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| ?Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh • India | |
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| Coordinates: | |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Area • Elevation | 540 km² (208 sq mi) • 5 m (16 ft) |
| District(s) | Visakhapatnam |
| Population • Density | 1,498,900 (2001) • 340/km² (881/sq mi) |
| Commissioner | Meena |
| Codes • Pincode • Telephone • Vehicle | • 530 0xx • +0891 • AP31,AP32 & AP33 |
Visakhapatnam pronunciation (Telugu: విశాఖపట్ణం) (also Viśākhapattanamu, shortened and anglicized: Vizag or Vizagapatnam) is a coastal, port city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, located on the eastern shore of India, nestled among the hills of the Eastern Ghats and facing the Bay of Bengal to the east. It is the administrative headquarters of Visakhapatnam District and is also home of the Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy.
Alternatively, it sometimes goes by its now mostly defunct colonial British name, Waltair. During the colonial era, the city had at its hub the Waltair railway station, and that part of the city still goes by the name of Waltair. It is sometimes also referred to as the "City of Destiny".[citation needed]
The city is home to several state owned heavy industries, one of the most advanced steel plants and has one of the country\'s largest ports and its oldest shipyard. It has the only natural harbour on the eastern coast of India.
Andhra University, a prominent seat of education in Andhra Pradesh is located here.
Vizag is primarily an industrial city, apart from being a tourist destination. Tourists are attracted by its unspoilt beaches, nearby scenic Araku Valley and Borra caves, the 11th-century Simhachalam temple and ancient Buddhist sites like Totlakonda & Bavikonda spread across the area.
The city boasts a submarine museum, the first of its kind in South Asia, at Rama Krishna Beach.
From being a small fishing village in the twentieth century, Vizag has grown into an industrial hub. Its saga began with the quest of British to find a suitable port that connects the rich mineral belt of Central provinces with the East Coast. Unlike the western coast of India, the east coast have few undulations to form a natural harbor. Their quest for finding out a harbor ended with Vizag. Vizag is the most protected natural harbour in Asia. They started building the harbor in 1927 and in 1933 it was opened to traffic. One more important milestone is setting up of Scindia Steam Navigation Co., later known as Hindustan Shipyard Ltd in 1940. With the construction of the K.K. line connecting the iron ore mines of Biladila in M.P. (Present day Chattisgarh), its importance grew. In 1950s and 1960s Government and private sector setting up some largescale Basic industries like Bharat Heavy plates and vessels (B.H.P.V.), Hindustan Zinc Ltd., Caltex oil refinery (Later acquired by government as H.P.C.L.), Coramandel fertilizers, Andhra Polymers (Now L.G. Polymers), etc. 1980s saw a major development with the development of Vizag Steel and other major industries. Economic liberalization in the 1990s brought a modest growth to the city but not as much as it did to Hyderabad. However, some industries sprang up like Rain calclining Ltd., expansion of H.P.C.L., setting up of Vizag Export Processing zone, Simhadri Thermal Power plant of N.T.P.C., etc. Vizag is now declared as one of ten fastest growing cities of the world a recent study conducted by the United Nations.
Due to the presence of the Eastern Naval Command, Steel Plant, H.P.C.L., the city has been the home to people from different parts of the country and due to this the city has a cosmopolitan texture to it.
The city\'s main commercial and shopping centres are located in the Dwaraka Nagar-R.T.C. complex area and Jagadamda Junction area. Since 2000, the Dwaraka Nagar-R.T.C. complex area has transformed into a commercial hub with new shopping malls and complexes spring up within a radius of 2-3 kilometers. The city is home to many five star hotels such as Taj group, I.T.C. Welcome Group & Park Hotels.
There has been a rise in the real estate prices attributed to the Telangana movement for a separate Telangana state, fueling speculation on Vizag becoming the next capital. Recently various large and small software and BPO companies have announced plans for starting development and outsourcing centers in Vizag, which has also contributed to the rise in real estate prices. Inflows from N.R.I.\'s (Non Resident Indians) from Vizag has further added to this rise.
Indira Gandhi Zoological Park was setup in 1972 in the city outskirts. The Zoo Park features some of the rarest species in India.
