West Godavari district

West Godavari district is a coastal district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh with an administrative headquarters in Bhimavaram.^[5] It is bounded by the Krishna district and Bay of Bengal to the south, East Godavari district to the east, and Eluru district, Kolleru Lake and Upputeru Drain to the northwest.

S. No.	District	Assembly Constituency	Mandals	Elected MLA	Political Party
56	West Godavari	Achanta	Penugonda Achanta Penumantra Poduru (Part) mandals.	Satyanarayana Pithani	TDP
57	West Godavari	Palakollu	Palakollu Yelamanchili Poduru (Part) mandals.	Nimmala Rama Naidu	TDP
58	West Godavari	Narasapuram	Mogalthur and Narsapuram Mandals.	Bommidi Narayana Nayakar	JSP
59	West Godavari	Bhimavaram	Bhimavaram mandal and Veeravasaram Mandals.	Pulaparthi Ramanjaneyulu	JSP
60	West Godavari	Undi	Salur Pachipenta Mentada Makkuva Mandals.	Raghu Rama Krishna Raju	TDP
61	West Godavari	Tanuku	Tanuku Attili Iragavaram Mandals.	Arimilli Radha Krishna	TDP
62	West Godavari	Tadepalligudem	Tadepalligudem Pentapadu Mandals.	Bolisetti Srinivas	JSP

The district has five revenue divisions, namely Eluru, Jangareddigudem, Kovvur, Kukunuru and Narasapuram. These revenue divisions are divided into 48 mandals in the district. These 48 mandals consists of 881 villages, 1 municipal corporation, 8 municipalities and 5 census towns. Eluru is the only municipal corporation, 7 municipalities include, Kovvur, Narasapuram, Nidadavolu, Palakollu, Tadepalligudem, Tanuku, Bhimavaram, Jangareddigudem and the 5 census towns are Dwarakatirumala, Sanivarapupeta, Satrampadu, Gavaravaram and Tangellamudi.^[10]^:22–23,54

Mandals map

Mandals

The list of 48 mandals in West Godavari district under five revenue divisions are listed in the following table:^[10]^:22–23

Erstwhile Talukas

The Eastern Chalukyas ruled coastal Andhra Pradesh from 700 to 1200 CE, with their capital in Vengi. Historical evidence of their rule has been found in the nearby villages of Pedavegi and Guntupalli (Jilakarragudem). Eluru then became a part of the Kalinga Empire until 1471 CE before the conquest by the Gajapati Empire. In 1515 CE, Sri Krishna Deva Raya captured it. After the fall of the Vijayanagara Kingdom, it was ruled by the Qutb Shahi Dynasty‘s Sultans of Golkonda.^[6]
During the Madras Presidency in 1823, the District of Rajahmundry was created.^[7] It was reorganised in 1859 and bifurcated into the Godavari and Krishna districts.^[8][9] Kakinada became the headquarters of the Godavari district, which was further bifurcated into the East Godavari and West Godavari districts in 1925. Eluru became the headquarter^[10][11]
Before the formation of mandals, the district was administered through a system of talukas. In 1978, the number of talukas in the West Godavari district increased from 8 to 19. In 1985, the 19 talukas were divided into 46 mandals. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014, merged two mandals from Telangana into the West Godavari District for unified governance over the Polavaram Project, increasing the total mandals to 48.

Before Formation of Mandals, Administration was done through Taluka system. Erstwhile Talukas in district are given below.

In 1978, the number of talukas in west Godavari district was increased from 8 to 19. Later in 1985, 19 Talukas were divided into 46 mandals.

In 2014, according to Polavaram Ordinance, 2 mandals from Telangana were merged with West Godavari District. So total mandals numbers increased to 48

The new West Godavari district has three revenue divisions, Bhimavaram, Tadepalligudem and Narasapuram . These revenue divisions divide the district into 20 mandals.^[18] These 20 mandals consists of 318 Revenue villages.^[22]

