Development in Kharghar

Kharghar, and in fact Navi Mumbai, is emerging as the 'killer' response for the chaos of Mumbai!

We have been staying in Navi Mumbai since the summer of 2004. Till about 2 years back, when I joined my current employer, we had hardly visited Mumbai as we would find most of our requirements fulfilled by Navi Mumbai itself. And today, but for my employer, some of our friends, and the airport, we really don't have the need to go to Mumbai. One may also attribute this to our needs getting fulfilled here; and while there are a lot of things to do on the island, but they are not on the top of our list of priorities.


Growth in Navi Mumbai - Today & Tomorrow

Starting from the landmark 'Siemens' building Navi Mumbai has grown leaps & bounds since.While a lot has happened, yet there is a humongous lot which is yet to be done. A lot of talk is in the air to make Mumbai, the Shanghai of India; good thought, but I am convinced that it will not be Mumbai, but Navi Mumbai which will steal the crown. Watch out, Mumbai!!!

In the first two years of our stay, there had been a lot of smoke & gas, but no fire. In the past three years, Navi Mumbai has gotten into canter mode. With Greater Mumbai (MahaMumbai) SEZ coming up, the New Airport near Kharghar, the Bollywood Hills project in Kharghar, a world-class Golf Academy in Kharghar, a Central Park in Kharghar, beautifully designed railway stations spread all over Navi Mumbai, integrated railway stations such as the one coming up in Seawoods, 3 metro-lines, India's largest ISKCON temple in Kharghar, the Sewri-Nhava Transharbour Link, the Urban Haat in Belapur (modelled in the lines of Dilli Haat), this is surely going to be an interesting place to live and  bring up my son... and your children. Please do take a look at the links, and feel free to contribute more links.

I personally feel that the Parsik Hills project should now be reinitiated with vigor; and how about getting the likes of ISB & IIM here. In the first para I had written about my priorities; well, I would like to qualify 'priorities'. The flexibility that I offer to my 'priorities' is directly proportional to the 'pain' in travelling / driving in Mumbai, and its a bane. So, what happens if we have a theatres playing Naseeruddin, amphitheatres flooded with Yanni's music & classical dance extravaganza by Hema Malini, book-reading by William Dalrymple, art galleries hosting Hussain, culture centres showing Akira Kurosawa's work, art centre teaching Origami etc etc etc... in Navi Mumbai!!! Well, in that case all of the above would gain priority in my 'list of priorities'; just that, I hope, that traffic doesn't become a bane here!!!


Areas of Improvement

We want a lot, but we should not forget that with developments come newer issues. What is important is that we forsee them and keep their remedy as a part of our plan. So, where all do we need to improve, and plan for 30years from today.

While a lot has to be done in terms of our 'attitude', let us go ahead and do our bit in terms of keeping the place clean, following traffic rules, making the place culture-sponsoring and also build profitable & sustainable communities out of the villages that dot the entire Navi Mumbai space. Technology is catching up in Navi Mumbai, but we need to have this place hot-wired into a wi-fi environment.

The Times of India's 2nd Jan edition had asked a question... "Do you think the Navi Mumbai roads are more accident-prone? If yes what you would suggest to make the city roads safe for commuting?". I responded to it (http://bit.ly/8GDzf8), but by the time I finished writing, I realised that so much could be done.

WE have to make living in Navi Mumbai safer for us and our children.



Links to Checkout...

Cidco plot for Kharghar film park fetches Rs 1,530 crore (http://bit.ly/7EBWTX)
1st phase of Navi Mumbai airport by 2013 (http://bit.ly/4WMy8w)
ISKCON's Sri Sri Radha Madan Mohanji Temple, spread over eight acres of land that will be more than just a temple (http://iskconkharghar.com/)
CIDCO's Navi Mumbai festival begins on 23/Jan/2010 (http://bit.ly/4rFV0Z)
Kharghar park to open doors next week to the 1st Phase of the Central Park (http://bit.ly/8itMfq)