CITY GENESIS AND JAIL HISTORY

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city genesis and jail history

2.1 Thane city: Development & Genesis 2.2 Thane Central jail Location

History - Why was the fort built there? - Why was it converted into jail by British? - What is its current scenario?

2.3 Future Smart City 2.4 Proposals

2.1 THANE CITY: DEVELOPMENT AND GENESIS

Thane has a great historical background. During the construction of Thane fort foundation copper plates and slabs were found dating back in 1078 AD. It was a centre for trade and was described as port with continuous traffic of ships by many travellers. It was the centre for exporting leather, buckram, cotton, and importing horses. The area named GHODBANDAR today is derived from the same. With this background, Thane became an important asset for the Portuguese kingdom, as they came down and conquered it. They ruled for over 200 years. The construction of fort started in 1730. Marathas conquered bassines and Thane Fort in 1737.

Later British captured the fort by defeating Marathas in Anglo war. They set-up the administrative infrastructure around. Basic Facilities like Civil Hospital, Collector’s office, etc were established for the aid of the people living there.

1744 British conquered Thane City 1754 Old district Court building

1760 Kopineshwar Mandir renovated

1774 Thane population crosses 9000.

1780 Parsee Agyari was built. 1824-1827 Collector office built

1835-1836 Civil Hospital built 1838 Thane Fort is converted to Thane Prison

1850 Population 11120

Further with the development of Railways, Trade began. Additional infrastructure like roads and bridges were constructed.

1853 Bombay - Thane Railway Line First rail train started from Bombay to Thane 1855 Railway station bridge constructed 1863 Thane Muncipal Corporation inauguration 1863 Thane - Kalwa bridge 1879 Jew Church built, Jain Temple on Tembhi Naka built 1885 Population 140001

Figure 8 Settlements in Old Thane, 1925 (Source: https://www.oldmapsonline.org/map/cuni/1171884)z

Large no. of people migrated and to crate to the needs of these people various facilities/ infrastructure like Mental Hospital, Banks, Collector Office, Hospital, Schools, Theatres etc were established. By this time the population residing in Thane was already risen to a great extent.

1890 M.H. High School started with 34 students 1901 Mental Hospital built 1910 Freedom Fighter 'Kanhere' hanged in Thane jail 1914 Kalwa Bridge near Colour Chem completed 1916 Railway tunnel (under Parsik Hills) Gaondevi Temple built 1922 Central Maidan resumed as Playground Area 19380 sq. yards) 1925 Wadia woollen mill i.e Todays Raymond mill (First Largest Industry) 1926 Electric railway line on Kurla - Thane section Thane - Kalyan section 1940 Prabhat Theatre built

1948 Shop & Establishment Act made applicable to Thane 1951 Population 63,575 (increase of 113.69 % in the decade 1941-1951)

During this decade various industries were developed like J.K chemicals, Cadbury, J.H. Johnson, Bush Radio Company, etc. After independence, Thane grew slowly and attained the status of an industrial town in the 60's and 70's. There was also a corresponding growth in trade, transport and construction activities, which picked up tremendously in the 80's. The 90's has seen the city burgeoning ahead, with great stride in construction and housing. Thus, starting as an important port for trade, the city has developed and in turn the loop of people and infrastructural development was moving all along.

1961 Wagle Industrial Estate was started, giving further impetus to Industrial development.

1962-65 Raymond, Modella, Voltas, Kores, Colourchem, Roche, Nocil, PIL, etc. 1981 Thane Population 4.72 Lakhs 1982 1st Oct. Thane Municipality changed to Thane Corporation1

Today the city is home for a population of 18 lakhs (As per 2011 Census). 2

Figure 9 Thane city Development (Source: Author)

Figure 10 Thane Landuse Map (Source: UDRI)

Some of the old infrastructure like the Old TMC building, was shifted to Panchpakhadi since it was not sufficient to crater to today’s demands. Therefore, a spacious design was proposed which could handle the pressure of development and its demands in the near future.

