Know the History of a Suburb called Ghatkopar!

Ghatkopar is a developing suburb in one of the most densely populated cities in India. This suburb, located in Mumbai, is showing steady growth with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

In 1920s, Ghatkopar was a small village that slowly came under the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. Hence, one could say that it was not really a part of Mumbai. Back then, Mumbai's boundaries extended from Sion all the way up to Ghatkopar. Like most other small community villages, Ghatkopar had very limited connectivity to the rest of Mumbai. There was just one main road running through the suburb that connected it to Mumbai at the south end and to Thane at the north end. It used to be surrounded by creeks and hills. Ghatkopar derived its distinguished name from the fact that there were many ghats (small hills) surrounding it. Most people giving directions to this suburb would often say “Ghat ke oopar” (above the hills), and hence the name, Ghatkopar.

Most of the inhabitants of Ghatkopar belonged to two main sects. There were the locals, who came from Mumbai and were known as The East Indians. And then there are the richer immigrants like the Parsees, Bhatias, and Gujratis who bought many large plots of land here. In the beginning, population here was sparse and the town was a close-knit community. Many of the streets derived their names from the renowned residents of Ghatkopar. ‘Cama Lane’ was named after Lady Cama, ‘Khot Lane’ was named after people who performed farming activities in Ghatkopar and similarly, ‘Navrojee Lane’ got its name from Navrojee Sheth – a well to do Parsee.

In the early days, many of the streets in Ghatkopar did not have street lights. Instead, most streets were illuminated by petromax lamps. These lamps had to be lit by a man who religiously made rounds every evening. Would you believe that the roads in Ghatkopar were made of metal? What’s more interesting is that they were slightly elevated in the middle, so that rain water could drain more easily than on a flat surface. To maintain these roads and ensure they were kept clean, the municipality would wash them twice a day.

It was by 1916 that Ghatkopar had developed to quite a significant extent, so much so that a municipal council was founded. This administration had taken up the responsibility of being a ‘Collector’ with the "Suburban District". It was only until 1945 that Ghatkopar was finally assimilated as a part of Greater Mumbai.

Coming back to present times, we see a big difference in what the suburb was and what it has  become today. The addition of the Reliance Ghatkopar-Andheri-Versova Metro has significantly reduced the time it takes to commute between Ghatkopar and the other western suburbs. That is one reason why over the past few years the sales of flats inGhatkopar have been on a steady incline.

This increase in sales of flats in Ghatkopar has also attributed to the increase in cost of flats in Mumbai.