Anushakti Nagar

Anushakti Nagar
अणुशक्ती नगर
Suburb
Anushakti Nagar

Anushakti Nagar

Coordinates: 19°2′11″N 72°55′21″E / 19.03639°N 72.92250°ECoordinates: 19°2′11″N 72°55′21″E / 19.03639°N 72.92250°E
Country India
State Maharashtra
District Mumbai Suburban district
Metro Mumbai
Languages
  Official hindi
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 400094[1]
Area code(s) 022
Vehicle registration MH 01
Civic agency BMC
Website http://www.anushaktinagar.net
Networking site Anushakti Nagar Residents
Anushakti Nagar during sunset
Anushakti Nagar in rainy season
Hills near Anushakti Nagar

Anushakti Nagar is the residential township of the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Nuclear Power Corporation of India, DCSEM, Atomic Energy Education Society in Mumbai, India. Anu Shakti means atomic power in many Sanskrit based Indian languages. Spread over more than 940 acres, this residential complex for the employees of Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India in Mumbai, is situated in North-east Mumbai. It is claimed to be the largest township (by population) housing employees of a single organisation in the World. Anushaktinagar also claims to be the largest scientific community (in a single area) in the world.

About

In the early 1960s the government decided to expand the nuclear research (see BARC) facility in (what was then) a distant suburb of Mumbai. The township is about 3 km north of the research centre.

Anushakti Nagar is a well planned self-contained community with a population of about 45,000. It has residential flats, local grocery shops, sports and recreation facilities, schools, medical clinics, a large hospital, bank, post office and transport links to many parts of Mumbai. Both the atomic research centre and the town maintenance is funded by the central (federal) government. The complex is sprawling and lies stretched out alongside four suburbs - Govandi, Mankhurd, New Mandala and Trombay. The other facilities include, two community Centres for social occasions and gatherings, various departmental and co-operative stores, a restaurant, 2 creches. The electricity to the colony is provided by TATA Power, and the cable (and more recently, cablenet) by ANUSAT club.

Anushakti Nagar has 17 high-rises and numerous buildings, that have grades, depending on flat-size, and are allotted on the basis of seniority to DAE employees. The nomenclature of these buildings is unique and one of the best aspects of the colony, with names taken from - Indian Heritage names (Nalanda, Hastinapur, Pataliputra, Indraprastha, Takshashila, Kapilvastu)

Rivers (Saraswati, Godavari, Narmada, Saryu, Alaknanda, Bhagirathi, Ghaghra, Gomti, Ganga, Yamuna etc.)

Himalayan peaks (Kamet, Annapurna, Kanchenjunga, Dhawalgiri {Dhawalgiri}, Nandadevi {Nanda Devi}, Gaurishankar{Gauri Sankar}, Everest Kamet etc.)

Hill-stations (Venkatgiri, Almora, Gulmarg, Mount Abu, Mussoorie etc.), Hill-ranges (Sahyadri, Vindhya, Satpura, Aravalli, Nilgiri etc.)

Historical Places (Sanchi, Ajanta, Ellora, Shantiniketan, Sriniketan, Golconda etc.)

famous Hindu Pilgrim Places (Kailash, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Dwarka, Sarnath etc.)

Great Saints (Meera, Namdev, Jaidev, Ramdas, Tulsidas, Kabir, Tukaram, Chaitanya etc.),

Classical Ragas (the Raagmala buildings - Mohana, Deepak, Malhar, Darbari, Ranjani, Lalit, Bhairavi etc.).

The Mandala "suburb" of this township has buildings named after seasons (Hemant, Sharad, Shishir

Some buildings of New Mandala are named after flowers like Pankaj, Kamal, Champa, Parijat, Gulmohar, Kumud etc.)

Recent additions to the high-rises are two new buildings: Udayagiri and Malayagiri, both of which are state of the art, spacious and well designed.

Barring the road which connects the main gate with the BARC north gate, no other roads are named. The Central Avenue road which divides Anushakti Nagar roughly into two halves, connects its main entrance with the BARC North Gate. It is a 2+2 lane divided by a 70-foot-wide (21 m) green stretch which runs all along. A number of people use the footpaths along this road for a pleasant stroll. Recently, sitting benches have been installed along the Central Avenue and many other roads, creating a very family-friendly atmosphere.

Anushakti Nagar can be said to be divided into three parts:

With only about 11% of the 946 acre area concreteised (roads and buildings), it is considered to be one of the "greenest" and better maintained parts of (an otherwise polluted) Mumbai city.

Locality

Anushakti Nagar is located about 20 km north-east of Mumbai downtown. It has its own Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) bus depot connecting it to most major Mumbai suburbs. Mankhurd, located about 1 km north of the neighbourhood, serves as its primary railway station connecting it via the harbour line of the Mumbai suburban railway network to CST via Kurla (about 22 km south) and to Vashi, Belapur, Panvel and Thane (via Vashi) to the north.

