Thoothukudi
| Thoothukudi Tuticorin |
|
| Pearl City | |
| — city — | |
|
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| Coordinates | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Tamil Nadu |
| District(s) | Thoothukudi |
| Mayor | Smt. R Kasturi Thangam |
| Parliamentary constituency | Thoothukudi |
| Assembly constituency | Thoothukudi |
| Civic agency | Thoothukudi Corporation |
| Population • Density |
4,36,094[1] (2001[update]) • 46.75 /km2 (121 /sq mi) |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Area • Elevation |
353.07 square kilometres (136.32 sq mi) • 4 metres (13 ft) |
Thoothukudi (Tamil: தூத்துக்குடி), 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.
Tuticorin is also known as "Pearl City". It is a commercial seaport which serves the inland cities of Southern India.Tuticorin in the gateway of Tamil Nadu. It is also one of the major seaports in India with its history dating back to the 6th century A.D.
Contents |
History
Tuticorin is traditionally known for its pearl fishing and shipbuilding industries. Thoothukudi became the centre of the Indian Independence Movement in the early 20th century, with leaders such as Maveeran Sundaralinga Kudumbanar, Tyagi Mohanavalli Vadivu and Thalapathy Vennikalady, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, P.Kandasamy Pillai (popularly known as 'Pena Kana'), Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathy, Vanchinathan. In 1906, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai with the help of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, launched the first Swadeshi ship S.S. Gaelia from this port town against the British. Freedom fighter Vanchinathan killed the then Tirunelveli District Collector Ash during the freedom struggle in Maniyachi [Tuticorin was part of Tirunelveli at that time].
The major harbour of Tuticorin is well known as a pearl diving and fishing centre. Tuticorin, one of the oldest seaports in the world, 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.[2] The lighthouse built in 1842 marked the beginning of the history of harbour development in the city. Tuticorin 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.
Origin of the name
There are three theories as to the origin of the name:
- Thoothu (Dig) and Kudi (Drink) - The town had no rivers and the only source of drinking water was from wells.
- "Thoortha" means land "reclaimed" from sea while "Kudi" also stands for "settlement" or "colony". Hence "Thoortha Kudi" or "Thoothukudi" could mean a settlement built on land reclaimed from sea.
- Finally, the name "Tuticorin" was used by Portuguese who came here.
Today the city is referred to as Thoothukudi in Tamil and Tuticorin in English.
Geography
Thoothukudi is in South India about 590 kilometres southwest of Chennai's [kathipara junction] and is geographically located in the Gulf of Mannar. The climate of Tuticorin is extremely hot and humid.
Administration
| Thoothukudi city officials | |
| Member of Parliament | S.R. Jayadurai, D.M.K |
| Member of Legislative Assembly | P. Geetha Jeevan, D.M.K |
| Collector | Sri. G Prakash, IAS |
| Mayor | Smt. R Kasturi Thangam |
| Superintendent of Police | Mr. T Senthil Kumar, IPS |
| Deputy Superintendent of Police, Urban | Mr. Mohamed Goush Khan Ghori |
| Deputy Superintendent of Police, Rural | Mr. K Natarajamoorthy |
| Corporation Commissioner | Tmt. R. Lakshmi |
Tuticorin was a part of Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency till 2009. Tuticorin was separated from Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency and became a new Lok Sabha constituency from 2009. The constituency comprises the whole of Tuticorin District, which includes Vilathikulam, Thoothukkudi, Tiruchendur, Sri Vaikuntam, Ottapidaram and Kovilpatti.
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.
The availability of skilled labour, an electricity generating plant, a container facility and a major port has made Tuticorin an important centre for industry and business. The Sethusamudram project, the airport at Vagaikulam, Koodankulam Nuclear Power plant, improved road and rail infrastructure and Nanguneri SEZ are expected to make Tuticorin an attractive choice for business investment. Tata Steel recently announced plans to set up a titanium dioxide project in Tuticorin. Three national brand products are made in Tuticorin: VVD Coconut oil, Agsar Paints and Venus Water Heaters.
Earlier SPIC, TAC were large employers having an impact on the local economy. Nowadays the port and Sterlite Industries seem to be the major employers.
Thermal Power Plant
The Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station (TTPS) is the biggest power station in Tamil Nadu under the control of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board with five units of 210 M.W. each generating 50 million units of energy daily. The first unit was commissioned in July, 1979, the second unit in December 1980 and the third unit in March 1982. This power station is feeding about 1/3 of the total power demand of Tamil Nadu.
