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Thoothukudi

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This article is about the municipal corporation in Tamil Nadu, India. For its namesake district, see Thoothukudi district. For the 2006 film, see Thoothukudi (film).
Thoothukudi / Tuticorin
Tuticorin
City
Clockwise from top:Our Lady of Snows Basilica,Tuticorin View at night, Coastline with Industries, A mall in Tuticorin, Tuticorin Port Vintage Pic, Tuticorin Corporation.
Clockwise from top:Our Lady of Snows Basilica,Tuticorin View at night, Coastline with Industries, A mall in Tuticorin, Tuticorin Port Vintage Pic, Tuticorin Corporation.
Nickname: 
Pearl City
CountryIndia
StateTamil Nadu
DistrictThoothukudi
Government
 • BodyThoothukudi Municipal Corporation
 • MayorL. Sasikala Pushpa
Area
 • Total90.663 km2 (35.005 sq mi)
 • Rank10
Elevation
4 m (13 ft)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total410,760
 • Rank10
Languages
 • OfficialTamil
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
628 0xx
Telephone code91 (0) 461
Vehicle registrationTN-69
Literacy92.10
Lok Sabha constituencyThoothukudi
Vidhan Sabha constituencyThoothukudi
Civic agencyThoothukudi Municipal Corporation
ClimateAw (Köppen)

Thoothukudi, also known as Tuticorin, is a port city and a Municipal Corporation in Thoothukudi district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thoothukudi is the headquarters of Thoothukudi District.

Thoothukudi is also known as "Pearl City". It is a commercial seaport which serves the inland cities of Southern India and is one of the sea gateways of Tamil Nadu. It is also one of the major seaports in India with a history dating back to the 6th century AD. It is located about 590 kilometres (367 mi) south of Chennai and 190 kilometres (118 mi) northeast of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum).

History

Tuticorin (Thoothukudi) is also known by the name 'Thiru mandira Nagar'. Thoothukudi is part of the Pearl Fishery Coast, and is known for its pearl fishing and shipbuilding industries. [2]


View of the Dutch port Tuticorin, in 1752

The major harbour of Thoothukudi is well known as a pearl diving and fishing centre. It is one of the oldest seaports in the world and was the seaport of the Pandyan kingdom after Korkai, near Palayakayal. It was later taken over by the Portuguese in 1548, captured by the Dutch in 1658, and ceded to the British in 1825.[3] The lighthouse built in 1842 marked the beginning of the history of harbour development in the city. Thoothukudi was established as a Municipality in 1866 with Roche Victoria as its first chairman. It attained the status of Corporation on August 5, 2008 after 142 years of being a municipality.

Geography And Climate

Thoothukudi is in South India, on the Gulf of Mannar, about 590 kilometres southwest of Chennai.

Owing to its propinquity with the Gulf of Mannar, Tuticorin experiences tropical climatic conditions characterized with immensely hot summer, gentle winter and frequent rain showers.

Summer extends between March and June when the blazing sun boosts the temperature and the climate is very humid. Tuticorin registers the maximum temperature of 37°c and the minimum temperature of 30°c during summer. Summer in Tuticorin is the most hostile season.

Monsoon ranges from August to October and sometimes it continues till October when Tuticorin experiences continuous rains combined with occasional thunderstorms. The sea gets tempestuous and nobody will want to go out in such heavy rains. So monsoon is not the right season for visiting Tuticorin.

Winter ranges from November to February when the weather is considerably amicable and pleasant. The temperature during winter rises up to max 32°c and it goes as down as 26°c.

Beautiful view of Tuticorin view at night
Beautiful view of Tuticorin view at night

Demographics

Template:IndiaCensusPop

As of the census of India 2011, Thoothukudi Urban agglomeration had a population of 410,760; 205,459 males and 205,301 females. The sex ratio of the town stood at 999. The child sex ratio stood at 980. Thoothukudi had an average literacy rate of 92.10%: male literacy is 94.84%, and female literacy is 89.37%. A total of 12.69% of the population of the city was under 6 years of age. There were a total of 72,608 workers, comprising 212 cultivators, 196 agricultural labourers, 1,721 in house hold industries, 67,997 other workers, 2,482 marginal workers, 2,482 marginal cultivators, 9 marginal agricultural labourers, 227 in marginal workers in household industries and 2,180 other marginal workers.[4]

Economy

The economy of Thoothukudi revolves around shipping, fishing, salt pan, and agricultural industries. Thoothukudi has a host of other industries including power, chemicals and IT.

