horn-bill

Panvel

Panvel city and a municipal council lies in Raigad district in India in state of Maharashtra. Panvel is also known as gateway of Konkan region. It adjoins Navi Mumbai, and is just after the Thane district border. Panvel is located on the Mumbai Pune Expressway about 22 kilometres from Mumbai.

Geography

Panvel is located at . It has an average elevation of 28 metres (91 feet). It is near the Gadhi river.

Demographics

As of 2007 India census, Panvel had a population of 2,04,336. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Panvel has an average literacy rate of 78%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 74%. In Panvel, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Panvel is the largest and most populated city in Raigad district. The city also happens to be the headquarters of Panvel taluka with more than 1000 villages under it. The development authority of Panvel is the Panvel Municipal Council (PMC)and that of New Panvel is CIDCO. The villages of Panvel come under the purview of Raigad Zilla Parishad.

History

The historic settlement of Panvel is 300-years old, developed around trade routes (both land and sea), during the time of Maratha/ Portuguese/British dominance of the Konkan region. During this time, building activity in these townships was generated by the affluence due to trade. This can be seen in the large Wadas and the buildings that came up during the relative affluence of the Peshwahi and post-Peshwahi period. It is also said that old name of this city was Pavanpalli.

Industry

Panvel is surrounded by some major MIDC managed regions e.g. Patalganga, Taloja, Nagothane, Roha, Khopoli. Some of the Indian Industry majors like Reliance, Hindustan Oraganics Chemicals Ltd., ONGC, IPCL are based around Panvel providing mass employment. The JNPT port is also located near Panvel. New SEZs declared by Government are coming around Panvel.

Inside the city some smaller entities like Dhootpapeshwar Trust, (which is one of the oldest organisation in India) whose trustees are manufacturers of ayurvedic medicines, can be found.

Tourist places around Panvel

Between Pen and Panvel lies the Karnala fort. At the bottom of the fort is the bird sanctuary. Karnala is 65 km away from Mumbai, 120 km away from Pune and 13 km away from Panvel. The sanctuary is around 25 m above mean sea level, while the fort itself is 370 m above mean sea level. Maharashtra Government declared this 4.5 km². region as the bird sanctuary in 1968-69. Rich with natural habitats for various kinds of birds, in the sanctuary one can find around 150 species of birds. One can watch for Red-vented Bulbul, Horn Bill, Myna, Owl, Ashy Rain War Blur, Paradise Fly Catcher, RobinMcPie.

Two of the eight Ashtavinayak temples of the God Ganesha are close to Panvel, Ballaleshwar Pali and Varadavinayaka at Mahad (महड), near Khopoli, on the Mumbai-Pune Highway (NH4). It is different from Mahad (महाड).

Karjat, Karnala, World known Elephanta Caves, Haji Malang, Prabal Gad, Toy Train famed Matheran, Murud-Janjira, Mahad (महाड) (Raigadh fort), Ballaleshwar Pali and Mahad (महड) - Ganesha: Two of the Ashtavinayak ganapati. Alibag: Sea beach, Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary, Ghadeshwar Dam, Nera Village , Swapna Nagari (well known Bollywood shooting place)

Education in Panvel

Wasudev Balwant Phadke High School
New Horizon Public School, Khanda Colony
St. Josephs High School
Little Angels Eco-School
K.A.Banthia High School
Dayanand Arya Vidhyalaya Public School
Changu Kana Thakur High School
St. George High School
St. Mary's High School
V K High School
Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Panvel
K V High School
Barns High School
Mansarovar Vidyalaya
Daya Anand Anglo Vedic School
Mahatma School of academics and sports
Vidyalaya,ONGC CBSE are among the well-known schools in the area.
Mahatma Gandhi Mission's College for Engineering
Mahatma Gandhi Mission's Medical College
Mahatma Phule ASC College
JBSP's Changu Kana Thakur A.C.S College
Pillai's Institute of Management Studies & Research
Pillai College of Architecture
Pillai's College of Arts, Commerce & Science
Bharti Vidyapeeth's College of Engineering
National Institute Of Fashion Technology (NIFT) are known for providing quality education.
Carmel Convent High School.
Bethany Convent High School.

Transport

Proposed Navi Mumbai International Airport

The new Navi Mumbai International Airport,which is to come up around the Panvel-Kopra area, would be built through public-private partnership (PPP) — with private sector partner getting 74% equity while Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Maharashtra government (through City and Industrial Development Corporation or CIDCO) holding 13% each.The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has already given techno-feasibility clearance to the Navi Mumbai airport and central cabinet has cleared it. The project is at Global tendering stage.

Panvel Railway Station

Panvel Railway station comes under Mumbai Division of Central Railway. The station is technically divided into two parts viz, Suburban and Main Line. The Main line station is located at Chainage 68/5 from Mumbai CST, while the suburban station is at 48/9. Both share the same building complex, and share the staff members also. The Suburban Complex currently has two operational platforms, two non-operational. The Main line station has 3 operational platforms, and two more are being constructed.27.46crores were spent.

The station handles more than 30 pairs of freight trains each day. About 5 pairs of daily commuter (passenger) trains, and about 5 pairs of daily express trains stop here. In addition to this 5 pairs, about 11 pairs of non-daily trains including the Trivandrum Rajdhani also stop at this station. Panvel is a very major station and is considered equivalent to Mumbai for trains which skip Mumbai. The trains run on Diesel Traction and electricity (the tracks are not electrified to the south of Panvel), and Panvel is a refueling point for their locomotives.

In addition to refueling, Panvel has a huge number of parcel bookings, and most trains stop for periods varying from 5 minutes to 20 minutes for technical purposes. Panvel also handles crew change for Freight trains. There are 4 Ticket counters and 3 Reservation counters. Car/Two-Wheeler parking facility is available. State Road Transport bus station is about 500 metres away from the station. Buses run by Local Municipal Transport (NMMT) come right outside the station. Rickshaws are available in plenty (but they however do not charge as per meter tariff. Fixed charges apply).

STD booths are available.Railway canteens look after the needs of passengers. A book stall is located on Platform 1 of the Main line station. Toilet and Rest rooms facilities are available for passengers of the Main line.New Suburban railway station building is under construction.It is the biggest railway station in the district.

State Transport Buses (S.T.)

There are two main ST stands in Panvel- Panvel St stand on the highway & railway station stand in front of the railway station.The one on the highway is among the busiest in the state and handles over 1500 ST buses every day,while the railway station bus stand handles only 200 NMMT buses per day. There are about 20 other small bus stops in Panvel city.