Belapur Fort

Belapur Fort stands on a hillock near the mouth of Panvel Creek in the Belapur area of Navi Mumbai. It was built by the Siddis of Janjira and taken by the Portuguese in 1682. In 1737 the Maratha commander Chimaji Appa captured it, having vowed to offer a garland of beli leaves at the nearby Amruteshwar temple if he succeeded, and the fort took its name from that promise. On 23 June 1817 Captain Charles Gray of the East India Company seized it, and the British partly pulled it down, as they did with many Maratha strongholds.

In its active years the fort held four companies of 180 men each and 14 guns. Locals believe a tunnel once ran from it to Gharapuri, the island of the Elephanta Caves. Today it is under CIDCO and in a dilapidated state, threatened by encroachment and debris, and residents have used right-to-information requests to fight the dumping there, while a nearby pond that supplies local water is also at risk.