Maharashtra Government announced to rename Girgaum Chowpatty as Swaraj Bhoomi

Maharashtra Government on 18 March 2015 announced to rename Girgaum Chowpatty as Swaraj Bhoomi to honour veteran freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Girgaum Chowpatty is the oldest and most famous beach of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It remains one of the best spots from which to see the sunset in Mumbai.

The demand was raised by the Lokmanya Tilak Gaurav Samiti. They demanded that the spot at Chowpatty where Lokmanya Tilak was cremated, and where a garden stands now, should be called Swaraj Bhoomi. He died on 1 August 1920.

Why it was called Chowpatty

The Girgaum beach was called Chau-pati because of four channels of water that existed there. According to the 1917 book Bombay Place Names and Street Names, this describes the inroads made by the tide before the western foreshore was reclaimed.

In 1865, the summit of Malabar Hill was excavated to provide filling for the Chaupati reclamation and the sea-face road which runs to Malabar Hill. The name is similar to Satpaty, a village in the Mahim taluka of Thane district, which is approached by a channel containing seven streams.