 We all stay in Dombivli and all know what it is. However this brief is to put things we know or dont know about Dombivli together. Dombivli happens to have grown extremely rapidly in past two decades. Old residents of Dombivli tell stories of huge farms and open spaces in Dombivli till late 80's. Since then, Dombivli has provided shelter to the fastest growing Middle class population in Mumbai. Standard of living keep on increasing, middle class moved to higher middle class and moved to town side locations like Mulund, Thane. However, Dombivli continues to be home for a Common Man.
Dombivli located just 20 kms from the district headquaters Thane has been one of the budding town in Kalyan tahsil. Well connected by rail and located at a distance of about 50 Kms away from the financial capital of India, Dombivli is the fastest growing suburb. Its an important and one of the most busiest railway station on the Central Railway. A major chunk of the daily commuters to Mumbai for trade & services reside in Dombivli. Dombivli to begin with was the Gajabandhan Village and the "Old Dombivli", which forms the Dombivli West flank of the Central Railway Line, The East flank has been the golden arm of the Municipal Corporation with the major cut of the budget going towards its development. Today Dombivli has a cosmopolitian population with Maharashtrians, Jains, Gujarathis, Kannadigas, Tamilians, Malayalee's and a marginal population of Khojas (The Aga-Khan cult). There are temples for all faiths, Jamatkhana for the Khoja Muslims, and also a few churches. It celebrates all the festivals with the same zest and enthusiasm be it Diwali, Navratri, Ganapati, Onam or Pongal and make a point to carry the pride and attitude about the rich culture and heritage it has been carrying with it. Cultural processions of Dombivli during Gudhipadava are very famous and have now started to be replicated in other parts of Maharashtra. It won't be a surprise, if you find almost every Maharashtrian having a relative either in Pune or Dombivli!!!! As an industrial centre, Dombivli is well known with major Dye's, Paints, Chemical and Heavy Metal Factories based in the Industrial Part of the town. Some of the well known of them are Gharda Chemicals, Vicco Labs, Llyod Steel, Deepak Fertilizers, et al. Dombivli's approachability by road, rail and huge potential in land and manpower increased tremendously. Over a Hundred schools offer Primary and Secondary education and over a dozen are affiliated to the University of Mumbai. A Couple of the colleges also offer Technical Education and are affiliated to the Board of Technical Examination, Mumbai. The consistent infact increasing no. of merit rank holders from Dombivli just proves the point that its not baseless to call it the cultural deputy capital of Maharashtra. As for the IT boom go to any s/w organization in Mumbai and surrounding areas and you are bound to find atleast 10 % of employees from Dombivli. From day-to-day grocery to high-tech Electronic items and from funky Fashion outlets to the large computer and vehicle showrooms,Name it and you dont have to travel all the way to Mumbai for the same. Most of the couples in Dombivli are professionals with a more "modern" lifestyle, often reflected in their one-child families and penchance for consumer goods. The city's healthcare is some of the best in India. The town boasts about 1500 doctors for the population of 1,500,000, so the ratio of doctors per 1000 is comparable to any developed Western country. The town also has a proud collection of art, art lovers and artists. It has produced one of the finest of the Artists in the country, Be it literature, Play writing, Poetry, or the field of acting. In all we can surely say that this town has 'THE THING' in it to become the very face of the a multi-cultural society which can be one of the major industrial center for the State and the country provided the Authorities recognizes its potential. |