This region, formerly part of the Kalinga empire (ancient Orissa) that stretched up to the river Godavari, has also been mentioned in Hindu and Buddhist texts from the 5th and 6th centuries B.C.E., as well as by Sanskrit grammarians Panini and Katyayana in the 4th century B.C.E.
This city was ruled by several dynasties:
Local legend states that an Andhra king (9-11th century) while on his way to Benares, rested there and was so enchanted with the sheer beauty of the place, that he ordered a temple to be built in honor of his family deity, Visakha. Archaeological sources however reveal that the temple was possibly built between the 11th and 12th centuries by the Chola\'s. A shipping merchant, Sankarayya Chetty, built one of the mandapams (Pillared halls) of the temple. Although it no longer exists (It may have been washed away about a hundred years ago by a cyclonic storm), elderly residents of Vizag talk of visits to the ancient shrine by their grandparents. Noted author Ganapatiraju Atchuta Rama Raju contradicted this [1].
In the 18th century, Visakhapatnam was part of the Northern Circars, a region comprised of Coastal Andhra and southern costal Orissa that was initially under French control and later the British. Visakhapatnam became a district in the Madras Presidency of British India. After India\'s independence it was the biggest district in the country and was subsequently divided into the three districts of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram and Visakhapatnam.
Ever since the battle of Kalinga during emperor Ashoka\'s reign, the city found itself as a hotbed of military activity in almost every battle witnessed in the country. Right from the battle of Kalinga, World War II, India-Pakistan war of 1971 and Bangladesh Liberation War. It was only the second region in south Asia to be attacked by Japanese fighter planes during world war II. Recognising the strategic importance of the city and the role it played during the Bangladesh Liberation War, Pakistan sent its submarine, P.H.S. Ghazni to destroy the port and sink India\'s only aircraft carrier. The submarine was spotted by the coast guard and sunk. The remnants of the submarine are on display on the beach road.
The city was so important during times of war that the Indian government decided to set up the Eastern Naval Command, overlooking the more populous Chennai and Kolkata and developed Vizag during that period. The establishment of the E.N.C. soon after the construction of the ship building yard firmly secured Vizag\'s place in the annals of the Indian Navy. More defence related establishments would later come up including the N.S.T.L. (Naval Science and Technology Laboratories), which is responsible for the development and testing of warship technology, equipment and weapons. The Navy is also constructing a second base as the current base is overpopulated and not sufficient to meet the needs of the E.N.C.
Vizag is a cosmopolitan mix of people from various parts of the country. From a population of a few thousand locals during the 18th century and early 19th century the population grew steadily every decade. The city doubled its population from 1990 - 2000 owing to a large migrant population from surrounding areas and other parts of the country coming to the city to work in its heavy industries.
As of 2001 India census,Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns. (Provisional). Census Commission of India. Retrieved on 2007-09-03. Visakhapatnam had a population of 2,845,938. After the state government approved the formation of Greater Visakhapatnam with the merger of Gajuwaka municipality and 32 villages in the vicinity in the Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, the population of the city and the metro area swelled to 3.1 Million. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%. Male literacy is 74% and female literacy is 63%. 10% of the population is younger than six. Visakhapatnam is listed as one of the Hundred Fastest Growing Cities of the World.http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=127198
Hinduism is practised by the majority of vizagites followed by Islam and Christianity. The city patronised Buddhism for 2 millennia as evident from the presence of many Buddhist sangharamas in the outskirts. The Buddhist population has however waned since. All the religions co-exist peacefully, Vizag never witnessed communal riots during its entire history.
Visakhapatnam is predominantly a Telugu speaking city. The Telugu spoken by the middle classes is a standard dialect, while a significant population who have settled down in the city from adjoining villages and neighbouring districts of East Godavari, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam speak Uttarandhra (North Coastal) Mandalikam dialects. Historians believe that centuries ago, when Uttarandhra was part of the Kalinga Empire, Buddhist missionaries and merchants might have taken Telugu (Derived from Brahmi script) script to Southeast Asia from the shores of Uttarandhra where it parented into the scripts of Mon, Burmese, Thai, Khmer, Siam, Japanese and Balinese languages and even Sinhala of Sri Lanka. Their similarities to Telugu script can be discerned even today.
