Chodavaram, Visakhapatnam

Chodavaram చోడవరం
town & mandal
Sunset at Chodavaram
Nickname(s): cholavaram
Chodavaram Location in Andhra Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 17°50′00″N 82°57′00″E / 17.8333°N 82.9500°E / 17.8333; 82.9500Coordinates: 17°50′00″N 82°57′00″E / 17.8333°N 82.9500°E / 17.8333; 82.9500
Country	India
State	Andhra Pradesh
District	[Visakhapatnam district
Elevation	39 m (128 ft)
Languages
• Official	Telugu
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)

Chodavaram is a major village and mandal in the Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Geography

Chodavaram is located at .^[1] It has an average elevation of 39 meters (131 feet). It is well connected to the nearest city and district headquarters- Visakhapatnam(46KM). There are city buses operating at very good frequency. Nearest Railway station is at Anakapalli(18KM). In this town, a government institution for higher studes called GOVERNMENT DEGREE COLLEGE (GDC) is located. Which is famous for B.Sc Physics/Chemistry studies. The temple of Lord Ganesh is very famous and is well known as 'Swayam Bhu Vinayaka'.

History

In 1941 Chodavaram had a population of 8,379.^[2]

As per historian texts, the name of this village was "Chola Varam". The Chola Dynasty (300BC to 1279AD) which was ruling Tamil Nadu and Coastal Andhra Pradesh is having "Chola Varam" as their border post to enter into "Gajapathi Kingdom" of Orissa As the time passed, the name was changed to "Chodavaram".

Features

This major Panchayat is called the Gateway to Visakhapatnam Agency and present population is about 50,000. The main occupation of the population is cultivation in both commercial and food crops.

Chodavaram has FIVE distinctive old temples

• Swayambhu Sri karya Siddhi Vinayaka Swamy Temple, Chodavaram - 531036- **http://www.karyasiddhivinayaka.org'''**
• Sree Lakshmi Ganapathi temple(SLGD) Chodavaram-4 **http://www.slgfoundation.com/'''**
• Swayambhu Gowreeswara (Lord shiva)
• Keshava swamy(Lord Vishnu)
• Sri Lakshmamma temple

Major occupation of the population is agriculture and sugarcane got major stake in it. The nearby Sugar Factory viz The Chodavaram Co-operative Sugars Limited, Govada is the major agriculture based industry in the vicinity. The surrounding farmers are the shareholders in the said factory and is running successfully to the utmost satisfaction of the farmers and workers, by updating with latest technologies and gaining maximum sugar recovery from the qualitative cane supplied by the farmers.

Legislative Assembly

Chodavaram is an assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh. There are 1,54,712 registered voters in Chodavaram constituency in 1999 elections.

List of Elected Members:

• 1951 - Kandarpa Venkataramesam (Cong)
• 1955 - Reddi Jagannadham Naidu(Cong)
• 1967 - Sri Vechalapu Palavelly (Cong)
• 1972 - Sri Vechalapu Palavelly (Cong)
• 1978 - Emani Seetha Rama Sastry (Janata Party)
• 1983 - Gunuru Erri Naidu (Milatri Naidu) (TDP)
• 1985 - Gunuru Erri Naidu (Milatri Naidu) (TDP)
• 1989 - Balireddi Satya Rao (Cong)
• 1994 - Gunuru Erri Naidu (Milatri Naidu) (TDP)
• 1999 - Balireddi satya Rao (Cong)
• 2004 - Ganta Srinivasa Rao (TDP, now resigned and joined PRP)
• 2008 - Ganta Srinivasa Rao resigned as MLA
• 2009 - KSNS Raju (TDP)
• 2014 - KSNS Raju (TDP)

The disadavantage of this process of Electorate in Chodavaram is, the people in this assembly area are electing leader who is from different party than who is ruling the state Government. This is happening from 1989 and impacting development of this area.

References