Cities and towns

There are 6 municipalities.^[15]^{: 22–23, 54}

S.No.	Municipal Body	Civic Status of town	No. of wards	Municipality Formation Year	2011 Census Population
1	Bhimavaram	Municipality Grade – Selection	39	1948	1,46,961
2	Tadepalligudem	Municipality Grade – Selection	40	1958	1,04,032
3	Palakollu	Municipality Grade – 1	35	1919	81,199
4	Tanuku	Municipality Grade – 1	34	1979	77,962
5	Narasapuram	Municipality Grade – 1	31	1956	58,770
6	Akiveedu	Nagar Panchayat	20	2020	36,000

S.No.	Municipal Body	Civic Status of town	MunicipalityFormation Year	2011 CensusPopulation	2001 CensusPopulation	1991 CensusPopulation	1981 CensusPopulation
1	Eluru	Municipal Corporation	1866	250,834	215,804	212,866	168,154
2	Bhimavaram	Municipality Grade – Selection	1948	146,961	142,064	121,314	101,894
3	Tadepalligudem	Municipality Grade – Selection	1958	104,032	102,622	88,878	62,574
4	Palakollu	Municipality Grade – 1	1919	81,199	76,308	56,969	46,146
5	Tanuku	Municipality Grade – 1	1979	77,962	72,970	62,913	53,618
6	Narsapuram	Municipality Grade – 1	1956	58,770	58,604	56,362	46,033
7	Jangareddygudem	Municipality Grade – 2	2011	48,994	39,021	28,175	25,056
8	Nidadavole	Municipality Grade – 2	1964	43,809	43,143	41,101	31,022
9	Kovur	Municipality Grade – 3	1965	39,6697	39,327	36,061	28,756
10	Akiveedu	Nagar Panchayat	2020	24,506	24,259	29,421	21,317

S.No.	Town	Civic Status of Town	2011 CensusPopulation
1	Chintalapudi	Grama Panchayat	25,952
2	Polavaram	Grama Panchayat	13,861
3	Bhimadole	Grama Panchayat	13,669
4	Ganapavaram	Grama Panchayat	11,749
5	Gopalapuram	Grama Panchayat	11,573
6	Penumantra	Grama Panchayat	10,658
7	Poduru	Grama Panchayat	9,578

S.No.	Town	Civic Status of Town	2011 CensusPopulation
1	Dwaraka Tirumala	Census Town	5,543

Constituencies

Parliament Segment

The district is part of two parliamentary and eight assembly constituencies in the district.^[23]

Assembly segments

Constituency number	Name	Reserved for (SC/ST/None)	Parliament
56	Achanta	None	Narasapuram
57	Palakollu	None
58	Narasapuram	None
59	Bhimavaram	None
60	Undi	None
61	Tanuku	None
62	Tadepalligudem	None
	Unguturu (part))	None	Eluru

There are two parliamentary and 15 assembly constituencies in the district. The parliamentary constituencies are Eluru, Narsapuram and Rajahmundry.^[27]

The Assembly constituencies are:

Culture

Culture and traditions at Kalavalapalli village in West Godavari district

The Vedas, which have oral heritage recognition by UNESCO, are taught at the Sri Venkateswara Veda Patasala in I. Bhimavaram village in Akiveedu mandal.^[27] The district is well known for its wool-pile carpets and hand woven products.^[28]

Tourism and landmarks

Some of the religious destinations include Pancharama Kshetras of Palakollu and Bhimavaram.^[29] Other tourist destinations of importance are Perupalem Beach at Narasapuram, the Kolleru Lake (the largest fresh water lake in the country and a bird sanctuary),^[30]

Transport

Roadways

The total road length of state highways in the district is 1,229 km (764 mi).^[31] The district relies mostly on public transport, such as buses of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. Most of the major national highways, like NH216 and NH165, pass through towns in the district.

Railways

The South Central Railway division of Indian Railways operates many passenger routes and freight transport through the district. The Howrah-Chennai main line, Vijayawada–Nidadavolu loop line, and Bhimavaram–Narasapuram branch lines are the major lines and sections that provide rail connectivity in the district. The Kovvur–Bhadrachalam Railway line and Kotipalli–Narsapur Railway line are the major railway projects in the district.

Waterways

National Waterway 4 passes through the district and connects Puducherry with Kakinada and Rajahmundry via Tadepalligudem, Eluru. It has access to the Bay of Bengal at Narsapuram. The Andhra Pradesh state government began construction of a fishing harbor in Narsapuram in September 2021.^[32]