It is part of the Mumbai South Central (Lok Sabha constituency) which until a few years back was the largest (by population) Lok Sabha electorate in India. It is bordered on one side by a large hill which is the highest in Mumbai.

People

As the education provided to this community is very good and subsidized it tends to have a high concentration of very educated (though mainly academic) population. It claims to have one of the highest concentrations of Indian Institute of Technology entrants in any given year. There has been a significant contribution to the International Olympaids by the anushaktinagar'ites.

Even by the standards of Mumbai, which is considered very cosmopolitan, Anushakti Nagar is a melting pot of people from various regions, cultures and religions from all over India. This results in a diversity seldom seen in other parts of India, and a very social celebration of all the Indian festivals.

People associated with Anushakti Nagar are today scattered across the globe and are making it proud in their own ways. Most still retain some form of 'atomic bond' with the place and its people, long after leaving the colony.

It has given many business leaders to the corporate world and continues to do so. Many teachers of the AECS schools of Anushakti Nagar have also been awarded with Presidents Gold Medals. H.S.Kamath (Ex CEO Heavy Water Board - a Padmashree awardee), Shreya Ghoshal (a lead singer - a national awardee), Anand Ramaswamy (Strategist-Yahoo! India) also happen to be from Anushakti Nagar, apart from the numerous known industry personalities.

P. K. Iyengar, R Chidambaram, Anil Kakodkar - All ex-directors of BARC (Chairman Atomic Energy Commission) were associated with Anushakti Nagar directly.

Education

The education up to XII standard for the residents is provided by Atomic Energy Education Society through Atomic Energy Central School (AECS), which are numbered 1 through 6, and a sprawling Atomic Energy Junior College (AEJC) for grades 11 and 12, on the foot of the Trombay Hill. Now the AECS School No. 4 has grade 11 and grade 12 under the CBSE. Admission to these schools is strictly for children whose parents or guardians are employees of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and/or the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).The fee structure is highly subsidised and one of the reason for many employees to prefer to stay in Anushakti Nagar. Recently the AECS have started admitting grandchildren of the DAE/BARC/NPC employees as well. Non-DAE students are admitted in these schools at higher fees. The school system follows the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education). The medium of instruction is English. Hindi language is taught, and is compulsory till the 10th standard. The other choice of language offered is Marathi, the state language of Maharashtra.

Anushakti Nagar is host to BARC Training School, established in the year 1956, along with Homi Bhabha National Institute, which is a Deemed to be University.[2] The BARC Training School is running Orientation Course for Engineering graduates and Science post-graduates (OCES) and serves as in-house human resource training centre for Department of Atomic Energy. Homi Bhabha National Institute which is dedicated to encourage pursuit of excellence in sciences (including engineering sciences) and mathematics in a manner that has major significance for the progress of indigenous nuclear technological capability is located near BARC Training School. The HBNI provides an academic framework for integrating basic research being done at its grant-in-aid institutions and the research centres of DAE with technology development at the research centres. The institute trains high quality manpower in the sciences including engineering sciences for taking up a career in nuclear science and technology and related areas in the Department of Atomic Energy or elsewhere. The institute also provides continuing education for the employees of the DAE for sharpening and updating their knowledge base while in service.

The Training School Hostel (TSH), and the New Bachelor's Hostel (NBH) provide accommodation for BARC trainees, as well as for interns and students who come for various academic purposes (like training for International Mathematics Olympiad or International Physics Olympiad etc.)

Leisure and Sports

Anushakti Nagar has very good sports and games facilities with many apartment complexes having their own grounds which are usually occupied by cricket playing youngsters. It has a 'New Community Centre' which was established in the year 1991 and run by DAE Sports and Cultural Council for sports and cultural activities. This has facilities for playing indoor games like Badminton & Table-Tennis, Billiards, Gym etc. and conducts training in performing arts like Western Dance, Musical Instrument etc. One field each for Football, Cricket and Hockey, 9 floodlit Tennis Courts, 2 Basketball courts and 2 volleyball courts and a large number of badminton courts. There are vast playgrounds spread across the colony. It also has, a few scattered basketball courts, volleyball facilities & a huge football field near the junior college. A new sports complex with swimming pool is also available for indoor games presently. It has produced many domestic & international cricketers like Lalchand Rajput & Surya Kumar Yadav.

The Community Website

As Anushakti Nagar is the largest DAE colony, few employees of BARC had started a social networking site for the benefit of employees and their families to interact or socialise irrespective of the colonies they belongs to. This is a joint venture to unite all employees and their families together under one roof, and to help each other. To keep the privacy of the members, who register in this site, this site functions as a "walled garden", where you need to login to the site to make the website interactive. More over this site is not accessible outside India. You can visit the site at www.anushaktinagar.net

See also

External links

Social Networking Site of Anushakti Nagar Anushakti Nagar Social Networking Site

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Anushakti Nagar.

References

  1. "Pin code : Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai". pincode.org.in. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  2. http://www.hbni.ac.in