Prakasam district

Prakasam District
Prakasam District; ప్రకాశం
	— district —
	An Ongole Bull
	Coordinates: 15°30′N 80°03′E / 15.5, 80.05Coordinates: 15°30′N 80°03′E / 15.5, 80.05
Country	India
State	Andhra Pradesh
Region	Andhra
Named for	Tanguturi Prakasam
Headquarters	Ongole
	Government
• Collector	Anita Rajendra
	Area
• Total	17,626 km2 (6,805 sq mi)
Elevation	100 m (300 ft)
	Population (2001)
• Total	3,059,423
• Density	173.57/km2 (449.5/sq mi)
	Languages
• Official	Telugu
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	523 ***
ISO 3166 code	IN-AP-PR
Vehicle registration	AP 27
Website	prakasam.nic.in

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This article is about the Prakasam district. For the famous leader, see Tanguturi Prakasam.

Prakasam District (Telugu: ప్రకాశం జిల్లా) is an administrative district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in India. The district headquarters is located at Ongole town. The district occupies an area of 17,626 km² and has a population of 3,059,423 of which 15.28% were urban as of 2001 Census.

Formation

The Prakasam district was originally constituted on the 2 February 1970, carved out of Guntur, Nellore and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh. It was renamed as Prakasam district on 12 May 1972, in memory of the great patriot and Andhra Leader, Tanguturi Prakasam Panthulu, also known as Andhra Kesari (Lion of Andhra ) who was born in Vinodarayunipalem village near Ammanabrolu of this district. 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, Podili and Darsi and three taluks of Kurnool district i.e. Markapuram, Kambum and Giddaluru. It is one of the nine districts in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh.

Some of the main towns in Prakasam district are Ongole, Addanki, Inkollu, Markapur, Yerragondapalem, Podili, Darsi, Chirala, Kandukur, Parchur, Giddaluru, Podili, Dornala, Cumbum, Kanigiri, Chimakurthi and Martur. Markapur is India's main slate manufacturing town where the historic temple of Lord Chennakesava is situated. Chimakurthi is world renowned for its granite reserves. Dornala is also known as diguva Srisailam, since it is very near the historic pilgrimage center of Srisailam.

Martur is famous for its granite units and Tobacco factories and Spinning mills which give emplyoment to over 25,000 laborers and technical engineers. This village pays the highest power bill for its usage. A new Steel factory is under construction where people from Orissa and Rajasthan come to work. 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 Gajapati kings of Orissa in 15th. Century AD when the area was under their control. It was subsequently renovated by the Vijayanagar princess Varadharajamma. 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 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.

History

Prakasam District's past stretches back to the days when it was ruled by the Mauryas from 250 B.C. the rise of the Satavahanas saw Buddhism flourish in the region and the construction of several stupas. The Ikshvaku and Vijayanagar Kings, the Qutub Shahis and the Mughals later followed these rulers.

Ongole

Located at 138 km from Vijayawada and 331 km from Hyderabad and 300 km from Chennai, the headquarters of Prakasam District, Ongole is an ancient town which finds its mention in the inscriptions of the Pallava rulers of the 3rd and 4th Century A.D

Today, Ongole is a bustling beehive of commercial activity with dairy products, cigars, cereals, pulses, groundnut and pepper being exported to all corners of the country. The bullocks from Ongole, known as Ongole Gitta, are renowned throughout the world.

In Ongole, one can visit Chennakesava Swamy Temple, Kasi Visweswara Swamy Shrine, Kothapatnam Beach, Valluramma Temple, Maddipadu is a village and a mandal in Prakasam district . Sri prasanna venkateswara temple at maddipadu

The name Ongole came from having been ruled by King Vangavallu.

Chimakurthy

Chimakurthy is a mandal town located 24 km from Ongole city in Prakasam district. Black Galaxy granite is one of the world's most popular granite choices. The discovery of the Black Galaxy Granite in the 1980s by a Japanese team in Chimakurthy has transformed the area totally. The revenue generated from granite quarrying and factories has led to tremendous development in and around Ongole. The quarries in the region provide employment to almost 50,000 people directly or indirectly. There are more than 100 granite cutting and polishing factories in and around Ongole and Chimakurthy area.

The chimakurthy black galaxy granite has been extensively used in the construction/cladding work during the Beijing Olympics in China. It has also been used in various airports like Heathrow in London. R L puram village located 4 km from Chimakurthy. Black Galaxy granite is one of the world's most popular granite choices There are more than 100 granite cutting and polishing factories in R L puram village

Eminent persons

U. Aswathanarayana, Honorary Director of the Mahadevan International Centre for Water Resources Management, India

Above 100 granite polishig factories are there at Budawada village apart from 50 stone crushers.

Engineering Colleges

List of Engineering Colleges in Prakasam offering Engineering Degree course in the region. Joining in Engineering colleges that are All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) accredited is preferred. Further most colleges are affiliated with a regional University

External links

http://www.aptourism.com

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Prakasam district. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.

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