The 

history of Mumbai recounts the growth of a collection of seven

islands on the west coast of India, becoming the commercial capital of the
nation, and one of the most populous cities in the world. Although human
habitation existed since the Stone Age, the Kolis, a fishing community,
were the earliest known settlers of the islands. The Maurya Empire gained
control of the islands during the 3rd century BCE, and transformed it into a
centre of Hindu and Buddhist culture and religion. Later, between the 2nd
century BCE and 9th century CE, the islands came under the control of
successive indigenous
dynasties: Satavahanas, Abhiras, Vakatakas, Kalachuris, Konkan
Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, before being ruled by
the Silharas from 810 to 1260.
King Bhimdev established his kingdom in the region in the late 13th
century, and brought many settlers to the islands. The Muslim rulers
of Gujarat captured the islands in 1348, and they were later governed by
the Gujarat Sultanate from 1391 to 1534. The Treaty of Bassein between
the Portuguese viceroy Nuno da Cunha and Bahadur Shahof the Gujarat
Sultanate placed the islands into Portuguese possession in 1534. Charles
II of England received possession of the islands in 1661 as part of the
dowry ofCatherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, and
leased them to the English East India Company in 1668. The islands
suffered incursions from Mughalstowards the end of the 17th century.
During the mid-18th century, the city emerged as an important trading
town, with maritime trade contacts with Mecca and Basra. Economic and
educational development characterised the city during the 19th century with
the first-ever Indian railway line beginning operations between Mumbai and
neighbouring Thane in 1853. The city became a strong base for the Indian
independence movement during the early 20th century and was the
epicentre of the Rowlatt Satyagraha of 1919 and Royal Indian Navy
Mutiny of 1946.[1] After India's independence in 1947, the territory of
Mumbai Presidency retained by India was restructured intoMumbai State.
The area of Mumbai State increased, after several erstwhile princely states
that joined the Indian union were integrated into Mumbai State.
In 1960, following protests from the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, the
city was incorporated into the dominion of the newly
created Maharashtra State from Mumbai State. The city's secular fabric
was torn apart in the communal riots of 1992–93, while the bombings of
1993 caused extensive loss of life and property. The city was renamed
Mumbai in 1996. Mumbai has suffered several terrorist attacks during the
21st century.

The redevelopment of Mumbai's cotton mills is a process that commenced in

1992, whereby the numerous cotton mills that once dotted the landscape
of Mumbai, India, were demolished and replaced by new residential and
commercial buildings, as part of the wider modernization of Mumbai.

India United Mill, Parel district – one of the larger cotton mills and also one of the
few to be owned by the government.

Contents

  [hide] 

 1 The cotton mill era and its decline

 2 List of mills in Mumbai

 3 See also

 4 References

 5 External links

[edit]The cotton mill era and its decline

The mills of Girangaon were once integral to Mumbai's economy, particularly
during the British colonial period, when Mumbai (then known as Bombay) was
often referred to as the "Manchester of the East".[1] However, with the passing of
time and the development of industry in and around Mumbai, these mills ceased
to be profitable, and fell into a state of disrepair.

In the first half of the nineteenth century, India exported cotton to Britain, and
then reimported the textile. In 1820 the total textile import cost only Rs. 350,000.
However, these costs escalated tremendously until in 1860 textile imports stood
at Rs. 19.3 million. The impetus towards the founding of a cotton industry came
from Indian entrepreneurs. The first Indian cotton mill, "The Bombay Spinning
Mill", was opened in 1854 in Bombay by Cowasji Nanabhai Davar. Opposition
from the Lancashire mill owners was eventually offset by the support of the
British manufacturers of textile machinery.

The cotton mills of Bombay, and the rest of India, were owned and managed
mainly by Indians. The initial investments came from families of the mill-owners,
mainly obtained from trading. Later, when shares became available to the public,
much of the ownership still remained Indian – of the 53 mills in the city in 1925,
only 14 were British-owned. The management and directorships of these mills
were also mainly Indian; of the 386 directorships recorded in 1925, only 44 were
English.

