CHEMBUR

About Chembur

Chembur is a suburb in eastern Mumbai, India. It is 15 km from downtown Mumbai and 10 km from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The name Chembur is probably derived from the word Chimboree which means "Large Crab" in Marathi, because the British were unable to pronounce the word 'chimboree' Before reclamation, Chembur lay on the north-western corner of Trombay Island. It is suggested that Chembur is the same place referred to as Saimur by the Arab writers (9151137), Sibor in Cosmas Indicopleustes (535), Chemula in the Kanheri cave inscriptions (300500), Symulla by the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (247), Symulla or Timulla by Ptolemy (150), and perhaps even Perimula by Pliny (A.D. 77).[2] This is however disputed and is also said to be a reference to Chevul at the mouth of the Kundalika River on mainland Maharashtra. Later the area occupied is said to have occupied a branch of an animal home.[2] 1893 map showing Chembur in the North-West of Trombay Island The Bombay Presidency Golf Club was established in 1827 and was later re-built to meet international standards.[3] No further activity was seen until the Kurla-Chembur single railway line was built in 1906 for garbage trains. The line was opened to passenger traffic in 1924.[4] After construction activity in the 1920s, Chembur was finally opened up in the 1930s. It was made part of Greater Bombay in 1945.[5] After independence, Chembur was one of the sites where refugee camps were set up to settle refugees after partition.[6] The industrialisation of Trombay during and after the war led to the demand for housing and the growth of Chembur thereafter.[7][8][9] The construction by the Bombay Housing Board in Station Colony (Subhash Nagar), the Shell Colony (Sahakar Nagar), and the Township Colony (Tilak Nagar) in 195558 transformed the area completely by shifting it from an industrial suburb to a residential one