Raigad district (), previously

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO 15919, ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During the Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was ...

district, is a district in the Konkan division of

Maharashtra, India Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to the so ...

. The headquarters of the district is Alibag. Other major cities in the district are Panvel,

Karjat Karjat (Pronunciation: əɾd͡zət̪ is a city administered under a Municipal Council in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It forms a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and is located approximately from both Mumbai and Pune ...

, Navi Mumbai, Khopoli, Shrivardhan and Mahad. The district was renamed to Raigad after the fort that was the first capital of the former

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

, which in turn was renamed from its earlier name - Rairi. The fort is located in the interior regions of the district, in dense forests on a west-facing spur of the Western Ghats of Sahyadri Range. In 2011 the district had a population of 2,634,200, compared to 2,207,929 in 2001. The name was changed in the regime of Chief Minister A. R. Antulay on 1 January 1981. In 2011 urban dwellers had increased to 36.91% from 24.22% in 2001. Alibag is the headquarters of Raigad district. Raigad district's neighbouring districts are Mumbai, Thane districts on North, Pune district on East, Satara district on South East, Ratnagiri district is present on South side and Arabian sea on West.

History

Kulaba (also spelled Kolaba) district was split from

Thane district Thane district (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �ʰaːɳe previously named Taana or Thana) is a districts of Maharashtra, district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the c ...

in 1869. At this point, the northernmost parts of present-day Raigad district were retained in

. Panvel, just across the bay from

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, was not included in Kolaba district until 1883, and

, an area in the north-east corner of modern Raigad district, was not placed in Kolaba district until 1891. Kolaba district was later renamed as Raigad district. In July 2023, a major

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

, caused by torrential rains, resulted in at least 22 deaths, with more than 100 feared trapped under debris. Over half of the houses in the hillside village, precisely 17 out of 48, were either entirely or partially buried by the debris from the landslide.

Geography

The district is bounded by

Mumbai Harbour Mumbai Harbour (also English; Bombay Harbour or Front Bay, Marathi ''Mumba'ī bandar''), is a natural deep-water harbour in the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary. The narrower, northern part of the estuary is called Thana Creek. Th ...

to the northwest,

to the north, Pune district to the east,

Ratnagiri district Ratnagiri district (Marathi pronunciation: �ət̪n̪aːɡiɾiː is a district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The administrative headquarter of the district is located in the town of Ratnagiri. The district is 11.34% urban. The district ...

to the south and the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

to the west. It includes the large natural harbour of Pen-Mandwa, which is immediately south of

Mumbai harbour Mumbai Harbour (also English; Bombay Harbour or Front Bay, Marathi ''Mumba'ī bandar''), is a natural deep-water harbour in the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary. The narrower, northern part of the estuary is called Thana Creek. Th ...

, and forming a single

landform A landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement ...

with it. The northern part of the district is included in the planned metropolis of Navi Mumbai, consisting of

Kharghar Kharghar is a node of Raigad District's Navi Mumbai and it is a suburb under Panvel Municipal Corporation. It is situated at the northernmost tip of Raigad district. It was developed by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) ...

, Ulve node, New Panvel and Khanda Colony,

Taloja Taloja is a census town in the Raigad district of Navi Mumbai city, in the India, Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. It is an extension of the Kharghar node and governed by the Panvel Municipal Corporation. The Navi Mum ...

Kamothe Kamothe is a node of Navi Mumbai in the Raigad district, Raigad District, developed and maintained by CIDCO. It is located on the Sion Panvel Highway and is the third node towards Mumbai after Panvel and Kalamboli. Location The site of Kamo ...

and Kalamboli nodes as well as Uran City and its port, the JNPT. The district includes cities/towns

, Kalamboli, Panvel, Rasayani,

, Khopoli,

Matheran Matheran is a partially automobile free hill station and a municipal council in the Karjat, Karjat taluka of the Raigad district located in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Matheran is part of the Mumbai Metropo ...

, Uran,

Pen PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

, Alibag,

Murud-Janjira Murud-Janjira () is the local name of a famous fort and tourist spot situated on an island just off the coastal town of Murud, Raigad, Murud, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. Malik Ambar is credited with the construction of the Jan ...

, Roha, Nagothane, Sudhagad-Pali,

Mangaon Mangaon is a Village and ''tehsil'' (council) in the Konkan Division, India. It is located in the Raigad district, from Alibaug headquarters, and from the capital city of Bombay (Mumbai). The area is located towards the Panjim side of Goa. ...

