# Mira Road

Mira Road (Marathi pronunciation:) is a suburb north of Mumbai in Thane District and is also a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It falls within the Police Jurisdiction of Mira-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar Police Commissionerate. Mira Road is situated in the north-western portion of Salsette Island, Maharashtra state, India. Mira Road has a large Marathi population followed by other ethnic groups.

## History

The rise of Mumbai's real estate prices has been instrumental in the development of the Mira-Bhayandar region. From 1947 onwards, primarily developed by Bharat Shah the rise in real estate prices prompted several largely lower and middle-income families to migrate to the satellite cities of Mumbai like Virar, Vasai and Nalasopara. At that time, the Mira-Bhayandar area was part of a Gram Panchayat and was consisted primarily of agricultural land, majorly rice. This delayed and deterred builders from starting development projects. By 1980, builders began to buy agricultural land and start developing townships.
The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Council was set up on June 12, 1985, by integrating five Gram Panchayats which included the Mira Gram Panchayat, which is from where Mira Road got its name.
By 1990, the council was extended and it held the first election. Gilbert Mendonca was elected as the first president of the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Council.
As it is located very close to the city, with easy accessibility by road as well as railway, and facilities for the city also extending to this town, have resulted in an increase in population and Mira Bhayandar as a whole, developed further.
The Municipal Council later on 28 February 2002, was changed to a Municipal Corporation due to its large population and had its first elected mayor Smt. Maira Mendonca on 11 August. Mira Road and its neighbouring suburb Bhayandar began emerging as a fast developing suburb and experienced economic development mainly due to its manufacturing sector. Most of the development has occurred only on the east side whereas the west side of the railway line is covered with salt pans and mangroves.

## Demographics

Mira Road has a large Marathi population. Mira Road is in the Northern part of Mumbai City and lies in the North west ward within the jurisdiction of Municipal Corporation Mira Road has three dominant languages with large Gujarati community residing in most of the suburbs of Northern Mumbai that stretches from Bhayander to Bandra, it is also shown in the linguistic demography of the suburb, while the official language Marathi is spoken by the natives of the land and migrants from other parts of Maharashtra, Hindi is the main language of communication and in trade and commerce in the suburban region of Mumbai and Mumbai Metropolitan region, is spoken by most of the North Indian Community as their native language. Marathi, the official language, is the mother tongue of 35.13% mostly in Uttan and Gorai area, while the dominant language, Gujarati is mother tongue by 30.62% of the population and Hindi by 24.90% as their mother tongue. Hindi is by far the major language spoken as the language of communication by all the people living in the suburbs and metropolitan area of Mumbai as their language of communication.

## Geography

Mira Road is located on the northern portion of Salsette Island and at the northern part of the Konkan region. Mira Road along with Bhayandar comes which is under the jurisdiction of Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation. The entire Mira-Bhayandar region lies just outside Mumbai Suburban district and officially belongs to Thane district, despite being closer to the island of Mumbai. The Mira-Bhayandar region comprises an area of 79 km$^2$. A marshy creek divides Mumbai and Mira Road. The western part of the city is completely made up of barren lands, where salt pans were situated in the past. In the north lies Vasai Creek, to the east Sanjay Gandhi National Park and the Uttan coast, to the west. It mainly is of Deccan lava terrain and consists of waterlogged and marshy areas. The climate experienced here is tropical, wet and dry climate.

## Transport

Power from the Tata Power & Reliance Energy, MTNL telecom services and BEST bus services which are normally provided to the city, are provided to this region too which has been instrumental in the increase in its population, unlike Vasai and Virar.
Mira Road has a railway station, which is a part of the Western Suburban Railway line. All trains from churchgate towards Virar halt at Mira Road. Also Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation has its own transportation facility Mira Bhayandar Municipal transportation (MBMT). The bus services from MSRTC which are the state transport buses are available to connect with Thane city and Manori. State transport (ST) buses are also available in Mira Road. They start from Bhayander and are available for Thane, Bhiwandi and Vasai route.

### Metro

Line 10 (Mumbai Metro) Gaimukh - Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk (Mira Road) corridor, the line runs parallel to Thane-Kashimira highway consisting of 9 stops.
Line 9 (Mumbai Metro) Dahisar(E) - Mira Bhayander corridor, this line offers connection to the western suburbs of Mumbai.

## Hospitals

* Bhaktivedanta Hospital
* Wockhardt Hospital (Umrao Hospital)

## Schools / Academy

* N. L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research
* Seven Eleven Scholastic School, Mira Road East
* Cosmopolitan High School, Mira Road East
* St Xaviers High School, Mira Road, Shanti Park

## Notable people

* Amita Khopkar, Marathi Actress (Veteran Marathi Theatre Artist)
* Syed Muzaffar Hussain, Ex-MLC (Maharashtra), Gen Sec MPCC, Indian National Congress
* Kunal Khemu, Bollywood actor
* Harshaali Malhotra, Bollywood child artist
* Narendra Mehta, current MLA(BJP)
* Geeta Bharat Jain, Ex MLA (Independent)
* Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Bollywood actor
* Madhur Mittal, Bollywood actor
* Kavi Kumar Azad, Indian television actor
* Priya Marathe, Indian Television Actress
* Antara Biswas, better known by her stage name Monalisa, Indian Actress
* Dipika Kakar, Indian Television Actress
* Anup Soni, Indian Actor
* Aryan Prajapati, Indian Former Child Actor
* Sumeet Vyas, Indian Actor
* Saurabh Raaj Jain, Indian Actor & Model
* Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Indian Actor
* Shubhangi Atre, Indian Actress
* Girish Oak, Marathi Television Actor