Thoothukudi (தூத்துக்குடி) Tuticorin
Pearl City
Thoothukudi (தூத்துக்குடி) Location of Thoothukudi (தூத்துக்குடி) in Tamil Nadu and India
Coordinates	8°49′N 78°08′E / 8.81°N 78.14°E / 8.81; 78.14
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District(s)	Thoothukudi
Mayor	Smt. R Kasturi Thangam
Parliamentary constituency	Thoothukudi
Assembly constituency	Thoothukudi
Civic agency	Thoothukudi Corporation
Population • Density	4,36,094[1] (2001[update]) • 46.75 /km2 (121 /sq mi)
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation • Coastline	353.07 km2 (136 sq mi) • 4 m (13 ft) • 40 km (25 mi)
Codes • Pincode • 628 0xx • Telephone • +91 (0) 461 • UN/LOCODE • INNTU • Vehicle • TN-69

Thoothukudi (Tamil: தூத்துக்குடி) also known as Tuticorin is a city and a Municipal Corporation in Thoothukudi district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thoothukudi is the headquarters of Thoothukudi District.

The Tuticorin is also known as "Pearl City". It is a commercial seaport which serves the inland cities of Southern India. It is also one of the major seaports in India with its history dating back to the 6th century A.D.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Origin of the name 2 Father of Pearl City 3 Geography 4 Administration 5 Economy 5.1 Thermal Power Plant 5.2 Shipping 5.3 Fisheries 5.4 Readymade Clothes 6 Transport 6.1 Roads 6.2 Railways 6.3 Airport 6.4 Port 6.5 Transport Within Tuticorin 7 Famous eatables in Tuticorin 8 Culture, education and sports 8.1 Language 8.2 Media and communication 8.3 Miscellaneous 8.4 Sports 8.5 Stadium 9 Recreation 9.1 Parks 10 References 11 External links

[edit] History

Tuticorin is traditionally known for its pearl fishery and shipbuilding. Thoothukudi became the centre of the Indian independence movement in the early 20th century, with such leaders as the Maveeran Sundaralinga Kudumbanar, Tyagi Mohanavalli Vadivu and Thalapathy Vennikalady , Veerapandiya Kattabomman, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, poet Subramanya Bharathy, Vanchinathan,In 1906, the freedom fighter V. O. Chidambaram Pillai with the help of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, launched the first Swadeshi ship S.S. Gaelia from this port town in British India. Freedom fighter Vanjinathan killed Thoothukudi District Collector Mr.Ash during freedom struggle in Maniyachi.

The major harbour of Tuticorin is well known as a pearl diving and fishing centre. Tuticorin, one of the oldest sea ports in the world, was the seaport of the Pandyan kingdom after Korkai near Palayakayal and later was taken over by the Portuguese in 1548, captured by the Dutch in 1658, and ceded to the British in 1825.^[2] The lighthouse built in 1842 marked the beginning of the history of Thoothukudi harbour development. Tuticorin was established as a Municipality in 1866 with Roche Victoria as its first chairman. It attained the status of Corporation on August 5 2008 after 142 years.

[edit] Origin of the name

There are three theories as to the origin of the name:

• Thoothu (Dig) and Kudi (Drink)- The town had no rivers and the only source of drinking water was from wells.
• "Thoortha" means land "reclaimed" from sea while "Kudi" also stands for "settlement" or "colony". Hence "Thoortha Kudi" or Thoothukudi could mean a settlement built on land reclaimed from sea.
• Finally, the Tuticorin name was used by Portugese people who were here.

Today the city is called Thoothukudi in Tamil and Tuticorin in English.

• In Ramavatharam, Lord Rama sent Hanuman in search of Sita with a ring as a sign of him. Hanuman came to a place which is now known as Thoothukudi. He took rest and worried that he couldn't find sita. He planned to pray to Lord Shiva. He made a Lingam and worshipped hard to Shiva to help him. Finally he got the power to magnifying his body as large as he could. So Hanuman made a Vishwaroobam and by standing here he was able to see sita in Lanka. Then he left the place. Since he is the 'thoothuvan'(spy) of Lord Rama and he stayed there for a long time(kudiyirutthal), this place was called as thoothuvan kudiyiruppu. Later it was changed to thoothuvan kudi. And now thoothukudi.The place where he worshipped Lord Shiva is built with a beautiful temple Sankararameswarar temple.