Similar was the case with Thane Mental Hospital built in 1901. The hospital was planned to be away from the settlement. With the growth of the city and advancement in the field of Psychology, the hospital is not much occupied and the proportion of patients have reduced. Therefore, some part of its area is proposed to be used for upcoming Railway station (New Thane) infrastructure.

Thus, the city has always tried to adapt to the changing times by relocating, re-moulding and reinventing old spaces. Thane Jail being can also be one of the examples for the same.

2.2 THANE JAIL: LOCATION

Figure 12 Basic Site dimensions (Source: Author)

2.2 THANE JAIL: HISTORY

Thane Fort-Jail has a great history, with different role in each era. It acclimatised itself in the timeframes for the city benefit.

1. Why was the fort built there?

The Salsette island (Thane and sub-urban province) was under the rule of Portuguese from 15th to 17th century. They held a very crucial position with Maratha rule in the North and the East India Company in the Bombay city. The

Thane creek separated the Portuguese empire and also provided additional

protection and hence importance of naval bases was realized. Portuguese started the construction of 12 Naval bases in the form of forts along the creek of which Thane fort was one.

Thane fort was very important security fortress since it was the easiest access point for the Marathas in the north, as the extend of creek was the smallest here. It thus formed a STRATEGIC NODE and the guarding GATE-WAY to Mumbai and Suburban Regions below.

Marathas captured the region even before the completion of Thane Fort and later completed it to form an important security base. The fort and the area around have seen 7 battles between Portuguese and its enemies and also the Maratha-

Anglo war against British. (Tetvilkar, 2019) (Tetvilkar, Thane Killa) (Tetvilkar, Durga sampada Thane chi, 2012)

2. Why was the fort converted into a jail during British rule?

Britishers established a systematic Administrative and Judiciary system during their rule in India. They were reluctant to spent money on building new structures and tried to accommodate functions like jails in the existing fortresses where ever possible. Like in case on Thane fort. The fort was converted into a jail due to its planning and security attributes. This made it easier for the Britishers to administer and control the place during freedom struggle.

The thane Fort was planned based on the idea of VAUBAN FORTIFICATION. This system improved the defence and offense capabilities of the ruler of the fort. The geometrical form of the fort helped the Jail to have a hierarchy based on the type of security circle required. These aspects had made it a successful jail system in

itself. (Hingorani, 2017)

3. Why was the fort retained as a jail even after British rule?

Along with Jail, Britishers established other administrative buildings like Collector office, Court, etc. in the surrounding area.

This already established strong system was working very well. Also, the proximity of jail to the court aided for easy transportation of the prisoners. Shifting the Jail during that time, when the city was not much developed and road network was not as dense as today, seemed difficult and unnecessary. Thus, the function of jail was retained in the Fort.

But today the scenario is different…

Potentials which had different analogies in the past but can be explored in varied ways making the space relevant today.

strategic node architectural features natural features & ecology

Figure 13 Explored Attributes of Site (Source: Author)

2.3 THANE: A SMART CITY

1. What is the purpose of smart city?

The Smart city promotes economic growth and looks into improvement of quality of life of its citizens ensuring development of localities using technological smart solutions. It mainly focuses on 3 factors - Liveability - Economic Ability - Sustainability

2. Principles

The 6 core principles of ‘smart city’ helps in achieving the 3 factors mentioned above.

Figure 14 Principles of Indian Smart cities

3. Aim and Strategies

- Making most from the available resources: and also promote development through

Redevelopment, Retro-fitting, Greenfield and Pan city development. - Quickly adapting to changes. - Being resilient in the face of shock/stress. - Having citizen inclusive process. - Using technology for achieving these goals at larger scale and faster speed.

4. Features of smart city

- Promoting mixed used development for economic growth. - Creating walkable localities. - Preserving and developing open space to enhance quality of life of the citizens. - Giving an identity to the city based on activities like cuisine, Art & Craft, Education,

Culture, Sports, etc. - Apply smart solutions to the infrastructure for more efficient use. (smartcities.gov.in)

1. Data collection and Awareness

Environment sensors for automatic air monitoring, noise, and lightning detection are installed in Kakinada city. The flood sensors in Pune aid in analysing data and provide timely warnings.