Visakhapatnam is also home to large Oriya community. One can find Oriya inscriptions in Simhachalam temple as earlier this region was a part of different dynasties of ancient Orissa and the temple in fact thrives on pilgrims from Orissa. The original inhabitants were tribals found in the hilly region of Vishakhapatnam who speak Desiya Oriya,a dilect of Oriya language. Visakhapatnam due to the Naval presence and high concentration of public sector industries has a significant Hindi speaking population. It is also home to a large section of Muslims; most of them date back many generations which makes Hindi the second most spoken language.
The climate of Visakhapatnam has no appreciable seasonal changes. Being close to the sea, the level of humidity is high. The fluctuations in temperature are fairly uniform in character, except during the dry months when the rise in temperature is higher than it is during the monsoon period. From February onwards, the temperature rises progressively till May, which is the hottest month. From 1931-60 the maximum average (Mean) temperature was 340C. This has been showing an upward trend with the minimum and maximum for the period of 1975-81 being reported as 380C and 290C, respectively. In recent years, it has not been uncommon for the daytime temperature to exceed 430C during May. December, January are the coldest period of the year.
The average annual rainfall for the city and its surrounding area is of the order of 95 centimeters with the bulk of the rain coming from north-east monsoon. Between September and November, storms and depressions originating in the Bay of Bengal cross the east coast in the neighbourhood causing heavy rains and gales. As per Thornthwaite’s classification, Visakhapatnam and its environs come under the semi–arid (D) category. All the elements of climate viz. temperature, pressure, wind, rainfall, relative humidity and other weather phenomena hardly exist and exhibit a well marked variation while January is the coolest month of the year with average temperatures of 30°C and 22.5°C respectively. The present airport is getting flooded frequently due to severe rains..........
Vishakapatnam Railway station
Vizag is well connected with daily flights from Hyderabad, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Tirupati, and Raipur. With the entry of several new airlines, Air Sahara, Air Deccan, Kingfisher Airlines, and Paramount Airways operating there along with the state-owned airline Indian Airlines, there has been a modest increase in frequency of the flights. Vizag Airport has recently received permission to operate night flights. A new 10,000 feet long runway became operational to accommodate international flights and larger aircrafts. The airport was one of the few chosen by the center for modernization including facilities like aerobridges and immigration booths.
Vizag International Airport is coming up near S. Rayavaram, 60 km from the city. This will serve as the gateway and hub for international flights connecting SE Asia to the Indian subcontinent.
Visakhapatnam is one of the cities on the east coast of india connected by NH5, a major national highway and a part of the golden quardilateral system of Indian highways connecting Chennai and Kolkata. The highway is an important route for transportation of cargo and people from these cities to and from Vizag. Visakhapatnam has a good network of roads. There are frequent buses to Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Araku and Rajahmundry. There are even bus services to Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Tirupathi, Bangalore,Chennai,Kolkata and few other parts of Orissa and Karnataka.
Vizagites make use of extensive public transportation provided by the APS-RTC, which runs metro buses across various routes across the city and its suburbs. The APS-RTC complex at Asilametta is the hub and the origin point of most of these buses causing major traffic jams during rush hours on the heavily populated, congested Asilametta Junction. The city corporation is planning to dig subways, construct pedestrian overpasses and flyovers to address the traffic woes.
BRTS-Bus Rapid Transit System was approved for the city under the J.N.N.U.R.M. This will make use of dedicated lanes for buses allowing for an efficient, high speed mode of transportation for the public and significantly reduce traffic congestion, improving safety, this project is under implementation and will be completed by mid 2009. Once completed it will make vizag the first city in the country to implement the B.R.T.S.
Being an important port along the east coast, passenger ships run between Vizag, Chennai and the Andaman Islands. Although ships are not a main method of transportation, there is a potential for tourism development as holiday cruises are being planned along these routes by the tourism industry.
