Andheri (Marathi: अंधेरी) is a suburb of Mumbai city. It is also a railway station on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, Western line. It is the fifth suburb among the Western suburbs. Like many other suburbs and areas of Mumbai, Andheri too is divided into an East and a West section, separated by the railway line.
History
The oldest settlements in and around Andheri were those of the East Indians, the natives whose villages survive in Amboli, Marol (See St. John the Baptist Church), Chakala, Gundowli, Sahar, Saki, etc.
Another concentration of the native East Indians was located on the former islet of Versova, also known as Vasave.
In the early 1900s, as urbanization spread from Bombay northwards, Marathi, Gujarati and other settlers began to colonize the area.
The English actively encouraged this in order to take off population pressure from the congested city and to increase revenue inflows; however, as a result, the native East Indians came to be swamped, marginalized and their lands were usually expropriated without compensation, even as their access to the sea for fishing was cut, thus destroying their two means of livelihood: agriculture & fishing.
In the 1950s the English built the Versova Causeway (the Versova Road) between Andheri on Sashti Island and the islet of Versova. The area on both sides of this causeway were rapidly filled in to develop areas now known as Dhake Colony, D.N. Nagar, Four Bungalows, Seven Bungalows, etc.
One of the earliest colonies is the Dhake Colony on Versova Road, West Andheri. The five buildings of Dhake Colony were built around 1950, and they served as a landmark until recently. The area is now known as D.N. Nagar.
Another of these early settlements is Bhardawadi. This lane forms a vital link with S.V. Road for the residents of Versova Road. It has been inhabited for the last ninety years. In the past, there were bungalows on this road; these gave way to apartment buildings, although there are still a few old bungalows, which is rare in Mumbai. This lane bustles with the sound of traffic which passes through it to reach S.V. Road.
The popular Ganesha temple, Shree Vanchasiddhi Vinayak Ganesh Mandir, created in 1926, also contributed to the settlement of Andheri.
Before 1945, Andheri was administered by a Collector as the "Suburban District"; in that year, the former Suburban District was absorbed by Mumbai city as Greater Bombay. However, the Suburban District was once again revived in about 2000 as the Mumbai Suburban District.
Current
Andheri today has a population exceeding four million, and as per record is by far the most populous suburb of Mumbai.
Contemporary West Andheri is largely a residential area, whereas East Andheri is has a mixture of commercial and residential areas, including MIDC-SEEPZ (Santacruz Electronic and Export Promotion Zone), Saki Naka (an industrial area), etc.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai's International Airport is in Andheri East. Many Call Centers and BPOs are located in Chakala area of Andheri.
The World Bank has many plans for the development of the largely industrial East Andheri. Work on the project of connecting Versova to Ghatkopar (a central suburb) by an elevated Metro railway line has begun by expanding the existing roads so that spaces can be created for the railway's pillars, etc. After the Metro becomes operational in about 2011, travel time will be reduced from the present 1 hour 45 minutes to about 20 minutes.
East Andheri also has pockets of attractive residential areas, with quiet, tree-lined streets, easy connectivity to the Western Express Highway, and without the congestion and pepetual traffic jams that afflict most residential areas in suburban Mumbai.
Important Places
*In Andheri East, there are ancient caves, named after the Goddess Maha Kali. They are now in ruined condition but recently they have caught the attention of the government, which is working to restore them.
*The Vanchasiddhi temple of Lord Ganesh has the second highest number of devotees everyday after the Siddhivinayak temple in Dadar.
*SEEPZ (Special Electronic and Export Promotion Zone) is a very important SEZ (Special Economic zone) in Mumbai. SEEPZ is located in MIDC (Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation). MIDC also hosts various small and medium scale industries.
*Vijay Nagar, on Marol Maroshi Road is an important landmark in Andheri (East). Its a colony resided by employees of Larsen and Toubro Ltd. at Powai. Although not exactly an L&T quarters as such, it is called by many as L&T colony, because of the names of thirty buildings that starts as LT1, LT2 ..., LT29 uptill LT31. Although many of the employees have retired or taken voluntary retirement from L&T, it is still resided by the L&T veterans and is a major landmark in Marol. The VijayNagar Colony was inaugarated by none other than Mr. Barrister Rajni Patel, who is the grandfather of Ms. Amisha Patel, popular bollywood actress. The colony was almost completey resided in 1977. Major bus routes to VijayNagar Society are 186, 434, 398, 341 and 326. The bus stop is called VijayNagar and the buses arrive from Andheri East Station, Mulund Station and Kurla Station respectively. VijayNagar is a popular destination for its annual Ganesh festivals and Govinda Matki-Fod festivals which are celebrated with pomp and gaiety. VijayNagar Co-op Housing Society, as it named on the three wide gates that enclose the society, has an LTECHS office which stands for (Larsen and Toubro Employees Co-op Hsg Scty). A new flyover connects Vijaynagar to the very famous SEEPZ area of Mumbai. Vijaynagar is the nearest residential society besides SEEPZ. Hence it is the most sought after residence for many software professionals working in SEEPZ and MIDC area, due to its walkable distance towards SEEPZ. VijayNagar is known for its solid construction of buildings. The walls and beams are difficult to penetrate through normal drills due to its very high quality cements used during construction. Very few societies in Mumbai has been known to have such a high degree of quality construction today. Originally the two VijayNagars in Andheri East, were part of one society. But was dissociated somewhere in the 70s. Marol VijayNagar and Andheri VijayNagar are how the two are recognised today.
*Bhawani Nagar, on Marol Maroshi Road, is another residential landmark in Andheri (East). This colony contains 18 clusters of buildings, called plots. The earliest plot in this colony was developed in 1977 by Deepak Builders.
*The Marol Maroshi Bus Depot is a major bus terminus.
*Vijay Nagar & Chandrashekhar Society (विजयनगर आणि चंद्रशेखर सहनिवास)on Swami Nityanand Marg (Sahar Road) is an important place in terms of cultural/Educational activities. It's also home to Paranjape Vidyalaya (परांजपे विद्यालय) a branch of Famous Parle Tilak Sanstha.
*Andheri's East and West areas house some of the biggest and well know mall's and software companies in the whole of Mumbai. The biggest mall of Andheri, Infinity mall in the West houses on of India's biggest FM stations BIG FM and India's largest gaming portal Zapak, which is a Reliance ADA undertaking.