Noise decibel sensors were connected to the traffic signals, where the time duration of a signal would double if the sound decibels exceed a certain limit due to honking.

The sensor and camera-based traffic monitoring and challan system ensured ease in the process. It induced behavioural changes in the citizens making them more aware.

Figure 15 Sound sensors at Signals & Cameras- Traffic monitoring

2. Promoting pedestrian movement and cycling

Pedestrian friendly and universally accessible (children, old, specially abled) streets are designed in smart city Bhubaneshwar, promoting interactive community involvement.

Community sharing E-cycling for internal circulation in BKC was done with an attempt to provide easy, low cost, 24-hours, environment-friendly option for travelling.

Figure 16 Pedestrian Friendly Intervention

2.4 PROPOSALS

Figure 17 Current developments in and around the site

Figure 17 Current developments in and around the site

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knowing the locality

3.1 Edges

3.2 Land use

3.3 Connectivity

3.4 Users

3.5 Amenities, Historic places

3.6 Ecology

3.1 EDGES 3.1 EDGES

Figure 18 18 Documentation of Site Edges Documentation of Site Edges (Source: Author) (Source: Author)

3.2 LANDUSE

Figure 20 Site Landuse Map (Source: Author)

3.3 CONNECTIVITY

Figure 22 Transport Facilities around Site (Source: Author)

3.4 USERS

Since the area accommodates many administration functions like RTO Office, Collector office, 3.4 USERS Thane court, Deputy police Building, Various police branches headquarters, etc. So, most of Since the area accommodates many administration functions like RTO Office, Collector office, the streets aligned with these functions are used by the citizens who wish to avail the service Thane court, Deputy police Building, Various police branches headquarters, etc. So, most of and the people working there. the streets aligned with these functions are used by the citizens who wish to avail the service and the people working there. The jail related activities like the families waiting for their member to get of the Jail, movement of the guards, etc is concentrated at the junction. The jail related activities like the families waiting for their member to get of the Jail, movement of the guards, etc is concentrated at the junction. The Central Maidan and the lake-side becomes the leisure spot for the residents around. The edge of the lake, though having the facility of seating arrangement, is not used. On the other The Central Maidan and the lake-side becomes the leisure spot for the residents around. The hand, the edge of the Maidan is occupied by the middle-aged people. Maidan is used for edge of the lake, though having the facility of seating arrangement, is not used. On the other sports activities. Even the pedestrian pathway along the Kalwa-Bridge witness people hand, the edge of the Maidan is occupied by the middle-aged people. Maidan is used for roaming for leisure. sports activities. Even the pedestrian pathway along the Kalwa-Bridge witness people roaming for leisure.

Figure 24 User Group and footfall around site (Source: Author)

3.5 AMENITIES AND HISTORIC PLACES

Figure 25 Amenities & Historic Places around the site (Source: Author)

3.5 ECOLOGY

Figure 27 Current Scenario of Thane creek

3.5 ECOLOGY

3.5 ECOLOGY3.5 ECOLOGY

Figure 28 Green cover in Mumbai & Sub-urban Region (Source: Landsat 5 and Landsat 8, USGS, 2019)

greens and blues of the locality

Figure 28 Green cover in Mumbai & Sub-urban Region (Source: Landsat 5 and Landsat 8, USGS, 2019Figure 28 Green cover in Mumbai & Sub-urban Region (Source: Landsat 5 and Landsat 8, USGS, 2019) )

greens and blues of the locality greens and blues of the locality

Figure 29 Green & Blue cover in Thane city (Source: Author)

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Figure 30 Type of Green & Blue system around site (Source: Author)

Figure 31 Shrinkage of Thane creek (Source: Author)

Figure 31 Shrinkage of Thane creek (Source: Author)

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