Mettur
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Mettur
Tamil Nadu, India |
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  Mettur
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| District(s) | Salem |
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| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Population (2001) | 53,790 |
Mettur (Tamil: மேட்டூர்) is an industrial Town municipality in Salem district in the [India] state of Tamil Nadu. It is best known for the Mettur Dam.
Mettur, meaning 'town with crests and troughs', obtained its name owing to the undulating rocky naure of the land that makes the town an ideal place for the DAM on Cauvery river the life line of north and central Tamil Nadu. Stanley Reservoir.
Mettur is located at border of the Erode,Salem and dharumapuri districs and eqidistant from the district headquartes of the same name literally in the centre of three about an hours drive to each of the district headquarers. while technically falling under Salem Dt. (At the rate of new districts are carved out of larger ones a mettur district is not a far fetched idea owing to its distinct locational and political reasons. PMK a regional party even within the state infact wants to carve out two states out of tamil nad so it should suit them nicely.
Palamalai (malai means hill in local lingo) is a offshoot of the Eastern Ghats geographically contigous with the BR hills range as they reach out to merge with the Wester Ghats at Nilgiris.
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[edit] Economy
Mettur has a number of industries; an important one is Mettur Chemicals (Now known as Chemplast)which has four large plants manufaturing Chemicals, Soaps, Industrial gases among others and sadly one of the worst polluters of the neighbourhood, MALCO (Madras Aluminium Company) which also runs a Matriculation and Higher secondary School ,SISCOL (Southern Iron and Steel Company Limited) is a new addition to the region though it's located a little off Mettur.
And SAIL's Salem Steel plant is not very far off either. Add to that the High grade Granite quaried in the Eli karadu hills that is in great demand overseas.
The town has a thermal power station (840 MW) while the Hydel stations 80 MW & 220MW and four barrages 30 MW each downstream constitute a fifth of the states power output.
[edit] Geography
Mettur is located at [1]. It has an average elevation of 153 metres (501 feet).
Mettur is organised by geography as upper and lower Mettur lying in the Dams dowmstreams (locally called mael mettur and kizhl mettur transliterated as up mettur and down mettur.
Stanley reservoir is an excellent example of British stone masonary with the Dam extending a little less than a Kilometer in length and its storage level reaching upto 120 feet(though Public works department(PWD) do manage to hold a couple more feet of water.
The town is hemmed to a narrow strip of less than a kilometer (The Dam's length aparrently) in width by the cauvery let out by the Dam on the east and Eli karadu (Mouse hill) on the west which forms an interesing pattern of three similar peaks with identical longer shoulders to their left increaing in height from the Dam's crest level about a 1000 ft from sea level in the north to about 4000 ft peak in the Pallamalai.
[edit] Local Legend
Neringipettai about 4 Kms from the heart of Mettur at the foot of palamalai, the hills almost reachout to the river with just the State Highway from mettur to Erode between the river and the hills.
Pannavadi parisal thurai near Kolathur is located 12 km far from Mettur. There is a boat transportation in between the Kolathur and Nerupur of dharmapuri district. The boat transportation also available from koattaiyur it is 20 km far from mettur. While the water level decreases in Mettur dam we can able to see a Old Nandhi statue, a old church, a palace (Koattai) of Tippu Sultan which was sinked inside the water. It is nearer to Koattaiyur and Pannavadi, we can travel by fisherman's boat from any of the place mentioned.
This was the place where Virappan the notorious for his exploits in the extinction of Sandalwood and Tuskers in the whole forest regions stradlling about 2000 SQ KM raging from Anaimalai to Hogenakkal spread across the three sates tamil nadu kerala and Karnataka once gave a slip to the law enforcers while they were chasing him from Salem Goverment Hospital where he had ended a Deputy superindent of police life after the later was admitted with serous injuries from a land mine planted by Veerapan.
By the way now that he is finally killed ( no one believes that he was killed in an encounteras is claimed by the special police more agreed theory is like drug him and riddle him with bullet holes to fake it). It will make a good trekking route.
[edit] What to see
It is an undiscovered Trekking route (you can take the same route that Veerappan did when he evaded the law) or make your own way through the dense foliage that completely blocks the tropical summer sun. The trek to the top would take atleast 6 hours. Dont forget to bring along your own tents and supplies if you intend to stay over night. Whole Jackfruits will be sold for Rs.2 by hill dwellers.You can get 22 for a dollar that is if you can haul each fruit with pricks weigh 15 Kg some 6 hours while you are trying to avoid getting lost in the folliage. Infact it might me a good thing as you may end up in the path of wild elephants or get a glimpse of the sandal wood saplings that are getting a chance now to become glorious scented trees now that veerapan is not around to check on them. The occasional Black Panther or leopard may not be nice to you though. Qualified guides may be hard to find, try asking the local tourism office in the town Square.
The Traveller's bunglows and local motels can hold their own if you plan to stay in town.
