Seemandhra
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Seemandhra | |
|---|---|
Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions put together | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Andhra Pradesh |
| • Rank | State |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Telugu |
| Time zone | UTC+05:30 (IST) |
| Largest cities | Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada |
Seemandhra (Residual Andhra Predesh excluding Telangana officially called Andhra Predesh) called is one of the federal state in Indian Union. Lok Sabha passed the bill on the formation of new state Seemandhra on Febuary 18, 2014.Sometimes used to refer to the combined regions of Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra in old state of Andhra Pradesh. The term came into wide use during the Telangana movement.,[2] as a way to refer to the parts of Andhra Pradesh that would remain after the separation of Telegana. Seemandhra corresponds to the area of Andhra State which existed in between 1953 and 1956, and was merged with the Telangana region to form current state of Andhra Pradesh in 1956.
The region is subdivided into 3 different regions Uttarandhra/Kalingandhra/uttara Costa( Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam districts) Central/Madhya Costa( East Godavari and West Godavari, Krishna districts) Dakshina Costa ( Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore districts) Rayalaseema( Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur districts). The language of Telugu spoken in these regions is slightly different and thus is an indication of the diversity of this region.
On July 30, 2013 the ruling congress party announced its intention to carve Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh as the 29th state of India. Hyderabad will be the common capital of Telangana and the residuary Andhra Pradesh (also known as Seemandhra) for 10 years. After the ten years, the new capital of the state will be declared which is probably one among these cities: Visakhapatnam,Rajahmundry, Ongole, in between vijayawada-Guntur, Kurnool, Kakinada, Tirupathi.
Major Cities
Visakhapatnam or Vizag is the biggest city in Seemandhra region with a population of 2 million people. It is the only city in Seemandhra with Greater status for its municipal corporation. Visakhapatnam has one of the major sea ports of India on the east coast and is also the headquarters of the Eastern Naval command of the Indian navy. It is also a big industrial hub, with Indias first shore based Steel Plant, HPCL, BHEL, NSTL, NTPC, Visakhapatnam port trust, Gangavaram port etc. It will also emerge as the IT hub post bifurcation. Visakhapatnam is well connected to different parts of India by Railway, Airway. It is the only international airport in Seemandhra with regular flights to Singapore and Dubai. Visakhapatnam airport is connected by air to Mumbai, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi, Hyderabad, Indore.
While Vijayawada is the second biggest and is a business center. Vijayawada is a major railway junction in South India and is well connected through railway. The airport here is connected by air to Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Jaipur Bangalore and Chennai. The airport here is also a hub for the newly started Air Costa airline. With a very long coastline of close to a 1000 km, this region can act as a maritime gateway on the East coast.
Greater Guntur is third largest city in the region and a greater municipal corporation and a major centre of business & learning. It is the heart of the textiles, tobacco, chillies, and cotton industries. With a major business of textiles & tobacco, Guntur city lacks in industrial development.It also has many ancient sites nearby. The upcoming commercial belt between Guntur & Vijayawada has a great scope of merging the cities into twins. Guntur is well connected to other to all metropolitan cities in India.
Rajahmundry, also known as Raja Mahendri or Raja Mahendravaram, is the fourth largest city in this region both in-terms of area and also in population. Situated on the banks of the river Godavari this city has availability of adundant water for drinking and good irrigation facilities through canal system. It has the major railway station between Vijayawada and visakhapatnam and a Airport situated 18km away from the city in Madhurapudi. The work of making this Muncipality into a Greater City is being under work at present. It's the biggest center for business in the East Godavari. Adikavi Nannaya University,a state university, is located here established in 2006.
Tirupathi the temple town is another major city in this region. It is the abode of Lord Venkateshwara/ Balaji, which is the highest earning temple in the world. It is a big pilgrimage center in India and is busy all round the year. Tirupathi has an airport and is connected with Hyderabad and Delhi. It is also well connected by railway with different parts of India. Other major towns include Kakinada, Ananthapur, Kurnool, Kadapa, Chittoor, Ongole, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Eluru, Nandyal, Bhimavaram, Machilipatnam, Gudivada, Puttaparthi etc.
Seaports
Visakhapatnam seaport is the biggest seaport in the region and is the 2nd biggest in the country. It handles coal, crude oil, sulphur and other products. It is on an expansion mode and aims to become a major sea port in South East Asia. It is a public sector port. Gangavaram seaport is another seaport in Visakhapatnam just a few kilometers away from Visakhapatnam seaport. It is a private port and is in close proximity to the Vizag steel plant. Kakinada has a deepwater medium sized seaport and an anchorage port as well. Krishnapatnam is another private and minor port in Nellore District. There are proposals for constructing of Ports at Machilipatnam (Krishna District), Nizampatnam (Guntur District).
A new major port is proposed at Duggarajupatnam in Nellore district.
Vishakapatnam, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada & Tirupathi are major Airports.
Roadways
- NH-5 Chennai-Kolkata (passes through Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Eluru, Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongole and SPSR Nellore)
- NH 43 Visakhapatnam-Raipur (Passes through Vizianagaram)
- NH-9 Machilipatnam-Pune (Mumbai) (Passes through Machilipatnam, Vijayawada)
- NH-221 Vijayawada-Jagadalpur
- NH-214 Kattipudi-Pamarru (Passes through Kakinada, Bhimavaram, Gudiwada)
- NH-214A Digamarru-Ongole (Passes through Machilipatnam)
- NH-7 Kanniakumari-Varanasi (Passes through Anantapuram, Kurnool)
- NH-205 Chennai-Anantapuram (Passes through Tirupati, Madanapalli)
- NH-4 Chennai-Mumbai (Passes through Chittoor)
- NH-18 Kurnool-Chittoor (Passes through Nandyala, Kadapa)
Railways
Vijayawada,Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry(Major Line are Howarh-Chennai), Guntur, Guntakal, Palasa and Tirupathi are the major Railway Stations.
Vijayawada handles the most number of trains up to 200 daily and is well connected to most of India by trains passing through.
Visakhapatnam on the other hand handles about 100-110 trains daily and has the most number of originating and terminating trains in this regions.
Most of the destinations above are also connected by trains passing through Vijayawada. Tirupathi is another major revenue earning station as it is a pilgrimage center. Guntakal is also a major railway junction.
References