[edit] Father of Pearl City

Rao Bahadur Late Mr. Cruz Fernandez is hailed as Father of Pearl City. The services rendered by him stands unmatched till today.

[edit] Geography

Thoothukudi is in South India about 540 kilometres south west of Madras (Chennai) and is geographically located in the Gulf of Mannar.

[edit] Administration

Thoothukudi city officials
Member of Parliament	S.R. Jayadurai, D.M.K
Member of Legistlative Assembly	P. Geetha Jeevan, D.M.K
Collector	Sri. G Prakash, IAS
Mayor	Smt. R Kasturi Thangam
Superintendent of Police	Mr. T Senthil Kumar, IPS
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Urban	Mr. Mohamed Goush Khan Ghori
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Rural	Mr. K Natarajamoorthy

Tuticorin was a part of Tirunelveli Loksabha Constituency till 2009. Tuticorin has been separated from Tirunelveli Loksabha Constituency and became a new Loksabha constituency from 2009. The constituency includes the whole Tuticorin district. This include Vilathikulam, Thoothukkudi, Tiruchendur, Sri Vaikuntam, Ottapidaram (SC) and Kovilpatti.

[edit] Economy

The economy of Thoothukudi is based on shipping, fishing, salt pan, and agricultural industries. Thoothukudi has a host of other industries including power, chemicals and IT.

The availability of skilled labour, an electricity generating plant, a container facility and it being a major port has made Tuticorin a major centre for industry and business. The Sethusamudram project, the airport at Vagaikulam, Koodankulam Nuclear Power plant, improved road and rail infrastructure and Nanguneri SEZ is expected to make Tuticorin an attractive choice for business investment. Tata Steel recently announced plans to set up a titanium dioxide project in Tuticorin. Four national brand products are made in Tuticorin: VVD Coconut oil, SeaSun Salt, Agsar Paints and Venus Water Heaters.

Tuticorin is attracting Software Development Companies also. QualityPoint Technologies has started Software Development at Ottapidaram, Tuticorin District.

[edit] Thermal Power Plant

The Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station (TTPS) is the biggest power station in Tamil Nadu under the control of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board with five units of 210 M.W. each generating 50 million units of energy daily. The first unit was commissioned in July, 1979, the second unit in December 1980 and the third unit in March 1982. This power station is feeding about 1/3 of the total power demand of Tamil Nadu.

[edit] Shipping

Tuticorin has been a centre for maritime trade and pearl fishery for more than a century. Its natural harbour with a rich hinterland, facilitated development of the port. Tuticorin was declared as a minor anchorage port in 1868. In 1906, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai launched the first swadeshi ship S.S. Gaelia in British India from Tuticorin Port. After Independence, the minor Port of Tuticorin witnessed a flourishing trade and handled a variety of cargo.

To cope with the increasing trade through Tuticorin, the Government of India sanctioned the construction of an all-weather Port at Tuticorin. On 11 July 1974, the newly-constructed Thoothukudi port was declared to be the tenth major port in India Second only to JN Port (Mumbai) in size. Thoothukudi is an artificial port^[3]. This is the third international port in Tamil Nadu and its second all-weather port.^[4] The port is also helping increase the tourism in the region. A new ferry has been commenced between Tuticorin and Colombo.

Tuticorin is also known to produce some of the best sailors and marine officers of the world. Sailors from Tuticorin are highly regarded by all crewing companies.^{[citation needed]}

Tuticorin is one of the very few ports of India where Mechanised Sailing Vessels are operated. These vessels are operated at the Old Port which is termed by the port authorities as Zone B.

NYK logistics India Ltd is one of the leading logistics company in Tuticorin.

