Tarapur is a

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

Palghar district Palghar District (Marathi pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːlɡʱəɾ is a Districts of Maharashtra, district in the state of Maharashtra in Konkan Division. The headquarters of the district is the town of Palghar. Other major cities in the ...

(earlier Palghar was

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

and has recently notified as district) in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. It is an industrial town located some 45 km north of

Virar Virar (Pronunciation: �iɾaːɾ is a coastal city in Palghar district, Maharashtra. The northern third of the city of Vasai-Virar, it is administered by Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation. It lies to the south of Palghar district, and to t ...

, on the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

Railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Suburban Division ( Mumbai Suburban Railway). Tarapur can be reached from Boisar, the nearest railway station. It is 20 km off National Highway NH-8.

Geography

Tarapur is located at . It has an average elevation of 10

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

s (33

feet The foot (: feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is an organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of ...

Economy

Atomic power stations

The Tarapur nuclear power station houses two

boiling water reactor A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR). BWR are thermal neutro ...

s (BWRs), each of 200 MW (De-rated to 160MW), the first in Asia, and a recent unit with two pressurised heavy water reactors each of 540 MW. This PHWR based power station is not only the largest nuclear power reactor in the country but also the largest power unit in India. It was commissioned seven months ahead of schedule, at a cost much lower than the original estimate, by the

Nuclear Power Corporation of India The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is an Indian public sector undertaking based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is wholly owned by the Government of India and is responsible for the generation of electricity from nuclear power. N ...

. Tarapur Atomic Power Station (320 MW) (T.A.P.S.) was constructed by the American companies

Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California in 1898, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia in the Washington metropolitan area. , the '' E ...

and GE near village Akkarpatti. The new reactors (1080 MW) were constructed by

Larsen & Toubro Larsen & Toubro Limited, abbreviated as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate, with interests in industrial technology, heavy industry, engineering, construction, manufacturing, power, information technology, defence and financial se ...

and Gammon India. Both these power stations are operated by

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is an Indian public sector undertaking based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is wholly owned by the Government of India and is responsible for the generation of electricity from nuclear power. N ...

. The personnel operating the power plant live in a residential complex called T. A. P. S. Township. This residential complex is a fifteen-minute drive from Boisar, the nearest railway station. The residential complex was also constructed by Bechtel to house both Indian and American employees. Because it was the home to American engineers and technicians, the residential complex had a very American small-town look, with neat sidewalks, spacious houses, a club with tennis courts, gyms and swimming pool, a commissary etc. While the original American residents have long gone, the colony continues to thrive.

Industrial estate

Tarapur also houses two huge industrial estates

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) is a project of the government of Maharashtra state in India and is the leading corporation of Maharashtra. It provides businesses with infrastructure such as land (open plot or built-up spa ...

, Tarapur Industrial Estate and Additional Tarapur Industrial Estate), which include bulk drug manufacturing units, specialty chemical manufacturing units like JSW Steel Ltd,

Aarti Industries ''Arti'' () or ''Aarati'' () is a Hindu ritual employed in worship, part of a ''Puja (Hinduism), puja'', in which light from a flame (fuelled by camphor, ghee, or oil) is ritually waved to venerate Hindu deities, deities. ''Arti'' also refers t ...

plants and a few textile plants.

Gas-fired power station

MIDC has proposed a gas-fired power station for captive use at Tarapur Industrial Area. MIDC has decided to explore the concept of group captive power plant (GCPP) as proposed in the Electricity Act of 2003. Subsequently, MIDC appointed

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

as consultant to study the concept of GCPPs.

Environment

The first "Common Effluent Treatment Plant" (CETP) in Maharashtra came up at Tarapur. Tarapur Industrial Manufacturers' Association is responsible for planting saplings. Tarapur, according to the central pollution control board, emerged as the most polluted industrial cluster.

Demographics

India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Tarapur had a population of 7012. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Tarapur has a literacy rate of 91% for both males and females, much higher than the national average of 72%. In Tarapur, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. Among minority languages, Gujarati is spoken by 15.68% of the population and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

by 26.78%.

Education

*Atomic Energy Central Schools , Tarapur *Teens World Corporate School * Tarapur Vidya Mandir & Jr. College * R.H.SAVE VIDYALAYA

Attractions

Two beaches lay about four kilometres west from Tarapur. Well known is the Tarapur beach with a dilapidated fort which was in a ruined state in 1862, part of the north wall having fallen. The Tarapur Fort, with wells and gardens within, was given in inam (a grant of real estate) by the Peshwa to Vikaji Mehrji, for a hundred years, and is still held by his heirs, and is currently in custody of Chorge family. Another beautiful site is the Chinchani beach, one and a half kilometres north of the fort.

Nearby towns

* Boisar * Chinchani * Vangaon * Umroli *

Palghar Palghar () is a prominent town in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, India, and a municipal council. It is strategically located within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and since 2014, it has been the administrative capital of the Palgh ...

* Dahanu Road

References

{{reflist Cities and towns in Palghar district Company towns in India