On the other side of the Cauvery river is the Thermal pwerstation and behind it the Sitha malai range.( There are still some leopards that stray down from here and terrorize nearby hamlets.)
Hogennakkal falls where Cauvery enters Tamilnadu from Karnatka would be a nice place to visit from Metturthough its closer by road from Dharmapuri. By boat its just 14 KM while the reservoir is full it levels upto 15 feet at the hogenakkal falls. Though that will be the case only when the neighbouring state is in monsoon spate and they can't hold back the river's waters with the confines of Kabini and Krishnarajasagar Reservoirs. The closest comparision to Cauvery will be the okawanga river in South central Africa in that its absorbed in the paddy fields meant for provining just one species while the okawanga is atleast allowing a thriving wildlife to flourish before its absorbed by the desert.
And you can visit the gardens with Spotted eeer and snake park located in the Dam's downstream park area.
Mahadeswaran Malai about 60 KM to the west of the Dam located in the windind road with trecherous hairpin bends enroute Mysore is a popular pilgrimage location and madeswaran is a popular name among locals.
Thanga Malai Murugan temple within the town is a local attraction during festivals.
villages in Mettur Celebrate the Mariamman festival during the summer vacation time. The festival celebrated grandly for one week from Monday to Friday. places like Pudusampalli, Kunjandiyur, Mottur, Gonur, Kandhanur are the big villages celebrate the festival grandly, the other small villages also celebrate the festival.
[edit] When to go
Aadi perukku is the time to be in mettur when you can see the large rural deity Munnaiappan by the river side being offered prayers along with Goats, Pigs and Chicken. If you are averse to such cruelty to animals you can always see the river in controlled spate as the reservoirs Sluice gates are opened for irrigating the river delta for the the sowing season will be in full swing in the delta.
You will get to savour some delicious berikai (Counrty pears) and Steamed Corn and the fresh catch of the day straight from the river from the local fishermen some with one maimed forearm lost from the wrist in the act of trying to deftly lob a small locally made grenade to stun the fish to the surface and the occasional fuse ending up too short. Its a delicate balance and risky way to make a living as the right length of the fuse is hard to maintain, too long another pricey grenade drowned in water, too short another fisherman with nothing to show after the wrist. Some kids make short work by throwing lines from atop the brigde and more than enough fish for them to carry back home in an hour, but hey they are supposed to be in school right.
[edit] Demographics
As of 2001 India censusGRIndia, Mettur had a population of 53,790. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Mettur has an average literacy rate of 73%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 66%. In Mettur, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.
[edit] Education
Though the local population's litteracy is not very high, due to the nature of the industries there is a sizable percentage of Engineers (their children tend to become engineers as well, the dangers of autism setting in with in a few generations notwithstanding. While the youngsters tend to end up as IT pros there is a need to spread the dangers of autism and encourage arts or a compromise like Architecture.
While there is vocational training institute - Kaveri Polytechnic, Kaveri Engineering College, Govt. Arts and Science College opened recently and Higher secondary (10+2 grade) Schools - Malco Vidyalaya, MAM, Valluvar Vasuki, GV, Ramesh Vidhyashram are some of the private institution. Govt. HSS, Mettur, Vaidheeswara, GHSS Pudusampalli Schools are providing literacy to the young generation of Mettur.
Engineering students would find that Mettur has a lot to offer in provinding them an insight into Manufactuing through industrial tour's of the many industries and Power plants and Barrages to look upto.
[edit] Getting There
Mettur being close to the transportation hubs of Salem and Erode is well connected with both them as well as Dharumapuri at an hour - hour and a half drive from either. Its under 60 KM to all three spread out in three directions all the roads are state highways and if you prefer bus travell like most locals Salem offers the most frequency at one every 5 minutes. except in the wee hours.
[edit] References
| Salem District |
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| Taluk |
Attur | Edapady | Gangavalli | Mettur | Omalur | Salem | Sangagiri | Valapady | Yercaud |
| Blocks |
Attur | Ayothiapattinam | Gangavalli | Edappadi | Kadayampatti | Kolathur | Konganapuram | Macdonald s Choultry | Mecheri | Nangavalli | Omalur | Panaimarathupatti | Pethanaickenpalayam | Salem | Sankari | Talavasal | Tharamangalam | Vazhapadi | Veerapandi | Yercaud |
| Corporation | |
| Municipality |
Attur | Edappadi | Mettur | Narasingapuram |
| Town Panchayat |
Attayampatti | Ayothiapattinam | Jalakandapuram | Kannankurichi | Kolathur | Konganapuram | Mecheri | Omalur | P.N.Patti | Pethanaickenpalayam | Sankari | Thammampatti | Tharamangalam | Vazhapadi | Veerakkalpudur | Belur | Edaganasalai | Elampillai | Ethapur | Gangavalli | Kadayampatti | Karuppur | Keeripatti | Mallur | Panaimarathupatti | Sentharapatti | Thedavur | Thevur | Veeraganur | Arasiramani | Nangavalli | Poolampatti | Vanavasi |
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