Karjat-Murbad Road Expands to Become a National highway

If you've been to Karjat recently, you would have seen the dismal state of the roads. A regular visitor to karjat would know that every monsoon people are greeted by giant-sized potholes (beware if you have a small car), where driving at a speed of 30 is ideal. Another development happening is broadening of the Karjat-Murbad road, which is going to become a National highway in the next couple of months or years.

Such a large scale 'development' has led to cutting down hundreds of old trees. Who is accountable for replanting of trees? This is extremely disappointing, because eventually, it will lead to more commercialization - more shops, restaurants, hotels etc. Did you know that Karjat is a Green residential zone (G1, G2 zone)? A green zone where the trees are cut to boost development projects that are not sustainable!

What kind of development is this when every monsoon, the roadworks employees fill up potholes with stones, a shoddy job that will last for a week, and then back again to the same bumpy road. Phone lines running along the side of the road has broken at several spots to an extent that BSNL had 4 exchanges disconnected, BSNL is not laying new cables anymore and this means lines that were disconnected in the road work are no longer going to be connected again.

The National Highway is slated to be ready by end of the year. Only time will unveil the effects of this thoughtless development and how its harming the fragile ecosystem of beautiful Karjat. Until then enjoy the moon ride simulation as you drive on the roads here!

Animal Shelter Opening in Karjat

An Animal Shelter is slated to open in Karjat near Takve village, which is around 12 kms from Karjat. Started by The Terra Anima Trust for Animals, the shelter supports injured, abandoned, destitute and chronically handicapped animals. It will be open 24x7 and will provide medical help to injured animals.

Roxanne Davur, is a Master Trainer in Animal Welfare, Govt. of India and has worked in the Nilgiris for the past 15 years and has moved back to Karjat. She aims to spread awareness, encourage careers, education and empathy in Animal Welfare.

The shelter will have a resident vet much needed in Karjat with the lack of veterinarians and the amount of farm animals, livestock and stray dogs.

This will be one of the closest Shelters to Mumbai and the first to open in Karjat. There use to be a dog breeding farm but that has shifted to Pen. More on the animal shelter soon!

Hailstorm Strikes Karjat

Bringing a brief respite from the scorching heat, the rain gods put up a surprising show few days ago on April 30th in Karjat. A short spell of heavy rainfall was accompanied by an unexpected hail storm, which lasted for around 5 minutes, while the rain continued for a couple of hours. This probably would be the first time that hail stones, which were small, round-shaped ice, were falling from the overcast skies in Karjat.

It seemed like it was building up over the past few days, with loud thundering and lightning splitting the night sky. On Friday the weather was hot and humid until afternoon, when it started to drizzle, cold drops of rain falling initially, and then suddenly hail struck to surprise us all.


Since that day the weather is back to being hot and sunny. But it was a much-needed change, as it washed up all the trees and plants, making it look more green and vibrant. A glimpse of what it looks like during the monsoons. Maybe we'll have early rains this time!

Tanaji Malusare City to have a Skywalk

Tanaji Malusare city, the mammoth low-cost housing project coming up in Karjat, will have a motorised skywalk connecting all the facilities in the township and to Karjat station. The planned skywalk would be the first coming up in this fast-developing rural area.

The skywalk will be approximately 2 km long and cost Rs 18 crores. Pravin Banavalikar, CEO, TMC, said, "It will curve around the settlement and connect all the main utilities, including schools, recreation centres, play centres and hospitals to it. As it is motorised (has a moving floor, like the ones at airports and tube stations abroad), the 60,000 residents will have to access it through a paid swipe card. However, the finer modalities have not been worked out yet."

Tanaji Malusare city, tagged as India's largest social housing project, will be spread across 100 acres in Shirse and Akurle villages of Karjat. It will consist of as many as 15,000 homes for about 60,000 people.

MMRDA to Improve Karjat Roads

The uneven roads are a common sight in Karjat especially during the monsoons.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) has finally decided to improve the roads in four council areas including Karjat, Raigad, Kulgaon-Badlapur and Ambarnath. MMRDA will spend around Rs 30.49 crore on construction and improvement of 15 major roads.

Four roads in Karjat, three in Kulgaon-Badalapur municipal council area and six in Raigad will get a face-lift. According to the proposal, MMRDA will provide nearly 90% of funds for road development.

The spokesperson of MMRDA was quoted as saying that their aim was to make internal roads motorable through out the year. "There are many internal roads in these council areas which are not motorable, especially during and after monsoon. Many a time, state transport buses are not able to reach far-off areas since these roads are not motorable enough."

Maritime Academy Opens in Karjat

A HongKong-based shipping company, Anglo Eastern is slated to open a maritime academy in Karjat. They recently acquired an existing nautical college thats spread across 53 acres site, including hostel capacity for 240 students.

On our recent visit to Karjat we came across a massive structure before Sandshi village, the entrance seemed as if it was enclosing a palace, that's what I was told on asking a person at the gate. He said it was a palace and now its taken over by someone. A palace in Karjat, sounds unbelievable!
On doing research I got know that its actually a Maritime academy opened by Anglo Eastern. The academy commences its operations in August this year with first intake of cadets straight out of high school.

Anglo Eastern also has a training center in Mumbai, and together with the academy in Karjat it will be the largest and well-equipped training establishment in India.