Visakhapatnam is considered as a centre for education in the state of Andhra Pradesh. A.V.N. College is one of the oldest and premier educational institutions established in 1878.Home Page of Mrs.A.V.N.College It is the home of the renowned Andhra University (Established in 1926). Prof S. Radha Krishnan, before he became the President of India, worked as the Vice Chancellor of this University between 1931 to 1936. The University and its affiliated colleges provide high quality, affordable education to thousands of students from the entire state. Post Graduate and Graduate courses are offered in various branches like Arts, Commerce, Science & Technology, Engineering, IT, Business Management,Law and Pharmacy. Very soon this university will be getting I.I.T. status and will be called I.I.T. Visakhapatnam. Also there is a proposal for setting up an I.I.M. here at Visakhapatnam (I.I.M. V).
Another important landmark in the education map of Visakhapatnam is the Andhra Medical College (Established 1902). The college has ushered in an era of Medical Education in Visakhapatnam and continues to uphold the prestigious tradition of engendering the finest doctors from its aisles.
There are several good primary, High School and College level institutions. Apart from state run schools for the poor, there are many private institutions, missionary schools and colleges all of which provide quality education.
Visakhapatnam has now become a preferred destination for students, after Hyderabad. I.S.C. (International Science Congress) was hosted in the Andhra University in 1976 and then in 2008. It is the biggest congregation of scientists of different disciplines in the world. Over 8000 people participated in the I.S.C. in 2008 which included prominent nobel prize winners across the globe.
From being a tiny hamlet of local fishing communities during the early days of the Indian Independence Struggle and for a few decades later, the city exploded enonomically, in fact the rise has been so dramatic that the city was identified as one of the ten fastest growing cities in the world economically and demographically. Various factors contributed to the city\'s growth economically:
The city has developed into a hub for many heavy industries. The Vizag Port, largest in the country, was the ideal gateway contributing to the development of petroleum, steel and fertilizer industries. The Vizag Steel Plant, The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. were the two multi billion dollar investments which put Vizag in the country\'s industrial map. The city also has two N.T.P.C. power plants to satisfy the huge power needs of the industries.
Other heavy industries include Hindustan Zinc Limited, Rain Calcines Limited, Coromandel Fertilizers, Hindustan Ship Yard and Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Limited (B.H.P.V.). These industries provide employment to hundreds of thousands of people and pump billions of dollars into the state\'s economy.
The city also owes its economic growth to the availability of highly educated and skilled English-speaking manpower. English is the first language of many places of higher education in the city. This availability of a highly educated workforce allowed the entry of many B.P.O. companies such as Patra Corporation, thus providing the roots for the exploding I.T. industry in the city. The city registered over 100% growth in the I.T. sector over the last year contributing millions of dollars to the economy. Various national and international I.T. and banking giants have set up or will be setting up offices in the city. These include Satyam, TCS, HSBC, Cognizant, Oracle Corporation, IBM, ABN AMRO, Patni, Verizon, Hexaware Solutions, iSOFT, Accenture, Infosys, iFlex, HCL, EDS, Kanbay etc. The proactive AP government provided infrastructure and land for these companies to set up their development centers in the city outskirts.
The growing population, economy have resulted in the revamping of the real estate prices with prices at some prime locations in the city quadrupling over the past couple of years. Various real estate companies are setting up housing projects in the outskirts of the city which is being touted as the future I.T. destination of the country. Multiple S.E.Z.\'s have been sanctioned for the city. Reliance and Brandix HPCL have purchased huge areas in the S.E.Z. for setting up their industries. Bhaba Atomic Research Center has proposed to set up their second research facility in the country after Trombay in this region. The city was one of the five in the country selected to hold strategic crude reserves for the nation in times of national emergency.
The fishing industry is also on the rise with the exports of tuna doubling over the past decade. Tuna is exported to the eastern countries and also sold for domestic consumption. A second port is being contructed at Gangavaram with an investment of 2 billion dollars which when completed will be the deepest port in the country with the ability to handle the largest international vessels.
The following is a list of the major industries in Vizag:
Its traditional importance in shipbuilding is confirmed by the fact that India\'s first ship, the "Jala Usha", was launched in Vizag.
Vizag is also one of India\'s main fishing ports, has a dedicated harbour for the fishing industry and handles a large percentage of India\'s seafood exports.
The Vizag Special Economic Zone plays a vital role in the industrial growth of the city. The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has also expressed interest in setting up a nuclear power plant here.