Thermal power plant

There are number of power projects are under construction in and around Tuticorin.

The Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station has five 210 megawatt generators. The first generator was commissioned in July, 1979. This power station supplies about one-third of the total power demand of Tamil Nadu.

The thermal power plants under construction include the coal-based 1000 MW NLC TNEB Power Plant.[5]

Other Important Industries

coastline of a city with industries on the shore
Tuticorin Coastine with Industries

1.Southern Petrochemical Industrial Corporation(SPIC) 2.Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals 3.Heavy water plant 4.Sterlite 5. Venus Home Appliances, manufacturers of Venus water heaters. 6. Maris Associates, manufacturers of Jumbo bags. 7. VVD Coconut oil. 8. Ramesh flowers, Pioneers in dry flower exports 9. KSPS Salts, pioneers in salt production.

Shipping

Main article: Tuticorin Port

Thoothukudi has been a centre for maritime trade and pearl fishery for more than a century. Its natural harbour with a rich hinterland, facilitated development of the port. Thoothukudi was declared as a minor anchorage port in 1868.[6] In 1906, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, with the help of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, launched the first swadeshi ship S.S. Gaelia and S.S.Lawoe in British India from Thoothukudi Port.[7]

To cope with the increasing trade through Thoothukudi, the Government of India sanctioned the construction of an all-weather Port at Thoothukudi. On 11 July 1974, the newly-constructed Thoothukudi port was declared to be the tenth major port in India Second only to JN Port (Mumbai) in size. Thoothukudi is an artificial port.[8] This is the third international port in Tamil Nadu and its second all-weather port.[9] The port also helps to increase the tourism in the region.[citation needed] A new ferry has been commenced between Thoothukudi and Colombo.[citation needed]

Culture

Language

Main article: Tamil language

Media and communication

  • Tuticorin has All India Radio Station which Carries AIR External Services for South Asia in English, Sinhala and Tamil (1053 kHz).[10]
  • FM Radio Stations in Tuticorin City include Suryan FM (93.5 MHz), Hello FM (106.4 MHz).
  • Century Communication obtained the FM Radio License for Tuticorin under Phase II of FM Radio Licenses by Government of India.[citation needed]
  • Tuticorin City is the landing point for the first undersea cable of BSNL, Ltd. Connecting Tuticorin with Colombo.[11] The optical fibre cable runs between Mt. Lavinia (Sri Lanka) and Tuticorin (325 km).

Education

Main article: List of educational institutions in Thoothukudi

Thoothukudi has numerous schools, including those classed as Primary, Middle and Higher Secondary,[12] as well as colleges.

Facilities

Tharuvai stadium hosts most of the local matches[clarification needed] and is maintained by Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.[citation needed]

Tuticorin Gymkhana Club has two Synthetic Turf Tennis courts, Tuticorin is the only other place after Chennai in Tamil Nadu to have this modern facility.[13]

Recreation

Parks

  • Roche Park is situated on the southern corner of the city on the way to harbour.
  • Harbour Beach park is situated near the harbor guest house.
  • Nehruji Park is in the northern side of the city. Pearl beach is next to it.
  • Rajaji Park near Government Hospital which is full of trees.
  • Teppakulam park around the Sundara Vinayagar Temple tank is in the heart of the city.
  • On the Palai road, municipality park with a long walker's track is there.