Villagers Resettled by Morbe Dam Unhappy

Whenever the government takes land away from the locals it seems like they never live up to their promises like the Tata Nano project in Singur, but we do not need to look far take a look at the Morbe dam project in Karjat that has affected 11 villages and 776 families.

According to an outdated census around 2897 people have been affected by the dam. Some of the affected people have been claiming that they have not been given permanent jobs as promised while none of the families who have been resettled get water from the dam.

The villagers currently have to get water from taps located far away from their house, Vasudev Rane, an affected villager, said, "It gets worse in summers and we are supplied with water from tankers. Records show that the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has excess water. Why can't they lay small pipelines to our houses? After all, the Morbe dam is built on our land."

Devendra Satam, MLA, Shiv Sena, Karjat, said, "The government had promised jobs to 58 project-affected youth. When the NMMC took over, they said they were not obligated to provide jobs. I met the Navi Mumbai municipal commissioner, who only confirmed NMMC's stand."

While the local Shiv Sainiks stated that they would intensify their agitation and shut off the water supply from the dam if the NCP controlled NMMC continued to treat the villagers in such manner. But the Navi Mumbai municipal commissioner V S Nahata stated that the previous owners of the dam the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran (MJP) had entered into a deal with the villagers and the NMMC was not bound to provide jobs.

The NMMC had bought the dam from the MJP who had promised the villagers jobs. "Despite this, we have employed these villagers on contract and pay them wages as per our standards, which are the highest in the country," added Nahata.

According to Nahata the NMMC had supplied water to houses of 400 people who were complaining and are open to hearing the problems that other villagers are facing.

Tribals claim they got a raw deal in Morbe dam project

Maharashtra Govt Pressured to Set up Panvel Court

The Maharashtra Government has been asked by the Bombay high court to provide the necessary infrastructure to open a court of additional sessions and district judges at Panvel in Raigad district.

This would make it convenient for litigants from Karjat, Panvel, Uran and Khalapur, who currently travel to Alibaug session court for redressal of legal issues. Since Alibaug is quite far from these places, litigants face tremendous difficulties in traveling.


The direction of Bombay high court was issued after residents of Panvel filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) due to the failure of the state government to open a court for redressal of legal issues in that vicinity.

Currently, around 50% of the litigations in Alibaug court arise out of these four places. Bombay high court had given their approval to open a court way back in 1992, but the Maharashtra government failed to take any action.

Future Developments In & Around Karjat

Karjat has been warming up as a destination for the city dwellers around it, but is Karjat ready to become the entertainment hub of Maharashtra.

At the moment there has been a lot of development with regards to hotels and guest houses as Matheran, Khandala, Lonavala, Bhimashnakar Temple, Malsej Ghat, Alibaug beach etc. are around a 1 hour drive from Karjat.

The Mumbai Trans Harbour Sea Link that will connect Sewri to Nhava Sheva will be completed by 2013 and will save the amount of time it takes to get to Navi Mumbai that may cause more people to come to this Green Wonderland.

While some developers expect the land rates to go up considering the airport is only 27 kilometers away from Karjat. Three Secure Economic Zones twenty kilometers away from Karjat, located in Panvel are expected to boost the demand for houses here.

MMRDA has planned to develop a part of area in Karjat-Khopoli belt as a Recreational Hub, on horizon are the Twenty20 league grounds, a Paint Ball Park, Theme Parks and Amusement Parks.

Not only has ND Sudio in Karjat become a major attraction, it has served as a catalyst for other national and international players to start up their own studios around the area.

Greg Norman a world renowned Golf Course designer plan on starting a 27-36 Hole Super Championship Golf Course, the first fully-integrated golf and residential community to be developed outside Mumbai. Serviced by a 5plus star golf and country club and hotel, residents and guests will be offered a range of leisure opportunities. Its due to begin construction from next year onwards.

With people dying to get out of the city there has been purchases of land here to set up farm houses, small and big. The list includes many celebrities like Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan, Shankar Mahadevan etc.

When you put all these factors together, you can picture a very different Karjat in the coming years, we just hope it still stays one with nature.

Villagers Stranded Due to Concrete Walls

The villagers of Karalewadi, Mandawane, Bhiwapuri, Hedavali, Ambewadi and Phanaswadi are stranded due to the bridge that joined their villages to the Karjat city collapsed. The reason behind the bridge collapse is blamed on singer Shankar Mahadevan.

According to the villagers construction on Mahadevan's farmhouse, spread over 2.5 acres near Karalewadi, was given by the local gram panchayat six months ago, and construction work began three months ago. They allege that the 13-foot-wide and 50-foot-long bridge fell down due to the construction work on an illegal compound wall at Mahadevan's farmhouse located close to the bridge.

According to Santosh Bhopee, sarpanch, Karalewadi, said, “The panchayat had only allowed construction of a bungalow. Mahadevan, had not taken permission to construct a compound wall. The contractor used JCB cranes to dig up soft soil near the stream that runs beneath the bridge to create a foundation for a 12-foot high wall. It weakened the foundation of the bridge. leading to its collapse."

The villagers in Karjat find that concrete walls built by farm owners create problems as during the monsoons they do not allow the natural flow of water and tend to cause entire villages being flooded. The villagers request farm house owners to not build walls but to fence their farms instead so they can avoid their villages from flooding.