By 1870 there were 13 mills in Bombay. Cotton exports grew during the American
Civil War, when supplies from the USA's cotton plantations were interrupted. At
the end of 1895 there were 70 mills; growing to 83 in 1915. A period of stagnation
set in during the recession of the 1920's. In 1925 there were 81 mills in the city.
After World War II, under strong competition from Japan, the mills declined. In
1953 there remained only 53 mills in the city.[2]

Abandoned machinery at Madhusudan mills, Lower Parel Gradually, the

government relaxed its norms that once restricted mill lands from being
redeveloped, and as a result, numerous high profile builders jumped at the
opportunity of grabbing hold of these land parcels. Between the period from 1990
to 2010, majority of these mill lands were acquired and redeveloped. The list
below shows the names of the former mills that once existed, and the structure
that currently stands on the land today.

Phoenix mills, Parel which is now a shopping mall

Lodha World One, the World's tallest residential tower, Lower Parel

[edit]List of mills in Mumbai

Please note that this list is not exhaustive.

Name of former mill Location New Development

1. Kohinoor Mills No.3 (North) Dadar(W) Kohinoor Mill Mall[3]

2. India United Dye Works no.6 India International Trade

Prabhadevi
(North) Center

Indiabulls Finance Centre and

3. Elphinstone Mills (South) Elphinstone
Indiabulls Sky Suites

4. Jupiter Mills (South) Lower Parel Indiabulls Sky[4]

5. Shree Madhusudan Mills

(South)

6. Jam Mills Lalbaug MHADA

7. Sitaram Mills Mahalaxmi MCGM

8. New Hind Textile Mills Byculla MHADA

9. Kohinoor Mills no.1 (North) Dadar (E) No development

10. Kohinoor Mills no.2 (North) Dadar (E) No development

11. Tata Mills (North) Dadar (E) No development

12. Mumbai Textile Mills Lower Parel DLF Place

(Sakseria Mills)

Zenzi Mills Club / Lokhandwala

13. Sun Mills Compound Lower Parel
Victoria

14. Digvijay Mills Kalachowkie No development

15. Apollo Mills (South) Mahalaxmi Lodha Bellissimo/Primero

16. India United Mills no.4 Kalachowkie MHADA

17. India United Mills no.2 Kalachowkie MCGM

18. India United Mills no.3 Kalachowkie MCGM

19. India United Mills no.5 Byculla No development

20. Gold Mohur Mills Dadar No development

21. Poddar Processors (Edward

Lower Parel Indiabulls Bleu
Mills)

22. India United Mills no.1 Parel/Currey

No development
(North) Road

23. Finlay Mills Parel Lodha

24. Poddar Mills Mahalaxmi No development

25. New City of Bombay Mfg

Kalachowkie No development
Mills

26. Western India Spinning &

Kalachowkie No development
Weaving Mill

27. Swadeshi Mills Kurla Swadeshi Garden

28. Standard Mills Prabhadevi Sheth Beaumonde and

 Chaitanya Towers

29. Matulya Mills Lower Parel Sun Palazzo

30. Phoenix Mills Lower Parel High Street Phoenix

31. Modern Mills Jacob Circle Mahindra Belvedere Court

32. Hindoostan Spinning &

Jacob Circle Raheja Vivarea
Weaving Mills No.1

33. Hindoostan Spinning &

Jacob Circle Kalpataru Heights
Weaving Mills no.2

34. Ruby Mills Dadar Ruby Corporate Park

35. Hindoostan Spinning &

Prabhadevi Orchid Crown
Weaving Mills no.3 (Crown Mills)