Shipping
Tuticorin 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. Tuticorin was declared as a minor anchorage port in 1868. In 1906, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai launched the first swadeshi ship S.S. Gaelia in British India from Tuticorin Port. After Independence, the minor Port of Tuticorin witnessed a flourishing trade and handled a variety of cargo.
To cope with the increasing trade through Tuticorin, the Government of India sanctioned the construction of an all-weather Port at Tuticorin. 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.[3] This is the third international port in Tamil Nadu and its second all-weather port.[4] The port is also helping increase the tourism in the region. A new ferry has been commenced between Tuticorin and Colombo.
Tuticorin is also known to produce some of the best sailors and marine officers of the world. Sailors from Tuticorin are highly regarded by all crewing companies.
Tuticorin is one of the very few ports of India where Mechanised Sailing Vessels are operated. These vessels are operated at the Old Port which is termed by the port authorities as Zone B.
NYK logistics India Ltd is one of the leading logistics company in Tuticorin.
Fisheries
Marine fishing, Pearl and Valamburi Chunk fishing are famous in this district from the time immemorial. Thoothukudi is the main centre for deep sea fishing in the district which has a lengthy coast-line of about 140 km. Prawn culture is very flourishing in this district and earning considerable amount of foreign exchange. Now the prawn culture has been banned by the Supreme Court of India due to pollution issues. Tuticorin Fishing industry thrives since this is the place known to attract varieties of fish daily unlike other centres. Fishes caught here are either sold locally or exported. Tuna which is caught here is dried and sold as Maasi. Dry fish from Tuticorin is sent to Sri Lanka and many parts of South India. The fish-cake produced here are used for food for prawns and other fishes. There are 11 marine fishing villages.
There is one Joint Director of Fisheries and Assistant Directors of Fisheries in charge of Pearl-chunk fishing, Fishermen Training Institute and for technical guidance. There is fish-seed farm at Kadamba. Service centre/Base workshop of this district is situated at Thoothukudi. Fish is produced and supplied to the poor at cheaper rates. There is a fish curing centre at Palayakayal , Punnakayal. There are 450 mechnaised boats, 1300 vallams and 900 Kattamarans in this district. About 5,428 Fishermen families are directly engaged in fishing in these vessels. There is a Fisheries College at Thoothukudi. The estimated inland fish catch is 1,583 MT and Marine fish catch is 34,066 MT in the year 1999
Readymade Clothes
Puthiamputhur is a one of the most popular village. Puthiamputhur people made a qualifide readymade clothes and sell it all over Tamil Nadu and purchase fabric from various parts of India, and in this village there are many business people who worked hard for the empowerment of the entire tuticorin district and among them v. Arputhamani nadar is an important one to note he was the first one to build a rice mill in this district, and further he added a gining mill and an oil mill within the rice mill complex. He passed away on may 17 2010.
Transport
Next to Chennai city, Tuticorin has all the four means of Transport viz Roadway, Seaway, Railway and Airway.
Roads
Tuticorin City is well connected by road. The Major Highways are,
- Tuticorin - Madurai - Trichy - Ulundurpettai - Vellore (NH 38)
- Tuticorin - Palayamkottai (NH 138)
- Tuticorin - Palayakayal - Tiruchendur (State Highway)
- Tuticorin - Ramanathapuram (State Highway). Was recently upgraded as part of the East Coast Road (ECR) Project.[5]
Currently projects,
- Tuticorin - Madurai (NH 38) Expressway 4-way laning
- Tuticorin - Palayamkottai (NH 138) Expressway 4-way laning
Proposed projects,
- The expansion of ECR from Tuticorin to Kanyakumari at a cost of
190 crores is planned.[6]
Railways
- Tuticorin is one of the oldest[7] railway stations in India.
- South Indian Railway began Madras - Tuticorin service connecting with the boat to Ceylon in 1899.[8]
- Tuticorin City Railway Station is declared as a Model Station[9] and several infrastructure developments are in process.
- Tuticorin City has two Railway Stations Tuticorin Melur (Station Code:TME) and Tuticorin (Station Code:TN).[10]
- Currently the proposals for Electrification of the track up to Tuticorin and double line conversion from Dindugul to Tuticorin are approved by the Ministry of Railways.
- A proposal for connecting Karakudi - Kanyakumari through Ramand, Tuticorin and Tiruchendur is under survey.
- The demand for overnight Train to Coimbatore is under consideration by railway authorities as local people have done protests and have demanded to union minster M.K. Azhagiri.
