Bhandup - History

History

The earliest records for Bhandup come from 1803, and show that the erstwhile Bhandup estate comprised Bhandup, Nahur and Kanjur Marg. The following is an excerpt from the Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency:

Bhandup, in Salsette, four miles (6 km) South-west of Thana, with, in 1881, a population of 884 souls, has a railway station and a post-office. the railway traffic returns show an increase in passengers from 29,988 in 1873 to 51,664 in 1880 and in goods from 126 to 143 tons. It is the nearest railway station, about four miles (6 km), to Tulsi Lake. The Kanheri caves lie 2 miles (3.2 km) beyond Tulsi, but the road from Borivli station on the Baroda railway though not so pretty is shorter and easier.

In 1803, on payment of a quit-rent, the East India Company granted the major part of Bhandup and parts of two other villages to Mr. Luke Ashburner, alderman of Bombay and editor of the Bombay Courier. In 1817, Mr. Ashburner sold the estate, together with the contract for supplying the government rum, to his manager Mr. Kavasji Mankeji Ashburner for a sum of £50,000 (Rs. 5,00,000). In 1832, machinery was brought from England to work the distillery, and in that year, about 100000 gallons of rum are said to have been supplied to the government. Mr. Bell, in his excise report dated 1 October 1869 wrote: "The Bhandup distillery was started to supply European troops with rum. Besides to the troops, considerable quantities of rum found its way to Bombay." In 1857, the government stopped the rum contract and the distillery ceased to prosper and shut down in 1878. It was re-opened in 1879-80 but has again been closed.

A copper-plate found near Bhandup, about 1835, records the grant by Chhitarajadev Silhara in AD 1026 of a field in the village of Nour, the modern Naura, two miles (3 km) north of Bhandup. Other villages mentioned in the grant are Gomvanni, probably the modern Govhan, and Gorapavalli, perhaps an old name of Bhandup. The boundary of the field to the north and east was a main road, or rajapatha, which apparently ran from Thana much along the line of the present Bombay-Thana road.

The Silaharas, also known as Shilahara, were a mixture of people from Dravidian ancestry and the Kayastha Prabhus from Konkan. The Silaharas promoted the socio-economic progress in the 11th century around Bombay. To control the regions in Bombay and Thane, the built the Rajapatha, passing from the north of Bhandup, following the current Bombay-Thane road.

Historical records indicate that the distillery at Bhandup was one of the two biggest sources of liquor (other being the Uran distillery) in the Bombay Presidency. The Report on the administration of the Bombay Presidency (1873–1874) notes that:

The only other factories in the Presidency deserving of mention are a silk factory at Tanna, a dyeing factory at Wassind, tanning factories at Bandora, and brick fields at Kallian. At Uran, Chembur and Bhandup there are liquor distilleries on a larger scale than any in the rest of the Presidency, which supply almost all the liquor consumed in the city of Bombay. All these factories are in the Tanna Collectorate, and have doubtless sprung up in that district owing to its vicinity to the Presidency town. The report also gives an idea of why the large tracts of land in the modern-era Bhandup East continue to be marsh lands owned by the Salt Department of India:

In addition to the superintendence of the salt revenue the Salt Department', which is now presided over by a special Collector, is entrusted with the management of sea customs and port conservancy at all the ports of the Presidency except Bombay, with preventive duties and the collection of land customs on the foreign frontiers, with the coast guard service, and with the management of the distilleries at Uran, Bhandup, and Chembur, which supply the town and island of Bombay with country liquor. The customs revenue has already been treated of, and that which is derived from the distilleries above mentioned will be shown hereafter.

The report further goes on to note the reasons why the Bhandup distillery was facing economic hardships by 1873-1874:

The distilleries situated at Bhandup and Chembur in the Distilleries island of Salsette, and at Uran in the island of Karanja, which Collector of supply the greater portion of the country spirits consumed in Salt Kevenue> Bombay, are not included in the statement in the Appendix (V.—A 3). They are under the control of the Collector of Salt Revenue. The excise is levied in the form of still-head duty, and the removal of spirit for exportation elsewhere than to Bombay is prohibited. The Uran distilleries, twenty in number, are the most important. The owner of the Bhandup distillery had for a long time the contract for supplying arrack to the Commissariat Department; but as it was found a few years ago that rum could be imported from the Mauritius at cheaper rates, the contract was not renewed, and the distillery has lately been standing almost idle.

Along with the drop in exports, it was also the rise in competition due to new distilleries in Bombay that caused the Bhandup distillery to shut down. These distilleries in Bombay manufactured cheap tadi (toddy, as mentioned in the report).

In addition to the distilleries above mentioned, there are distilleries within the town of Bombay at which spirit is extracted from the juice of date, brab, and cocoanut trees growing in the island...

It is clear, therefore, that, under the present state of the abkari law, the distillers at Uran, Bhandup, and Chembur cannot compete with the toddy distillers in the town of Bombay, who are permitted to distil spirits of any strength and in any quantity on payment of a fixed cess on each tree tapped...

Bhandup was also one of the first railway stations in India. The first train ran between Bori Bunder and Thane on 16 April 1853 with 400 passengers aboard 14 railway carriages, at 3:35 pm. It is said that the idea to connect Bombay with Thane and Kalyan occurred to Mr. George Clark, the Chief Engineer of the Bombay Government, on a visit to Bhandup in 1843. However, Bhandup was not a part of Bombay until 1950, when the boundaries of the Bombay municipal corporation were extended up to Andheri on the western side and Bhandup on the eastern side.