36. Bombay Dyeing (Spring Mills) Dadar Spring Mills tower

Victoria House (Commercial) &

37. Victoria Mills Lower Parel
Car park

38. Gokuldas Morarjee Mills no.1 Parel Ashok Towers[5]

39. Swan Mills Sewri Ashok Gardens[6]

40. Mafatlal Mills no.3 Lower Parel Marathon Futurex

41. Khatau Makanji Spinning &

Jacob Circle No development
Weaving Mills

42. Century Spinning & Weaving

Worli Century Bazaar
Mills

43. Bombay Dyeing & Worli Hard Rock Café[7] / ICC Bombay
Manufacturing Company Realty

44. Prakash Cotton Mills Worli No development

45. Shriniwas Mills Lower Parel World One

46. Kamala Mills Lower Parel Kamala City

47. Shree Ram Mills Worli Palais Royale, Mumbai

48. Gokuldas Morarjee Mills no.2 Lower Parel Peninsula Corporate park

49. Dawn Mills Lower Parel Peninsula/Piramal Project

50. China Mill compound Sewri Dosti Flamingos[8]

51. Piramal Spinning & Weaving Marathon Nextgen

Lower Parel
Mills by Marathon Group

52. Raghuvanshi Mills Lower Parel K-lifestyle

53. New Great Eastern Spinning

Byculla No development
& Weaving Mills

54. Simplex Mills Jacob Circle Planet Godrej

55. Bradbury Mills Jacob Circle No development

56. Mafatlal Mills no.1 Byculla Behind Jeejamata Udyan

57. Mafatlal Mills no.2 Byculla

58. Mukesh Textile Mills Colaba Venue for Bollywood filming

59. Bharat Mills Lower Parel Indiabulls Bleu

60. Ambika Mills Worli Namaste Tower

 61. New Islam Mills Lower Parel One Avighna Park

“A great transformation from port city to textile mills city in Mumbai at

around 1980′s was a boost to city economy. From then till now Dawn
Nill at Lower parel, Zenzi mill, Phoenix mill, Kamla mills and other
general mill industry was survival source to lakhs of mill workers in
Mumbai, which is now converting to High rise buildings and
commercial complexes..”
Old Mills in Mumbai
A Brief History
 1854 was the year when Mumbai got its first mill called ‘Bombay
Spinning Mill’ famous for producing Cotton textiles to be exported to Britain.
 By 1870 there were about 13 mills and by 1875 total count of mills in
Mumbai was about 70 which still went up to 83 by 1915.
 South Mumbai was the place selected to Major mill business which
still has lots of old mills and industries which are now closed. Famous mill
locations are Lower Parel, Parel, Lalbaug, Byculla.
 In 1982 about 2.5 laks mill workers went on strike againts ‘Bombay
Mill Owner Association’ with leader ‘Datta Samant’ demanding wage
increase.
 In 1991, State government announced Development Control Rule 58
which stated, Mill lands could be sold to others with some terms and
conditions applied.
 National Textiles Corporation (NTC) is one which had about 25 mills
owned in the city which started selling few mills to private businesses in
2005. And in 2006 Supreme court said that the sale of mills was legal and
changes to the rules for developing mills was valid.
 Now in 2010 NTC made decision to start 3 of the old Mills which will
help Mill workers for bread butter. Name and locations of same are ‘Tata
Mills at Hindmata’, ‘India United Mills Number 5 at Kalachowkie’ & Podar
mills at Chinchpokli.
Name of Some Mills in History of Mumbai
Zenzi Mill, Finlay mill at parel, Kohinoor 1 and 2 mill at Dadar, Phoenix mill,
Madhusudan Mills at Worli, India United no.6 at Dadar, Kamla Mill, Jam at
Lalbaug, Sitaram, Podar Processing and Bharat Mill located at Worli, Dawn
 Mill, Sri Ram Mills, Tata Mills, Podar Mills, Bombay Spinning mill, Digvijay
mills, The Khatau Mill at byculla, Jupiter mill, India United no.4 at
Kalachowkie, Kohinoor Mill.
Latest about Mumbai Mills and Workers
There is ‘Girni Kamgaar Sangharsh Samiti’ which is an organization which
fights on behalf of Mill workers for there land and work as till date this
workers stay in 100 sq ft houses in group of 8 to 10 workers adjusting as
they work in shifts. The main location belt of Mills is Worli to Byculla area.
People are demanding Mills back for wages and survival with the home
near in same location. Government is taking steps and has announced 3
old mills to be re-opened and more to be started soon.

Dutta Samant
Dutta Samant

Dr. Dutta Samant (also Datta Samant, and popularly referred to

as Doctorsaheb, 1933-January 16, 1997) was an Indian politician
and trade union leader, who is most famous for leading 200-300
thousand textile mill workers in the city of Bombay (now Mumbai) on a
year-long strike in 1982, which triggered the closure of most of the textile
mills in the city.
Contents
  [hide] 