Transport

Port of Tuticorin during the Madras Presidency, c.a. 1913

Thoothukudi has an extensive transport network and is well-connected to other major cities by road, rail and air. The corporation maintains a total length of 428.54 km (266.28 mi). The city has 37.665 km (23.404 mi) concrete roads, 329.041 km (204.457 mi) black topped surface roads, 56.592 km (35.165 mi) water bound macadam roads and 5.242 km (3.257 mi) earthern roads.[14] The major roads within the city are NH 7A connecting Palayamkottai, Ettayapuram road (also called Madurai road), Ramanathapuram road, Tiruchendur road and West Cotton road. A bye pass road located outside the city connects the harbour, thermal plant, SPIC industry and Madurai Road. There are two bus stands in the city; the old bus stand is located in the Palayamkottai road and the new bus stand is located in the Ettaiyapuram road. Around 700 buses are operated from these two bus stands, catering the local and inter city transport.[15]

The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates daily services connecting various cities to Thoothukudi. The corporation operates a computerised reservation centre in the bus stand of the city.[16] The State Express Transport Corporation operates long distance buses connecting the city to important cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Kanyakumari. Thoothukudi being a harbour city has lot of container truck transport. As of 2008, the number of container trucks entering the city is 1000.[15] The expansion of ECR from Tuticorin to Kanyakumari via Tiruchendur and Koodankulam at a cost of 257 crores sanctioned and is in progress.[17]

Thoothukudi railway junction is one of the oldest and popular railway stations in India. The line between Madurai and Thoothukudi was opened in 1874.[18] Tuticorin City railway station is one of the oldest[19] stations in India and South Indian Railway began a Madras – Tuticorin service connecting with the boat to Ceylon in 1899.[20] The station was declared a Model Station in 2007 and several infrastructure developments are in process.[21][clarification needed] There is also another station, known as Tuticorin Melur.[22] We have daily trains connecting us to Chennai, Bangalore and Coimbatore.

Tuticorin Port

Tuticorin Airport is at Vagaikulam, 14 km from the heart of the city. The State Government plans to extend the runway and modernize the airport to handle to more traffic and bigger aircraft.[23] There was also a proposal in 2009 for a greenfield airport.[24] Madurai Airport is the nearest international airport.

Tuticorin Port is a natural deep-sea harbour. A luxury ferry liner, the Scotia Prince, is conducting a ferry service to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ferry services between the two countries have been revived after more than 20 years.[25]

Municipal administration and politics

Municipality officials
Chairman Sasikala Pushpa[26]
Commissioner S. Madhumathi[27]
Vice Chairman P. Jegan Nathan[28]
Elected members
Member of Legislative Assembly S.T. Chellapandian[29]
Member of Parliament S.R. Jeyadurai[30]

The Thoothukudi municipality was established in 1866 during British times. It was promoted to a municipal corporation in 2008, bringing an area of 90.663 km2 (35.005 sq mi) within the city limits. The municipal corporation has four zones namely East, West, North and South. The corporation has 60 wards and there is an elected councillor for each of those wards.[31] The functions of the corporation are devolved into six departments: general administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information Technology (IT). All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the executive head.[32] The legislative powers are vested in a body of 60 members, one each from the 60 wards.[33] The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a Deputy Chairperson.[34] Thoothukudi city is the district head quarters for the Thoothukudi district.

Thoothukudi comes under the Thoothukudi assembly constituency and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years.[35] From the 1977 elections, the assembly seat was won by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for three times during 1989, 1996 and 2006 elections and All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for six times during 1977, 1980, 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2011 elections.[36] The current MLA of the constituency is S.T. Chellapandian from AIADMK.[29]

Utility services

Electricity supply to the city is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). Thoothukudi is the headquarters of the Thoothukudi region of TNEB that has four divisions. The city along with its suburbs forms the Thoothukudi Electricity Distribution Circle. A Chief Distribution engineer is stationed at the regional headquarters.[37] Water supply is provided by the Thoothukudi City Corporation from the Tamirabarani with 8 overhead tanks. In the period 2010–2011, a total of 21 million litres of water was supplied everyday for households in the city.[38]

About 96 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the city every day by door-to-door collection and subsequently the source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the Thoothukudi Municipal corporation. The coverage of solid waste management had efficiency of 94% as of 2011.[39] The underground drainage system was constituted in 1984 and covers only certain zones of the corporation area. The remaining sewerage system for disposal of sullage is through septic tanks and public conveniences.[40] The corporation maintains a total of 69.47 kilometres (43.17 mi) of storm water drains.[41] The corporation operates five health posts throughout the city. Apart from these, there are various private hospitals and clinics that take care of the health care needs of the citizens.[42] There are a total of 16,302 street lamps comprising 1,568 sodium lamps, 74 mercury vapour lamps, 14,383 tube lights, 178 SV lamps and 100 energy saving lamps.[43]

