Ramagundam

రామగుండం
Ramagundam
"City of Energy"
—  town  —
రామగుండం
Ramagundam
Location of రామగుండం
Ramagundam
in Andhra Pradesh and India
Coordinates
Country India
State Andhra Pradesh
District(s) Karimnagar
Population 473,796 (2001)
Time zone IST (UTC+05:30)
Area

Elevation


179 metres (587 ft)

Ramagundam (Telugu: రామగుండం) is a city, and municipal corporation in the Karimnagar district of northern Andhra Pradesh, India.[1]

Ramagundam is known as City Of Energy. It is located on the banks of river Godavari, about 250 kilometres (155 mi) north east of state capital, Hyderabad.

It has a population of 473,796 It is the third largest city in Telangana region after Hyderabad and Warangal. It ranks 92nd[2] in the country

The town of Ramagundam gets its name from a combination of two words: (Rama + Gundam). A famous temple of the Hindu God Lord Rama is situated in the old part of the town and 'Gundam' means Water Springs.

Contents

Geography

Ramagundam is located at .[3] It has an average elevation of 179 meters (590 feet).

Industries

Ramagundam is situated in the Godavari Valley coalfields and has one of India's largest thermal power stations, run by NTPC. Ramagundam is considered the Manchester of India in light of the companies surrounding the area. Some of them are FCI: Fertilizer Corporation of India, Kesoram Cement, Basanth Nagar, NTPC (RSTPS - Ramagundam Super Thermal Power Station) sourcing 2600 MW of power 24/7 and the APSEB (Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board) unit at Ramagundam.Another 1320MW(2x660MW) is proposed as RDM-II as per expansion plan by NTPC Limited.NTPC's first SPV or Solar photovoltaic unit of capacity 25MWe has been proposed at Ramagundam.This would help in earning carbon credits against use of solar power as renewable energy source.

Around 24 units of coal mines belt in Godavarikhani stretching 25 km including opencasts (state of the art proclainers) are used in these open coal mines. Pruthvi Banjan is the name given by Late Shri N. T. Rama Rao, the then Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, to the thermal station for Godavarikhani community.

There are many factories around this place that take the raw material from the coalmines and prepare carbon derivatives.

The River Godavari flowing through this region made this a strategic location for all these companies providing employment to more than 15,000 people. The temperature is hotter than most places in India. The normal temperature is 40 degrees Celsius.

NTPC[4] has developed a technique to reduce the temperature by reducing the carbon dioxide in its emissions and has thus helped reduce the average temperature by 2 degrees Celsius in the last decade.

NTPC has a policy of hiring full time employees according to the production capacity. For the records, its present employees should not be more than 2600.

NTPC Ramagundam is considered to be one of the best in the nation (among 24 locations). NTPC is divided into 5 regions: Ramgundam falls in the southern region along with Simhadri and Kayamkulam. This provides a major chunk of the power supply to Dadar Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, PGCIL (Powergrid Corporation of India Limited [5]).More than 38000 crores have been invested to build this massive organization which provides employment to more than 6000 people. Recently, the 7th unit was added (in August 2004) with an additional capacity of 500 MW. NTPC Ramagundam has an exemplary vision for the environment which includes afforestation, monitoring environment impacts using NRSA satellite imaging services, Ash pond treatment, Ash brick plants and creating awareness of the environment in the local community. RSTPS had less than 10 disturbances in the years 2005-2006 and none lasted more than a day.[6]

Godavarikhani and Jyothinagar are the two major Telecom Exchange facilities available around this region.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,[7] Ramagundam had a population of 2,52,261. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Ramagundam has an average literacy rate of 75.54%, higher than the national average of 74.04%: male literacy is 83.10%, and female literacy is 67.75%. In Ramagundam, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Religion in Ramagundam
Religion Percent
Hinduism
  
91.40%
Islam
  
8.17%
Christianity
  
0.13%
Others†
  
0.30%
Distribution of religions
† Includes Sikhs (0.03%), Buddhists (0.04%), Jains (0.04%).

Transport

Road

Ramagundam is connected to major parts of the state through a well connected road, Rajiv Rahadari (Rajiv Highway) (Freeway of Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi) in remembrance of the Gandhi family and the political party he hailed from, the (Congress I). Godavarikhani Depo APSRTC provides good connections in this region[8]

APSRTC Buses for Hyderabad and Karimnagar are for every 15-30 min and everyday RTC provides HiTech Bus services to Hyderabad in normal route, There is a Bus via NTPC township to Hyd at 12.10 AM starting from NTPC Main Shopping complex (Bus reservation can be done at the township shopping centre) and between 11 PM to 01 AM there are two buses from 08 Inc Line colony passing to peddapalli. Almost there are many employees from NTPC, GDK coal mines, Ramagundam power station and nearby small industries and all NTPC employees children do travel to HYD on Sunday nights. Many children in the city studies in Hyderabad, Karimnagar and chennai.

Local (in side city) transportation: Approximately 3500 three wheeler auto rickshaws are running in the city.

Rail

Ramagundam is connected through the South Central Railway which connects to all the four metropolitan cities of India. Most of the trains passing through this route, stop at Ramagundam. Some of the trains are AP Express, Dakshin Express, Telangana Express, AP Samparkranthi Express, Sec-Patna exp, Grand Trunk Express, Kerala Express, Sanghamitra express, Bhagmati exp, Okha puri express etc.

Air

There is an airport at Basant nagar Kesoram cement factory at Ramagundam which is about 50 km from Karimnagar City. It was used when the Government of India was operating Vayudoot airlines a subsidiary of Air India and Indian Airlines. After the closure of Vayudoot, it has not been regular use. As of 2010, it is only used for landing of any VVIP's flights or for emergency landing of flights. The nearest major airport is around 250 km away at Hyderabad, Hyderabad International Airport and it is connected by the state highway via Karimnagar and Siddipet.

Education

References