Vizag city has about 50 small and medium software and call centre units, of which about 10 units started their operations during the year 2005-07. Software exports from the Visakhapatnam in 2007 were worth Rs 245 Crores - an increase of over 100% over the previous year.
Cricket is the most popular game followed by tennis, football and the olympics. The city is home to a number of local cricket teams participating in various district and zonal events. Gully cricket - a form of cricket played in empty streets or maidans is a popular pastime for local school/college going kids in the evenings. Vizag also co-hosted the 32nd National Games along with the state capital. Vishakapatnam has 7 cricket stadiums which are used for Ranji Trophy matches. However only 2 of these stadiums have been used for One Day International ("ODI") matches.
The city of Vizag has never hosted a Test Match. The ACA-VDCA Stadium was recently awarded Test status. This makes the ACA stadium the ninth stadium to have a Test status in the country and the second in Andhra Pradesh.
The beautiful and well planned township for the employees of the visakhapatnam steel plant is called Ukkunagaram (ukku in Telugu for steel, nagaram in Telugu for town).
The design of the Township itself is state-of-the-art. The designers followed the Roman Circular design for the layout of homes and roads to keep the distances equal between any two points within the township.
There are 11 sectors in the Township, oldest of them being sectors 1, 2 and 3, and Sector 7 which is the exclusive domain of the directors and the chairman\'s homes. Other sectors came into being as the plant\'s staffing matured. On the average, each sectore consists of about 300 housing units, which vary from multi-storied quarters (3 floors) to single family homes. There are also bungalows exclusively for the directors of the plant.
Sector 1 used to house the Russians who came to erect and commission the first blast furnace "Godavari", The RMHP, Sinter, and Coke Oven Batteries I & II.
The beauty of the Township is that it sits in the cradle of the unspoilt forest belt starting at the Valleys of Aracu through Yelamanchili to Narsipatnam. The township comes under the mandate of the Town Administration. The continued afforestation efforts of the management has ensured a green and pollution-free environment and thereby creating a unique ecosystem in itself. The township has well kept roads, regulated traffic. The township also has all market places, parks, clubs, sports facilities exclusively for the employees and their dependents.
Last but not the least is the vistas that the Big Kanithi Balancing reservoir offers. This large mass of water reservoir is for the captive consumption of the plant and the township alike and sits between the Township and the NH5. It draws its water from a special canal built exclusively for it from the River Yeleru, a tributary of the great river Godavari.
The road that leads from the plant plaza main gate into the township actually travels ahead as a bypass to the busy NH5 and skips Anakapalli directly to Yelamanchili and Tuni, cutting almost 20 miles (30 km) on the road route from Visakhapatnam to Vijayawada.
The city has a good variety of AM and FM radio channels.vishaka FM(93.5 S FM) was the first private FM channel in AP.The FM Radio channels broadcasted in the city are:
Vizag is one of the premier FM hotspots in the country
The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) has awarded the bid to construct a Knowledge City to Unitech Limited in an area of 1750 acres. With An Investment Of RS 35 Thousand Crores.
View of the amazingly beautiful Gangavaram beach. |
View from Kailashgiri |
Kailasagiri vizag.jpg
Another view from Kailashgiri. |
View of Vizag city from Kailashgiri. |
Kambalakonda.jpg
An image from hilltop of Kambalakonda Wildlife Sanctuary |
the floral clock on kailash giri hill. |
Simhachalam view
city view from simhachalam. |
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| State of Andhra Pradesh | |
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| Andhra Pradesh Topics · History · Politics · Telugu people | |
| Capital | Hyderabad |
| Districts | Adilabad · Anantapur · Chittoor · East Godavari · Guntur · Hyderabad · Kadapa · Karimnagar · Khammam · Krishna · Kurnool · Mahbubnagar · Medak · Nalgonda · Nellore · Nizamabad · Prakasam · Rangareddy · Srikakulam · Visakhapatnam · Vizianagaram · Warangal · West Godavari |
| Major cities | Hyderabad · Guntur · Warangal · Tirupati · Vijayawada · Visakhapatnam · Rajahmundry · Kakinada · Nellore · Karimnagar · Machilipatnam · Eluru · Anantapur · Kurnool · Kadapa · Khammam · Nizamabad |
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