Ongole railway station is on Howrah-Chennai main line
Prakasam district (formerly called the Ongole district) is one of the nine districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was formed in 1970. The headquarters of the district is Ongole. It is located on the western shore of Bay of Bengal and is bounded by Guntur district on the north, Kurnool district on the west, Kadapa and Nellore districts on the south. A part of north west region also borders the Mahabubnagar district of Telangana.[4] It is the third-largest district in the state and tenth-largest in the country with an area of 17,626 km2 (6,805 sq mi) and had a population of 3,392,764 as per 2011 census of India.[5]
Contents
- 1 Etymology
- 2 History
- 3 Geography
- 4 Demographics
- 5 Economy
- 6 Tourism
- 7 Administrative divisions
- 8 Towns in Prakasam District
- 9 Transport
- 10 Notable personalities
- 11 Education
- 12 See also
- 13 References
- 14 External links
Etymology
The district was named after the patriot and first Chief Minister of Andhra State Tanguturi Prakasam, also known as Andhra Kesari, who was born in the village of Vinodarayunipalem. It was accordingly renamed as Prakasam District in the year 1972.[6]
History
Prakasam district was originally constituted on 2 February 1970, carved out of Guntur, Nellore and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh.[7] It was carved out of three taluks of Guntur District, i.e. Addanki, Chirala, and Ongole, four taluks of Nellore district, i.e. Kandukur, Kanigiri, Darsi and Podili and three taluks of Kurnool district i.e. Markapur, Yarragondapalem and Giddaluru. It is one of the nine districts in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh.
Prakasam District used to be a part of the Red Corridor.
Geography
Prakasam district occupies an area of 17,626 square kilometres (6,805 sq mi),[5] comparatively equivalent to Indonesia‘s Seram Island.[8]
The only Municipal Corporation in Prakasam is Ongole. Some of the main towns in Prakasam district are Singarayakonda, Addanki, Inkollu, Markapur, Yerragondapalem, Podili, Darsi, Donakonda, Chirala, Kandukur, Pamuru, Parchur, Giddaluru, Dornala, Cumbum, Kanigiri, Chimakurthy and Martur. Markapur is India’s main slate-manufacturing town and the home of the historic temple of Lord Chennakesava. Chimakurthi is world-renowned for its granite reserves. Dornala is also known as Diguva Srisailam, since it is very near the historic pilgrimage centre of Srisailam.
Cumbum lake also known as Gundalakamma lake built on Gundalakamma rivulet upon Nallamalai hills is one of the oldest man made lakes of Asia. The anicut was built by the Vijayanagar princess Varadharaj Amma. The lake in its present form is about 7 km long and on average, about 3.5 km wide As per the Imperial gazette of India at the turn of the 20th century the height of the dam was 57 feet (17 m) and the drainage area was 430 square miles (1,100 km2). The direct irrigation land was about 10,300 acres (42 km2) in all.[3] Cumbum lake is accessible both by the rail Guntur–Nandyal railway line and by road 108 km from Ongole.
Demographics
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 975,037 | — |
| 1911 | 1,068,743 | +0.92% |
| 1921 | 1,117,701 | +0.45% |
| 1931 | 1,205,223 | +0.76% |
| 1941 | 1,343,883 | +1.09% |
| 1951 | 1,463,737 | +0.86% |
| 1961 | 1,671,726 | +1.34% |
| 1971 | 1,919,995 | +1.39% |
| 1981 | 2,329,571 | +1.95% |
| 1991 | 2,759,166 | +1.71% |
| 2001 | 3,059,423 | +1.04% |
| 2011 | 3,397,448 | +1.05% |
| source:[9] |
As of 2011 census of India, the district had a population of 3,397,448 with a density of 193 persons per sq.km. The total population constitute, 17,14,764 males and 16,82,684 females –a ratio of 981 females per 1000 males. The total urban population is 664,582 (19.56%).[10]:20 There are 19,04,435 literates with a literacy rate of 63.08%.[10]:21
Economy
The Gross District Domestic Product (GDDP) of the district is ₹35,962 crore (US$5.0 billion) and it contributes 6.9% to the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). For the FY 2013–14, the per capita income at current prices was ₹85,765 (US$1,200). The primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of the district contribute ₹12,875 crore (US$1.8 billion), ₹7,897 crore (US$1.1 billion) and ₹15,190 crore (US$2.1 billion), respectively.[11] The major products contributing to the GVA of the district from agriculture and allied services are, tobacco, paddy, chillies, batavia, milk, meat and fisheries. The GVA to the industrial and service sector is contributed from construction, minor minerals, unorganised trade and ownership of dwellings.[11]
Industries
The district has many service industries such as industrial testing, electrical appliance repair, clinical laboratories, servicing of computer hardware, tourism, and hospitality. Major exports from the district include seafood, processed tobacco, granite blocks, granite monuments and yarn.[12] There are many industries of food and agriculture, mineral, chemical, leather, plastic and rubber, engineering, cotton and textiles, electronic products. All these industries deal with prawn and fish processing and canning, dairy products, the granite industry, pharmaceuticals, tanning, fishing nets, surgical cotton, etc. Forest-based industries produce Ayurvedic medicines, essential oil (Palm Rose Oil), wooden furniture, wooden toys, bamboo products, etc.[13]
Mining
The district leads in granite mining in the state with discovery of Galaxy Granite in the Chimakurthy area of the district. Good deposits of coloured granites are located occur around Uppumaguluru and Kodidena.[13] The minerals found in the district are Baryte, iron ore, quartz, and silica sand. In 2010-11, 4,300 tonnes of Baryte, 22,722 tonnes of quartz, 2,24,075 tonnes of silica sand and 400 tonnes of iron ore were produced.[13]
Granite barons in Prakasam district sold ahead of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 as the natural stone material was widely used in the construction of the sports village. The famous Black Galaxy granite, Black pearl, Steal Grey and English Grey processed in the SEZ make it to, among other countries, the U.S., Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Algeria. Processing of granite was insignificant in the district before 2010. But now after the setting up of 13 export oriented units within the SEZ and five elsewhere in the district, at least 60% of the decorative stone material is processed here. Over 500 to 600 containers of the material are shipped from the SEZ every month to other countries, the U.S. alone accounting for 20%.
Tourism
Bhairava Kona Caves
Bhairava Kona
Bhairava Kona
The Bhairava Kona cave temples are 8th-century single rock-cut cave temples (similar to Mahabalipuram) for Lord Shiva.[14][15]
Administrative divisions
See also: List of mandals in Andhra Pradesh and List of revenue divisions in Andhra Pradesh
Revenue divisions map of Prakasam district
The district is divided into 3 revenue divisions of Kandukur, Markapur and Ongole. These are sub-divided into 56 mandals, which consists of 1081 villages and 13 towns. These 13 towns (or urban settlements) in the district include, 1 municipal corporation, 3 municipalities and 4 nagar panchayats. Ongole is the only municipal corporation, Chirala, Kandukur, Markapur are the 3 municipalities and Addanki, Kanigiri, Chimakurthi, Giddalur are the nagar panchayats.[16] The 5 census towns in the district are Cumbum, Chirala (CT), Podili, Vetapalem, Pamur and Singarayakonda.[10]
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