 1 Trade union and political

career
 2 1982 strike
 3 Later life and murder
 4 See also
 5 References
 6 External links
[edit]Trade union and political career
Samant grew up in Deobag on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra, hailing
from a middle-class Marathi background. He spent much of his early years
in the locality of Ghatkopar in Mumbai, in the state of Maharashtra. From
the early 20th century, the city's economy was characterized by major
textile mills, the base of India's thriving textile and garments industry.
Hundreds of thousands of people from all over India were employed in
working in the mills. Although a trained medical doctor, Samant was active
in trade union activities amongst mill workers. Samant was deeply
influenced by communism[citation needed], but he joined the Indian National
Congress and its affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress. Gaining
popularity amongst city workers, Samant name was popularly known
as Doctorsaheb.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Mumbai-Thane industrial belt witnessed
successive working class strikes and protests, with multiple trade unions
competing for the allegiance of workers and political control. These
primarily included George Fernandes, the Centre for Indian Trade Unions .
Samant rose to become one of the most prominent INTUC leaders, and
grew increasingly militant in his political convictions and activism. Samant
enjoyed success in organizing strikes and winning substantial wage hikes
from companies. He ignored the company's statistics and business
information, and consistently refused to settle on compromise concessions.
In 1972 elections, he was elected to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha, or
legislative assembly on a Congress ticket, and served as a legislator.
[1]
 Samant was arrested in 1975 during the Indian Emergency owing to his
reputation as a militant unionist, despite belonging to the Congress party of
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Samant's popularity increased with his
release in 1977 and the failure of the Janata Party coalition, with which
many rival unions had been affiliated. This increased his popularity and
widespread reputation for putting workers and their interests before politics.
[edit]1982 strike
In late 1981, Samant was chosen by a large group of Mumbai mill workers
to lead them in a precarious conflict between the Bombay Millowners
Association and the unions, thus rejecting the INTUC-affiliated Rashtriya
Mill Mazdoor Sangh which had represented the mill workers for decades.
Samant was requested by mill workers to lead. He suggested that they wait
for outcome of initial strike action. But workers were too agitated and
wanted a massive strike. At the beginning of which an estimated 200,000–
300,000 mill workers walked out, forcing the entire industry of the city to be
shut down for over a year. Samant demanded that along with wage hikes,
the government should scrap the Bombay Industrial Act, 1947 and de-
recognize the RMMS as the only official union of the city industry. While
fighting for greater pay and better conditions for workers, Samant and his
allies also sought to capitalize and establish their power on the trade union
scene in Mumbai.
Although Samant had links with the Congress, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
considered him a serious political threat. Samant's control of the mill
workers made Gandhi and other Congress leaders fear that his influence
would spread to the port and dock workers and make him the most
powerful union leader in India's commercial capital. Thus the government
took a firm stance of rejecting Samant's demands, and refusing to budge
despite the severe economic losses suffered by the city and the industry.
As the strike progressed through the months, Samant's militancy in the face
of government obstinacy led to the failure of any attempts at negotiation
and resolution. Disunity, mainly due to Shiv-sena trying to break strike and
dissatisfaction over the strike soon became apparent, and many textile
millowners began moving their plants outside the city. After a prolonged
and destabilizing confrontation, the strike collapsed with Samant and his
allies not having obtained any concessions. The closure of textile mills
across the city left tens of thousands of mill workers unemployed, and in
the succeeding years the most of the industry moved away from Mumbai,
after decades of being plagued by rising costs and union militancy. Mill
owners used this opportunity to grab the precious real estate. Although
Samant remained popular with a large block of union activists, his clout and
control over Mumbai trade unions disappeared.
[edit]Later life and murder
Samant was elected on an independent, anti-Congress ticket to the 8th Lok
Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament in 1984; an election that
was otherwise swept by the Congress under Rajiv Gandhi. He would
organize the Kamgar Aghadi union, and the Lal Nishan Party, which
brought him close to communism and Indian communist political parties.
He remained active in trade unions and communist politics throughout India
in the 1990s. He became a fierce opponent of the Shiv Sena and
the Bharatiya Janata Party, and remained aloof from the Congress. At the
time of his death he was a not a member of parliament.
On the morning of January 16, 1997 Samant was gunned down and
murdered outside his home in Mumbai by four gunmen, believed to be
contract killers, who fled on motorcycles. His death sparked protests across
the city, and a large procession of union activists gathered at his cremation.
On April 10, 2005 police arrested 3 men and charged them for Samant's
murder. On October 30, 2007, his assassin, a thug working for underworld
don Chotta Rajan, was himself gunned down by police in Kolhapur [1].
Samant's brother, Dada Samant, is a leader of the Maharashtra General
Kamgar Union.