, Mhasla, Shrivardhan, Mahad, Birwadi, Poladpur. The largest city in terms of Population, Industrialization as well as Area is Panvel. The district also includes the isle of Gharapuri or Elephanta, located in Uran which has ancient Hindu and Buddhist caves.

Administrative subdivisions

Raigad district is divided into eight subdivisions, with fifteen

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

s, and 1,967 villages. *Sub-Divisions: 8 *Talukas: 15 *Towns: 23 *Municipal Corporation(s): 1 *Municipal Councils: 10 *Nagar Panchayats: 6

Municipal Civic Bodies

Panvel (in Navi Mumbai city) is the main Municipal Corporations responsible for services. MMRDA, CIDCO, and NAINA are the special planning authorities operational in Raigad district.

Municipal Corporations

* Panvel

Municipal Councils

* Alibag * Uran *

* Khopoli *

* Roha *

* Mahad * Shrivardhan

Nagar Panchayats

* Khalapur *

* Poladpur * Tala * Mhasla * Pali-Sudhagad

Proposed Municipal Council(s)

* Neral-Mamdapur

Proposed Nagar Panchayats

* * Bhivpuri * Shelu * Kalamb Karjat * Kashele * Rees-Mohopada * Rasayani * Nagothane * Jite-Kharpada

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Raigad district has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 2,634,200, roughly equal to the nation of

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

or the US state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. This gives it a ranking of 153rd in India (out of a total of

640 Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 19.31%. Raigad has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 959 females for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 83.14%. 36.83% of the population lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 5.12% and 11.58% of the population respectively. At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 79.04% of the population in the district spoke Marathi, 7.06%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, 5.85%

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and 0.90% Gujarati as their first language. 1.01% of the population recorded their language as 'Others' under Marathi. The most populous tribes are the Katkari, Thakar and Mahadev Koli.

Transport

Raigad District is connected to Mumbai by Sion Panvel Expressway. The Mumbai-Pune expressway and NH4 passes through Panvel.

NH 66 National Highway 66, commonly referred to as NH 66 (erstwhile NH-17 and a part of NH-47), is a mostly 4 lane 1640 km (1020 miles) long busy National Highway that runs roughly north–south along the western coast of India, parallel to t ...

, which starts at Panvel, traverses the whole district. The

Konkan Railway The Konkan Railway (abbreviated KR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India with its headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Konkan Railway line from Roha to Thokur is operated and maintained by Konkan Railway co ...

line starts at Roha and passes through

and

Veer The Veer is an option running play often associated with option offenses in American football, made famous at the College football, collegiate level by Bill Yeoman's Houston Cougars football, Houston Cougars. It is currently run primarily at Hi ...

in Mahad. The Central Railway Line of Mumbai to Pune passes through

with Extension Line for Karjat to Khopoli. Panvel Junction is the most important railway station in the district; it is connected to Mumbai (by both the Harbour Line and Main Line of Central Railway), Thane (by Trans-Harbour Line), Roha, Vasai (Western Railway) and Karjat. All trains, ranging from passengers to Rajdhanis stop here, and it is considered the gateway for travelling south. There is a

narrow gauge railroad A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...

from Neral to

, called the Matheran Hill Railway. The main ports are JNPT, Mandava, Revas, Murud, Dighi and Shrivardhan.

Education

After the British took over the old Colaba and this region, they established four Anglo-Vernacular medium school and 30 government schools in the year 1865–66. In the year 1861 the first school for girls was started in Alibag. The Mission Church started the first English school in Alibag in 1879. Prabhakar Patil Education Society (PNP education Society) runs 27 Institutes: Five Primary English & Marathi Schools, Twenty Seven Secondary Marathi Schools, One Arts, Science & Commerce Jr. & Sr. College, One English & Marathi Medium D. Ed College, One B. Ed. College, One Polytechnic Institute and One MMS College. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) established National Institute of Securities Markets at Patalganga, tal Khalapur. Two more old and valuable institutions in Raigad District named Vasantrao Naik College Murud And Mhasla, established by the former Chief Minister of Maharashtra A. R. Antulay. The Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University is a unitary, autonomous university located at Lonere in Raigad district, established in 1989 under the Government of Maharashtra Act 1983.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raigad District 1869 establishments in India Districts of Maharashtra Konkan division