| కంబం Cumbum | |
| — village — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Andhra Pradesh |
| District(s) | Prakasam |
| Subdistrict(s) | Cumbum |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
Cumbum (Telugu: కంబం; also known as Kambham) is a village and a Mandal in Prakasam district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.[1]
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Cumbum is located at .[2] It has an average elevation of 184 meters (606 ft). This township is under Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. It was a Taluk with a Tahsildar and a small regiment during 1850s in Madras Presidency. Due to the harsh climate, and specially due to the incidence of malaria, the British regiment was closed down and moved.
Cumbum Lake, also known as Gundalakamma Lake, built on Gundalakamma rivulet upon Nallamala hills, is one of the oldest man made lakes of Asia. It is said that the lake was built by sage Jamadagni at the opening between two hills of Nallamala range. But history records that the anicut (dam) was built by the Gajapati, kings of Orissa in 15th Century AD while the area was under their control. It was subsequently renovated by the Vijayanagar Princess Varadharajamma.
The lake in its present form is about 7 km long and on average, about 3.5 km wide. The Imperial Gazette of India, at the turn of 20th century, puts the height of the dam at 57 feet (17 m) and the drainage area at 430 square miles (1,100 km2). The directly irrigated land was about 10,300 acres (42 km2) in all.[3].
Cumbum lake is accessible both by the rail from Cumbum railway station and by road from Nandyal, Ongole and Kadapa. It is one of the most picturesque valleys in the Guntur-Nandyal-Guntakal section of South Central Railway. The Bogada and Chelama rail tunnel, one of the longest in broad gauge line, (1.6 km)are situated near this station. Cumbum tank, formed by damming the Gundlakamma river by earthen bund, which is the highest in the Presidency (80 ft), with 100 yards length. The tank spreads over an area of 9 square miles (23 km2), and irrigates 6,944 acres (28.10 km2) with over 3,500 acres (14 km2) being second cropped in a good year. A more successful work is the Cumbum tank, formed under native rule by damming a gorge of the Gundlakamma river. A water-colour painting of Cumbum tank on the Gundlakamma River painted by an unknown artist in March 1794 is still preserved at the British Library.
Apart from state high way Vinukonda-Nandyal and Kadapa roads, the Vijayawada-Guntakal railway lane of Guntur division in South Central Railway passes through the town connecting to cities Bangalore, Hyderabad, Hubli, Vasco-Da-Gama, Guntur, Vijayawada, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Palasa, Bhubaneswar and Howrah i.e. Kolkata. Further, the Railway Ministry had accepted for Cumbum - Proddatur railway lane in 2010 Railway budget and a survey was underway.
The town is earstwhile an assembly constituency till 2009 in Andhra Pradesh. There were 145,224 registered voters in Cumbum constituency in 1999 elections.
List of Elected Members:[4]
Starting 2009, Cumbum will cease to be an assembly constituency because of the re-alignment undertaken by the Election Commission.
There were famous personalities politically developed from this constitution. Unfortunately, Cumbum town is still in developing stage. Leaders might have developed Cumbum Tank as a tourist place as the tank is with so wide and ancient bund with beautiful scenarios viewed from Tank Bund like greenary, hills, long railway track and hills inside the tank. If the tank is full of water, boat shire will be the good entertinement to attract visitors. Renovation of Guest House on Tank Bund is important. Approach road on the foot of the hill need to be formed with Tar. The People of Cumbum are requesting the present M.L.A. to initiate the process of developing Cumbum Tank as a tourist and historical place in the district.
