Thane district (Pronunciation: [ʈʰaːɳe], previously named Taana or Thana) is a district in the Konkan division of the Indian state of Maharashtra. At the 2011 Census, it was the most populated district in the country, with 11,060,148 inhabitants; The headquarters of the district is the city of Thane.Thane district is located in western Maharashtra.Other major cities in the district are Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Mira-Bhayander, Bhiwandi, Ulhasnagar, Ambarnath, Badlapur, Murbad and Shahapur.
The district is situated between 18°42' and 20°20' north latitudes and 72°45' and 73°48' east longitudes. The revised area of the district is 4,214 km<sup>2</sup>. The district is bounded by Nashik district to the north east, Pune and Ahmednagar districts to the east, and by Palghar district to the north. The Arabian Sea forms the western boundary, while it is bounded by Mumbai Suburban district to the south west, and Raigad District to the south.
Officer
Members of Parliament
- Naresh Mhaske (SHS)<br />
- Shrikant Shinde (SHS)<br />
- Suresh Mhatre (NCP(SP))<br />
Guardian Minister
list of Guardian Minister
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name
! Term of office
|-
|Varsha Gaikwad
|11 November 2010 - 26 September 2014
|-
| Eknath Shinde
| 5 December 2014 - 8 November 2019
|-
| Eknath Shinde
| 9 January 2020 - 27 June 2022
|-
|Subhash Desai Additional Charge
| 27 June 2022 - 29 June 2022
|-
|Shambhuraj Desai
| 24 September 2022- 26 November 2024
|-
| Eknath Shinde
| 18 January 2025 - Incumbent
|}
District Magistrate/Collector
list of District Magistrate / Collector
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name
! Term of office
|-
| Dr.Shrikrishna B. Panchal (IAS)
| July 2025 - Incumbent
|}
History
thumb|Thana district 1896
In 1817, the territory now comprising Thane district was taken over by the British from the Peshwa and it became a part of North Konkan district, with its headquarters in Thana. Since then, it has undergone considerable changes in its boundaries. In 1830, the North Konkan district was expanded by adding parts of South Konkan district and in 1833 was renamed Thane District. In 1853, the three sub-divisions of Pen, Roha and Mahad together with Underi and Revadanda agencies of Kolaba were formed into the sub-collectorate of Kolaba, under Thana, and ultimately were separated to become an independent Kolaba district in 1869 (now known as Raigad district).
Back in 1866, the administrative sub-divisions of Thane were reorganised and renamed: Sanjan as Dahanu, Kolvan as Shahapur and Nasrapur as Karjat. Vada petha was upgraded to the level of a taluka. Uran Mahal was separated from Salsette in 1861 and was placed under Panvel. Panvel, together with its mahals of Uran and Karanja, was transferred to Kolaba district in 1883 and Karjat was transferred in 1891. A new mahal with Bandra as headquarters was created in 1917 and in 1920 Salsette was divided into two talukas — North Salsette and South Salsette. South Salsette consisting of 84 villages was separated from Thana District and included in the newly created Bombay Suburban district (present Mumbai Suburban district). North Salsette was made a mahal under Kalyan taluka in 1923 and renamed as Thane in 1926. Kelve-Mahim was renamed as Palghar. 33 villages of the Bombay Suburban district were transferred to Thana district in 1945 and 14 of them were re-transferred to the Bombay Suburban district in 1946 when the Aarey Milk Colony was constituted.
After Independence, in 1949, the Koli princely state of Jawhar was merged with Thana district and became a separate taluka. As many as twenty-seven villages and eight towns from Borivali taluka and one town and one village from Thana taluka were transferred to the Bombay Suburban district in 1956 when the limits of Greater Bombay were extended northwards in Salsette. In 1960, following the bifurcation of the bilingual Bombay State, 47 villages, and three towns in the taluka of Umbargaon were transferred to Surat district in Gujarat and its remaining twenty-seven villages were first included in Dahanu and later in 1961 made into a separate mahal, Talasari. In 1969, the taluka of Kalyan was divided into two talukas, Kalyan and Ulhasnagar.
Geography
The district is the northernmost part of the Konkan lowlands of Maharashtra. It comprises the wide amphitheatre like Ulhas basin on the south and hilly Vaitarna valley on the north together with plateaus and the slopes of Sahyadri. From the steep slopes of the Sahyadri in the east, the land falls through a succession of plateaus in the north and centre of the district to the Ulhas valley in the south. These lowlands are separated from the coast by a fairly well-defined narrow ridge of hills that runs north–south to the east of the Thane creek, parallel to the sea, keeping a distance of about 6 to 10 km from the shores. Isolated hills and spurs dot the district area.
Rivers and hot springs
The two main rivers flowing through the district are the Ulhas and the Vaitarna. The Ulhas originates from the north of Tungarli near Lonavala, flows for a short distance before descending near Bor ghat, and meets the sea at Vasai Creek. The Ulhas River is 135 km long. The river has many tributaries; the two most important of them (within the boundaries of this district) are the Barvi and the Bhatsa. The Vaitarna, the largest of the Konkan rivers, rises in the Tryambak Hills in Nashik district, opposite to the source of the Godavari. The river flows across Shahapur, wada and Palghar talukas and enter the Arabian Sea through a wide estuary off Arnala. The Vaitarna River is 154 km long and has a drainage area that practically covers the entire northern part of the district. It has a number of tributaries; the most important of them are the Pinjal, Surya, Daherja and Tansa.