The major trains From Tuticorin:
- Pearl City Express, Tuticorin(2693) - Chennai(2694)
- Tuticorin - Mysore Express
- Tuticorin - Tirunelveli Passenger
- Tuticorin - Tirunelveli - Tiruchendur Passenger
Maniyachi is the most important railway station in linking Tuticorin with all other stations, like the gate way to Tuticorin.
Airport
- Tuticorin Airport is at Vagaikulam, 14 km from the heart of the city. It is an approx 20- 25 min drive from the city.
- After several years of shutdown, Tuticorin Airport was reopened for commercial operations on April 1, 2006.
- Currently a daily Kingfisher Red, formerly Air Deccan Flight service between Chennai and Tuticorin is active. Flight arrives at 12:15 PM IST and leaves after half an hour.
- The State Government has planned to extend the runway (over 700 acres of land is under approval) and modernize the airport to handle to more traffic and bigger aircraft.
- Paramount Airways is planning to start their air services to Tuticorin from various cities in South India.
- Chennai based 14.85-billion Consolidated Construction Consortium (CCC) is bidding for the construction and operation of greenfield airport in Tuticorin.[11]
Port
- Tuticorin Port is a natural deep-sea harbour formed with rubble mound type parallel breakwaters projecting into the sea for about 4 kilometres.
- The harbour basin extends to about 400 hectares of protected water area and is served by an approach channel of 2400 metres length and 183 metres width.
- Tuticorin Port boasts of 9 Cargo Berths, 1 Shallow Water Berth, 1 Passenger Jetty, 1 Oil Jetty and 2 Coal Jetties in Tuticorin Port.
- Works are being carried out to increase the depth of the canal and basin to handle vessels of up to 12.8m draft.
- The present capacity of the Tuticorin Port is 20.55 million tonnes.
Transport Within Tuticorin
- Tuticorin has two main bus stations namely Anna Bus Stand (Old Bus stand) and New bus Stand. City buses connect both of them with other parts of the city.
- A network of TNSTC and private City buses along with mini-buses makes getting around Tuticorin a lot easier.
- Share Autos are another convenient mode of transport within Tuticorin.
Hospitality
In the recent years, the city has seen growth in the hospitality industry. A luxury three star hotel "themayflower" is one of the top luxury hotels. Some of the other top rated hotels are DSF Grand Plaza Hotel, Sathya Park and Resort , Jony International Hotel. South Indian, Sea foods,consitituting bulk of Indian variety and also Chinese, Continental food are available in hotels/restaurantsof the city.
Culture
Language
There is a tradition that the Tamil language originated from the Pothigai Malai, a hill situated in Western Ghats near Papanasam, a small village in the Tirunelveli district. As per Brahminical legend, Lord Shiva sent the two saints Vyasa and Agatyar (in Sanskrit Agastya) to create the divine languages Sanskrit and Tamil. Agatyar came to Papanasam and established the Tamil culture from the Pothigai Malai.
Famous eatables in Tuticorin
Tuticorin is famous for Macaroon (a biscuit or cookie made up of egg white, cashew, sugar and yeast). Plum cakes, Ghee candies, Fruit Mixer juice (Pazharasam in Tamil), Dried Ginger water (Chukku Venneer in Tamil), are also popular here. Tuticorin Paraota (roasted bread) is special as the roasted wheat is deepfried in oil and the curry (salna) is spicy and tasty. Late Night eateries can be found near Fishing Harbour in Beach Road.
Media and communication
- Tuticorin has All India Radio Station which Carries AIR External Services for South Asia in English, Sinhala and Tamil (1053 kHz).
- FM Radio Stations in Tuticorin City include Suryan FM (93.5 MHz), Hello FM (106.4 MHz).
- CCL got the FM Radio License for Tuticorin under Phase II of FM Radio Licenses by Government of India.
- Tuticorin City is the landing point for the first undersea cable of BSNL, Ltd. Connecting Tuticorin with Colombo.[12] The optical fibre cable runs between Mt. Lavinia (Sri Lanka) and Tuticorin (325 km) with bandwidth of 20 gigabits per second, will be upgraded to 160 gigabits per second. This will promote the IT investment in South India by improved Telecom infrastructure.
Miscellaneous
- Varadarajan Muniswami Mudaliar aka Vardhabhai (1926–1988) was a Tamil immigrant from Tuticorin.