Thoothukudi comes under the Thoothukudi Telecom District of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom and internet services provider. Both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile services are available. Apart from telecom, BSNL also provides broadband internet service.[44] Thoothukudi is one of the few cities in India where BSNL's Caller Line Identification (CLI) based internet service Netone is available.[45]

Notes

  1. ^ . 2011 http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/data_files/India2/Table_3_PR_UA_Citiees_1Lakh_and_Above.pdf. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ^ Thoothukudi district. "Thoothukudi Tourism" (PDF). Thoothukudi district, Government of India. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  3. ^ The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001
  4. ^ "2011 census" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  5. ^ Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited (2012). "Proposed thermal power plants". Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited.
  6. ^ "Thoothukudi Port". Thoothukudi district, Government of India. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  7. ^ "A belated remembrance". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 8 September 2008. Retrieved 2011-10-11.
  8. ^ Official website of Thoothukudi Port(Construction Details)
  9. ^ Official website of Tuticorin Port
  10. ^ "All India Stations". All India Radio. 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  11. ^ "BSNL picks Tuticorin to be landing station". The Indian Express. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help); Unknown parameter |http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid= ignored (help)
  12. ^ "Insitutions". Tuticorin.net. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  13. ^ "Synthetic turf tennis court inaugurated in Tuticorin". The Hindu. Tuticorin, India. 28 April 2009.
  14. ^ "Thoothukudi corporation roads". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  15. ^ a b Urban Infrastructure Report 2008, pp. 13-14
  16. ^ "S.E.T.C. Tamil Nadu Ltd., Computer reservation centres". Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation Ltd. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  17. ^ http://www.tn.gov.in/policynotes/pdf/highways.pdf
  18. ^ Peebles, Patrick (2001). The Plantation Tamils of Ceylon. Leicster University Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-7185-0154-3.
  19. ^ "Railway Map of India – 1893". irfca.org. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  20. ^ "[IRFCA] Indian Railways FAQ: IR History: Early Days - 2". Irfca.org. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  21. ^ "Plan to upgrade railway station in Tuticorin". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 29 January 2007. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  22. ^ "[IRFCA] Indian Railways Station Codes Index". Irfca.org. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  23. ^ "Press Information Bureau English Releases". 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  24. ^ "Consolidated Construction to focus on infrastructure projects". Indo-Asian News Service. 7 October 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  25. ^ "Tuticorin-Colombo ferry sets sail —". Times Of India. 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  26. ^ "Chairman of Corporation". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  27. ^ "Commissioner of Corporation". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  28. ^ "Vice Chairman of Corporation". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  29. ^ a b "MLA of Thoothukudi". Government of Tamil Nadu. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  30. ^ "General Elections to Lok Sabha, 2009, name and address of the elected members of parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu". Government of Tamil Nadu. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  31. ^ "About the Corporation". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  32. ^ "Commissionerate of Municipal Administration". Commissionerate of Municipal Administration. 2006. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  33. ^ "Councillors of Corporation". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  34. ^ "Economic and political weekly, Volume 30". Sameeksha Trust. 1995: 2396. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  35. ^ "List of Assembly Constituencies". Tamil Nadu. Tamil Nadu state government. 2010. Retrieved 2012-12-28.
  36. ^ "Partywise Comparison Since 1977". Election Commission of India. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  37. ^ "Important Address" (PDF). Indian Wind Power Association. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  38. ^ "Water Supply Details". Corporation of Thoothukudi. Retrieved 2012-12-29. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  39. ^ "Waste management programme". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate2012-12-29" ignored (help)
  40. ^ "Thoothukudi sewarage". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  41. ^ "Storm water drains of Thoothukudi". Thoothukudi Corporation. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  42. ^ "Thoothukudi hospitals". Thoothukudi Corporation, Government of Tamil Nadu. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  43. ^ "Thoothukudi street lights". Thoothukudi Corporation, Government of Tamil Nadu. 2011. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  44. ^ "List of cities where BSNL broadband service is available (As on 01.01.2007)" (PDF). Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  45. ^ "List of cities where Calling Line Identification (CLI) Based Internet Service is available". Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. Retrieved 2012-12-29.

References

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