Coordinates	19°55′8.88″N43°56′19.2″N
Type	city
Native name	Thoothukudi
Other name	Tuticorin
Nickname	Pearl City
State name	Tamil Nadu
District	Thoothukudi
Leader title 1	Mayor
Leader name 1	Smt. R Kasturi Thangam
Coastline	40
Altitude	4
Area total	353.07
Population as of	2001
Population total	436,094 (2007)
Population total cite
Population density	46.75
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	R. Kasthuri Thangam
Parliament const	Thoothukudi
Assembly const	Thoothukudi
Civic agency	Thoothukudi Corporation
Climate	Aw
Unlocode	INNTU
Area telephone	91 (0) 461
Postal code	628 0xx
Vehicle code range	TN-69 }}

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

Thoothukudi is also known as "Pearl City". It is a commercial seaport which serves the inland cities of Southern India and is one of the sea gateways of Tamil Nadu. It is also one of the major seaports in India with a history dating back to the 6th century AD. It is located about northeast of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) and south of Chennai.

History

Thoothukudi is part of the Pearl Fishery Coast, and is known for its pearl fishing and shipbuilding industries. Thoothukudi became the centre of the Indian Independence Movement in the early 20th century, with leaders such as Tyagi Mohanavalli Vadivu and Thalapathy Vennikalady, Veerapandiya Kattabomman, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, P.Kandasamy Pillai (popularly known as 'Pena Kana'), Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathy, Vanchinathan and Maveeran Sundaralinga Kudumbanar. In 1906, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai with the help of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, launched the first Swadeshi ship ''S.S. Gaelia'' from this port town against the British. Freedom fighter Vanchinathan killed the then Tirunelveli District Collector Ash during the freedom struggle in Maniyachi.

The major harbour of Thoothukudi is well known as a pearl diving and fishing centre. It is one of the oldest seaports in the world and was the seaport of the Pandyan kingdom after Korkai, near Palayakayal. It was later taken over by the Portuguese in 1548, captured by the Dutch in 1658, and ceded to the British in 1825. The lighthouse built in 1842 marked the beginning of the history of harbour development in the city. Thoothukudi 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 of being a municipality.

Origin of the name

Palaeo-channels traced from the satellite imagery scenes all around Korkai indicate that the Tamiraparani river has shifted its course progressively east and south and earlier it had mixed with sea near Thoothukudi. Interpretation of satellite imagery indicates that in the 1st and 2nd century CE, the Tamiraparani river might have flowed towards northeast from Eral, parallel to the coast and joined the sea south of Thoothukudi. Korampallam tank, Peykulam, and Arumugamangalam tank might be the relicts of palaeo channel of the Tamiraparani river. Within a short span of nearly 2000 years, now Korkai is nearly 6 Kilometers away from Bay of Bengal and 3 Kilometers north of Tamirabarani, which was once a port and in the banks of the Tamirabarani and Thoothukudi has no river.

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 (& river) 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 name "Tuticorin" was used by Portuguese who came here.

Today the city is referred to as Thoothukudi in Tamil and in English.

Geography

Thoothukudi is in South India, on the Gulf of Mannar, about 590 kilometres southwest of Chennai's Kathipara junction. The climate of Thoothukudi is extremely hot and humid.

Administration

Thoothukudi was a part of Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency till 2009. Thoothukudi was separated from Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency and became a new Lok Sabha constituency from 2009. The constituency comprises the whole of Thoothukudi District, which includes Vilathikulam, Thoothukkudi, Tiruchendur, Sri Vaikuntam, Ottapidaram and Kovilpatti.

Economy

The economy of Thoothukudi revolves around 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 a major port has made Thoothukudi an important centre for industry and business. The Sethusamudram project, the airport at Vagaikulam, Koodankulam Nuclear Power plant, improved road and rail infrastructure and Nanguneri SEZ are expected to make Thoothukudi an attractive choice for business investment. Tata Steel recently announced plans to set up a titanium dioxide project in Thoothukudi. four national brand products are made in Thoothukudi: VVD Coconut oil, Agsar Paints, BIO FOOD CO's HIP TEA & GENKII TEA (herbal Teas) and Venus Water Heaters.