Education
Schools
- Alagar School
- Caldwell Higher Secondary School
- C.M. Middle School
- C.M.Higher Secondary School
- BMC matric hr sec school
- Holy Cross Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School
- Holy Cross Girls Higher Secondary School
- Jaimatha Higher Secondary School
- John's English School, Miller Puram
- Johnson Nursery & Primary School
- KAMAK Matriculation Higher Secondary School
- Karapettai Nadar Girls Higher Secondary School
- Karapettai Nadar Boys Higher Secondary School
- Leo Nursery & Primary School
- P.M.Lasaal Higher Secondary School
- Rosammal Memorial Higher Secondary School
- S.A.V. Higher Secondary School
- S.D.A. Matriculation High School
- S.D.R School
- Sakthi Vinayakar Hindu Vidyalaya Secondary School
- SPIC Nagar Higher Secondary School
- St. Aloysious Girls Higher Secondary School
- St. Francis Xavier Higher Secondary School
- St. Joseph Girls Higher Secondary School
- St.Lasalle Higher Secondary School
- St. Mary's Boys Higher Secondary School
- St. Mary's Industrial School
- St. Thomas Matriculation Higher Secondary School
- Star Matriculation School
- Bharathiyar Vidyalayam Higher Secondary School (Old Name: Subbiah Vidyalayam Boys Higher Secondary School)
- Subbiah Vidyalayam Girls Higher Secondary School
- Subbiah Vidyalayam Middle School
- The Vikasa School
- The Good Sheperd model school
- Victoria Girls Higher Secondary School
- Virudhunagar Nadar Kamarajar Matriculation High School
- V.V.Classic Matric School
- X'an matriculation School
and 14 Corporation Schools
Colleges
- A.P.C.Mahalakshmi College for Women
- Annammal College of Education for Women
- Annammal Training College for Women
- Bell Teacher Training Institute
- Bishop Caldwell College
- Chanddy Polytechnic College
- Fisheries College and Research Institute
- Holy Cross Home Science College
- Nettur Technical Training Foundation (NTTF) - Technical Training Centre [13]
- Govt. College of Engineering
- Govt. Medical College
- Govt. Polytechnic College
- Kamaraj College
- Rajalakshmi College Of Education
- Samuel Polytechnic College
- St. Mary's College
- St. Thomas College Of Education
- St. Ann's School of Nursing
- Suganthi Devadason Marine Research Institute
- V.O.C. College of Arts & Science
- V.O.C. College of Education
Sports
- Tuticorin and its surroundings is called the nursery of volleyball.
- Kamaraj, former student of St. Xaviers Higher Secondary School, represented India in volleyball.
- Moses Jeevanandam, former student of Caldwell Higher Secondary School, represented India in basketball.
- In the 1980s, Tuticorin basketball coach Renga Chari, or "Chari", trained many basketball players in this region. Moses Jeevanandam is among them.
- Piramanayagam, former student of St. Marys Boys Hr. Sec. School, reprensented India in Kabbadi.
Facilities
Tharuvai stadium hosts most of the local matches and is maintained by Sports Development Authoriy of Tamil Nadu. It includes,
-
- 400m Athletic track,
- 25m Swimming pool,
- a Basketball court,
- a Boxing ring
- a Football ground,
- 2 Hockey grounds,
- a Multi Gym
- a Squash court,
- a Synthetic Hockey training ground (25x30m) and
- a Volleyball court
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.
Recreation
Parks
- Roche Park is situated on the southern corner of the city on the way to harbor.
- Harbor Beach park is situated near the harbor guest house. Locals throng this beach on weekends.
- Nehruji Park is in the northern side of the city. Its maintenance is in a pitiable condition now.
- Rajaji Park near Government Hospital which is full of trees.
- Teppakulam park around the Sundara Vinayagar Temple tank in the heart of the city.
Favourite Past time
- Pigeon Racing is one of the favourite past time in Tuticorin. Valarpirai Racing Pigeon Club situated in main market place, for the past 25 years organises homing pigeon races from January to April where the pigeon fanciers compete with their pigeons for short, middle and long( 1500km) distance pigeon racing. The homing pigeon racing history in Tuticorin has roots back to 18th century.
- Cock Fighting is another past time where the specially bred cocks will compete in the fights and this sport here has history ranges back to early modern times.
- BIKE Racing is one of the popular past time in Tuticorin.
References
- ↑ "Upgrading of Tuticorin municipality". thehindu.com. http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/04/stories/2007110453720300.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- ↑ The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001
- ↑ Official website of Tuticorin Port(Construction Details)
- ↑ Official website of Tuticorin Port
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ Railway Map of India - 1893
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ [5]
- ↑ [6]
- ↑ BSNL picks Tuticorin to be landing station
- ↑ http://www.nttfonline.com/hrd_training.html
External links
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