Many small creeks are found all along the western coast, in which tidal waters flood upstream and fill up much low ground. In many cases human interference has helped in converting them into mud flats. The bigger creeks are Bhiwandi, Chinchani, and Dahanu Creeks. The Thane Creek is not a creek in the true sense, but a depression engulfed by the sea.
The northern part of the Salsette Island is part of Thane District, which is separated from the mainland by the Ulhas estuary and the Thane Creek but is connected through reclaimed land with the island city of Mumbai. Arnala Island is located in Vasai taluka, at the entrance to the Vaitarna estuary.
The district has no natural lakes. Artificial lakes have been constructed mainly to supply drinking water to Mumbai. The Tansa Lake formed across the Tansa River in the hills north of Bhiwandi behind the dam completed in 1892 CE. The Modak Sagar (Lower Vaitarna) Lake on the river Vaitarna formed behind a dam completed in 1957 CE. In the upper reaches of the same river, the Upper Vaitarana Lake formed behind another dam built in 1972 CE. The Bhatsa Lake has been formed in the upper Bhatsa, north of Shahapur behind a dam built in 1981 CE.
Tourism
Nature lovers proudly call Thane as a “Lake City” or "city of lakes".
They are near Akloli, Ganeshpuri and Vajreshwari villages. There are some more examples: Kokner (Maswan tal-Palghar) and Sativali (Saphale tal:-Palghar). The water temperatures are in the range of 42°-55 °C.
Divisions
Thane district comprises 7 talukas (administrative divisions), with Thane being its headquarters. The talukas, with their populations at the 2001 and 2011 Censuses are as follows
List of Talukas
{| class="sortable wikitable"
|-
! Taluka || Population<br>Census 2001 || Population<br>Census 2011
|-
| Thane taluka ||align="right"|2,486,941||align="right"|3,787,036
|-
| Kalyan taluka ||align="right"|1,276,614||align="right"|1,565,417
|-
| Ambarnath taluka ||align="right"|366,501||align="right"|565,340
|-
| Murbad taluka ||align="right"|170,267||align="right"|190,652
|-
| Bhiwandi taluka ||align="right"|945,582||align="right"|1,141,386
|-
| Shahapur taluka ||align="right"|273,304||align="right"|314,103
|-
| Ulhasnagar taluka ||align="right"|473,731||align="right"|506,098
|-
| Totals ||align="right"|5,992,940||align="right"|8,070,032
|}
Talukas and Sub-Divisions
- Thane Sub-Division: Thane taluka,
- Kalyan Sub-Division: Kalyan taluka, Murbad taluka
- Ulhasnagar Sub-Division: Ulhasnagar taluka, Ambarnath taluka
- Bhiwandi Sub-Division: Bhiwandi taluka, Shahapur taluka
Municipal Civic Bodies
Municipal Corporations:
- Thane Municipal Corporation
- Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation
- Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation
- Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation
- Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation
- Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation
Municipal Councils:
- Ambernath
- Kulgaon-Badlapur
Nagar Panchayats:
- Shahapur
- Murbad
Proposed Municipal Corporations:
- Ambernath-Badlapur Municipal Corporation
Proposed Municipal Councils:
- Shahapur-Asangaon (merging the Census Towns of Shahapur, Goteghar and Asangaon)
- Murbad (merging Murbad Census Town and villages of Malinagar, Ghutyachiwadi, Deogaon, Deope, Shastrinagar)
Proposed Nagar Panchayats:
- Vangani
- Khadavli
- Vasind
- Kasara
- Khardi
- Vajreshwari (merging Vajreshwari and Ganeshpuri)
- Padgha (merging Padgha and Borivali Tarf Rahur)
- Kharbav
- Mahapoli
Loksabha and Assembly Constituencies
There are 18 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in Thane district, grouped into 3 Lok Sabha constituencies:
- Bhiwandi Rural (ST), Shahapur (ST), Bhiwandi West, Bhiwandi East, Kalyan West and Murbad constituencies are part of Bhiwandi Lok Sabha constituency.
- Ambarnath (SC), Ulhasnagar, Kalyan East, Dombivali, Kalyan Rural and Mumbra-Kalwa constituencies are part of Kalyan Lok Sabha constituency.
- Mira Bhayandar, Ovala-Majiwada, Kopri-Pachpakhadi, Thane, Belapur and Airoli constituencies are part of Thane Lok Sabha constituency.
For a number of years up until 2013, it was proposed that the Thane district be divided and a separate Jawhar District carved out of the existing Thane district with the inclusion of the northern tribal talukas of Thane district which include Palghar, Vada, Vikramgad, Jawhar, Mokhada, Dahanu and Talasari talukas in the proposed Jawhar district. The last Princely Ruler of Jawhar State at Indian independence was His Highness Maharaja Patangshah V (Yashwantrao Martandrao) Mukne. Jawhar was the cultural capital of this rural part of Thane District which was previously known as Jawhar State ruled by Kolis. However, in June 2014, the Maharashtra State government decided to add an eighth taluka Vasai, which was previously part of Thane district to the other seven talukas, and decided that the new District would be headquartered in Palghar.
In June 2014, the State Cabinet approved the bifurcation of the district into two districts - Thane and Palghar. The new Palghar district comprises the seven talukas which it had been proposed to comprise in the putative Jawhar District, with the addition of Vasai taluka. The effective date for bifurcation was 1 August 2014.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census Thane district had a population of 11,060,148, roughly equal to the nation of Cuba or the US state of Ohio. This gave it a ranking of 1st in India (out of a total of 640) and 1st in its state.
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