[edit] Fisheries

Marine fishing, Pearl and Valamburi Chunk fishing are famous in this district from the time immemorial. Thoothukudi is the main centre for deep sea fishing in the district which has a lengthy coast-line of about 140 km. Prawn culture is very flourishing in this district and earning considerable amount of foreign exchange. Now the prawn culture has been banned by the Supreme Court of India due to pollution issues. The other varieties of fishes are caught and most of the quantity of the fish are exported to all parts of the country. Some kind of fishes are caught, powdered and backed and it is called as MASI. The MASI is even exported to all parts of the country as well as foreign countries particularly to Sri Lanka and other Indian Ocean countries. The fish-cake produced here are used for food for prawns and other fishes. There are 11 marine fishing villages.

There is one Joint Director of Fisheries and Assistant Directors of Fisheries in charge of Pearl-chunk fishing, Fishermen Training Institute and for technical guidance. There is fish-seed farm at Kadamba. Service centre/Base workshop of this district is situated at Thoothukudi. Fish is produced and supplied to the poor at cheaper rates. There is a fish curing centre at Palayakayal , Punnakayal. There are 450 mechnaised boats, 1300 vallams and 900 Kattamarans in this district. About 5,428 Fishermen families are directly engaged in fishing in these vessels. There is a Fisheries College at Thoothukudi. The estimated inland fish catch is 1,583 MT and Marine fish catch is 34,066 MT in the year 1999

[edit] Readymade Clothes

Puthiamputhur is a one of the most popular village.Puthiamputhur people made a qualifide readymade clothes and sell it all over Tamilnadu and clothe purchase all over India

[edit] Transport

Next to Chennai city, Tuticorin has all the four means of Transport

[edit] Roads

Tuticorin City is well connected by road. The Major Highways are,

• Tuticorin - Madurai - Trichy (NH 45B)
• Tuticorin - Tirunelveli (NH 7A)
• Tuticorin - Palayakayal - Tiruchendur (State Highway)
• Tuticorin - Ramanathapuram (State Highway)

Currently the Tuticorin - Madurai (NH 45B) and Tuticorin - Tirunelveli (NH 7A) are being converted into 4-lane Expressway.

• The Tamil Nadu Road Sector Project with funding from World Bank is laying an ECR (East Coast Road) from Arcot to Tuticorin (742KM) at an outlay of Rs.2,160 Crore (Rs.21.6 Billion). The project, which started in February 2004, is expected to be completed by March 2009. ^[5]

[edit] Railways

• Tuticorin is one of the oldest^[6] railway stations in India.
• South Indian Railway began Madras - Tuticorin service connecting with the boat to Ceylon in 1899. ^[7]
• Tuticorin City Railway Station is declared as a Model Station^[8] and several infrastructure developments are in process.
• Tuticorin City has two Railway Stations Tuticorin Melur (Station Code:TME) and Tuticorin (Station Code:TN).^[9]
• Currently the proposals for Electrification of the track up to Tuticorin and double line conversion from Dindugul to Tuticorin are approved by the Ministry of Railways.
• A proposal for connecting Karakudi - Tiruchendhur through Ramand and Tuticorin is under survey.
• A proposal for connecting Tuticorin - Tiruchendur - Kanyakumari in under consideration by the Ministry of Railways.

The major trains From Tuticorin:

1. Tuticorin - Chennai : Pearl City Express
2. Tuticorin - Mysore Express
3. Tuticorin - Tirunelveli Passenger
4. Tuticorin - Tirunelveli - Tiruchendur Passenger
5. Maniyachi is the most important railwaystation in linking Tuticorin with all other stations, like the gate way to Tuticorin.

[edit] Airport

• Tuticorin Airport is at Vagaikulam, 14 km from the heart of the city.
• After several years Tuticorin Airport was opened for operation on April 1, 2006.
• Currently a daily kingfisher, formerly Air Deccan Flight service between Chennai and Tuticorin is active. Flight arrives at 12:15PM and leaves after half an hour.
• The State Government has planned to extend the runway (over 700 acres of land is under approval) and modernize the airport to handle to more traffic and bigger aircrafts.
• Air Deccan now it is Kingfisher is operating from Tuticorin to Chennai.
• Paramount Airways is planning to start their air services to Tuticorin from various cities in South India.
• Chennai based Rs.14.85-billion Consolidated Construction Consortium (CCC) is bidding for the construction and operation of greenfield airport in Tuticorin^[10].

