder, Municipal Commissioner (1879). He was in the Bombay Civil Service, 1855-1879, and on his retirement was appointed Secretary to the Revenue and Commerce Department at the India Office. [1]

It is said to be resting on what was first known as Padam Hill. Its present name is Gopalrao Deshmukh Marg, after a social activist and reformer, though as with a very large number of Mumbai's roads it is commonly referred to by its former name (usually incorrectly spelled as Peddar).

The road begins at the well-known intersection of Kemp's Corner and extends down Cumballa Hill past the Mahalaxmi temple to the Haji Ali intersection. The very first flyover built in Mumbai connected Hughes Road to Pedder Road at Kemp's Corner. Since at least the early 20th century, it is considered to be a posh residential area with some of the flats fetching a price of over Rs.10 million as of 1993.

Dr. Gopalrao Deshmukh was the first President of the Indian Medical Association and the first Mayor of Bombay after independence. He lived on Pedder Road in a palatial home that later made way for a multi storeyed building. A leading citizen of Mumbai, he was the personal friend of Sir Jamshetji Kanga. Of his notable descendents one can name Dr Uday Dokras,international author of Human Resource books, who is his grandson.

Pedder Road came to be renamed in his honor. The road ends in a flyover which was known as the Kemp's Corner flyover before but has been rechristened as "Dr Gopalrao Deshmukh Uddanpul(Flyover)".

In February 2000, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai carried out a study on traffic in the area which found that 94,000 vehicles used the route every day at that time.[2] The same study also found that the average number of cars owned by a family living in Pedder Road was 2.3.[3]

According to a Times of India article in 2006, in new constructions coming up on Pedder Road (among other localities), transactions "routinely take place" at over 1,00,000 Rupees (2000 USD) per square foot.[4]

Landmarks

Famous residents

References

  1. ↑ Sheppard, Samuel T. "Bombay Place Names and Street Names - An Excursion into the by-ways of the history of Bombay City"
  2. ↑ "Flyover is the only solution". Indian Express. March 31, 2000. Retrieved 2009-04-03. 
  3. ↑ "Braking Point". DNA. October 28, 2006. Retrieved 2009-04-03. 
  4. ↑ Bharucha, Nauzer (December 3, 2006). "Mumbai flat sold for a record 73,000 rupees per square foot". Times of India. Retrieved 2009-04-03. 

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