[edit] Port

• Tuticorin Port is an natural deep-sea harbour formed with rubble mound type parallel breakwaters projecting into the sea for about 4 kilometres.
• The harbour basin extends to about 400 hectares of protected water area and is served by an approach channel of 2400 metres length and 183 metres width.
• Tuticorin Port boasts of 9 Cargo Berths, 1 Shallow Water Berth, 1 Passenger Jetty, 1 Oil Jetty and 2 Coal Jetties in Tuticorin Port.
• Works are being carried out to increase the depth of the canal and basin to handle vessels of up to 12.8m draft.
• The present capacity of the Tuticorin Port is 20.55 million tonnes.

[edit] Transport Within Tuticorin

Tuticorin (Thoothukudi) has two main bus stations namely New bus Stand and Old Bus stand. Town buses connect both of them with other parts of the town. A network of mini-buses makes getting around Tuticorin easier. Auto-Rickshaw is also a convenient mode of transport within Tuticorin.

[edit] Famous eatables in Tuticorin

Tuticorin is famous for Macroon (a biscuit or cookie made up of egg white, cashew, sugar and yeast). Plum cakes, Ghee candies, Fruit Mixer juice (Pazharasam in Tamil), Dried Ginger water (chukku venneer in Tamil), are also popular here.

[edit] Culture, education and sports

[edit] Language

There is a tradition that the Tamil language originated from the Pothigai Malai, a hill situated in western Ghats near Papanasam, a small village in the Tirunelveli district. As per Brahminical legend, Lord Shiva sent the two saints Vyasa and Agatyar (in Sanskrit Agastya) to create the divine languages Sanskrit and Tamil. Agatyar came to Papanasam and established the Tamil culture from the Pothigai Malai.

[edit] Media and communication

• The Tuticorin City has more than 12 local TV Channels.
• Tuticorin has All India Radio Station which Carries AIR External Services for South Asia in English, Sinhala and Tamil (1053 kHz).
• FM Radio Stations in Tuticorin City include Suryan FM (93.5 MHz), Hello FM (106.4 MHz).
• CCL got the FM Radio License for Tuticorin under Phase II of FM Radio Licenses by Government of India.
• Tuticorin City is the landing point for the first undersea cable of BSNL, Ltd. Connecting Tuticorin with Colombo. ^[11] The optical fibre cable runs between Mt.Lavinia (Sri Lanka) and Tuticorin (325 km) with bandwidth of 20 gigabits per second, will be upgraded to 160 gigabits per second. This will promote the IT investment in South India by improved Telecom infrastructure.

[edit] Miscellaneous

• Varadarajan Muniswami Mudaliar aka Vardhabhai (1926–1988) was a Tamil immigrant from Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu.

[edit] Sports

Tuticorin and its surroundings is called the nursery of volleyball.

• Kamaraj, former student of St. Xaviers Higher Secondary School, represented India in volleyball.
• Moses Jeevanandam, former student of Caldwell Higher Secondary School, represented India in basketball.
• In the 1980s, Tuticorin basketball coach Renga Chari, or "Chari", trained many basketball players in this region. Moses Jeevanandam is among them.
• Piramanayagam, former student of St. Marys Boys hr sec school, reprensented India in kabbadi.
• st.mary's boys hr.sec.school contineously 2 years wins in state match for kabadi(seniors&super seniors)

[edit] Stadium

• Tharuvai stadium hosts most of the local matches and is maintained by Sports Development Authoriy of Tamilnadu.
• Swimming pool is recently inaugurated in the stadium campus.

[edit] Recreation

[edit] Parks

• Roche Park is situated on the southern corner of the city on the way to harbour.
• Harbor Beach park is situated near the harbor guest house. Locals throng this beach on weekends.
• Nehruji Park is in the northern side of the city. Its maintenance is in a pitiable condition now.
• Rajaji Park near Government Hospital which is full of trees.
• Teppakulam park around the Sundara Vinayagar Temple tank in the heart of the city.

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Thoothukudi

[edit] External links

• Tuticorin: Pearl of the south
• Tuticorin Churches

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