Thermal power plant

The Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station is the biggest power station in Tamil Nadu with five 210 megawatt generators. The first generator was commissioned in July, 1979. This power station supplies about one-third of the total power demand of Tamil Nadu.THE one of the main sea port of india is tuticorin the contains camp-1 and camp-2 the city was kbnown for the pearl city of the india in the history the collector appointed by the english goverment was ashe and he was killed by vanchi aiyar the people ewho wanted to see thoothukudi by www.thoothukudi.com

Shipping

Thoothukudi 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. Thoothukudi 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 Thoothukudi Port. After Independence, the minor Port of Thoothukudi witnessed a flourishing trade and handled a variety of cargo.

To cope with the increasing trade through Thoothukudi, the Government of India sanctioned the construction of an all-weather Port at Thoothukudi. 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. This is the third international port in Tamil Nadu and its second all-weather port. The port is also helping increase the tourism in the region. A new ferry has been commenced between Thoothukudi and Colombo.

Thoothukudi 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.

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 was important and earned a considerable amount of foreign exchange. Now the prawn culture has been banned by the Supreme Court of India due to pollution issues. Thoothukudi Fishing industry thrives since this is the place known to attract varieties of fish daily unlike other centres. Fishes caught here are either sold locally or exported. Tuna which is caught here is dried and sold as Maasi. Dry fish from Thoothukudi is sent to Sri Lanka and many parts of South India. 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.

Transport

Thoothukudi has transport connections via road, rail, sea and air.

Roads

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

Tuticorin – Madurai – Trichy – (NH 45-B)

Tuticorin – Palayamkottai (NH 7-A)

Tuticorin – Palayakayal – Tiruchendur (State Highway)

Tuticorin – Ramanathapuram (State Highway). Was recently upgraded as part of the East Coast Road (ECR) Project which will soon connect Tuticorin with Chennai through coastal line.

Currently projects,

Tuticorin – Madurai (Part of NH 45-B) Expressway 4-way laning

Tuticorin – Palayamkottai (NH 7-A) Expressway 4-way laning

Proposed projects, The expansion of ECR from Tuticorin to Kanyakumari at a cost of 190 crores is planned.

Railways

Tuticorin City railway station is one of the oldest stations in India and South Indian Railway began a Madras – Tuticorin service connecting with the boat to Ceylon in 1899. The station was declared a Model Station in 2007 and several infrastructure developments are in process. There is also another station, known as Tuticorin Melur.

Funds have been allocated for converting the permanent way to a double track between Dindugul and Tuticorin and the electrification of the Madurai – Tuticorin line is expected to be completed by March 2012. A proposal for connecting Karakudi – Kanyakumari through Ramand, Tuticorin and Tiruchendur is under survey.

Airport

Tuticorin Airport is at Vagaikulam, 14 km from the heart of the city. It was for some years closed to commercial traffic but reopened in April 2006. The State Government plans to extend the runway and modernize the airport to handle to more traffic and bigger aircraft. There was also a proposal in 2009 for a greenfield airport.

Madurai Airport is the nearest international airport.

Port

Tuticorin Port is a 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.

A luxury ferry liner, the Scotia Prince, is conducting a ferry service to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Ferry services between the two countries have been revived after more than 20 years.

Transportation

Tuticorin is connected by air, water, road, and rail.

Hotels

In the recent years, the city has seen growth in the hospitality industry.

Culture

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 Hindu 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.

Media and communication

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. 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.

Education

Thoothukudi has numerous schools, including those classed as Primary, Middle and Higher Secondary, as well as colleges.

Facilities

Tharuvai stadium hosts most of the local matches and is maintained by Sports Development Authoriy of Tamil Nadu.

Tuticorin Gymkhana Club has two Synthetic Turf Tennis courts, Tuticorin is the only other place after Chennai in Tamil Nadu to have this modern facility.

Recreation

Parks

Roche Park is situated on the southern corner of the city on the way to harbour.

Harbour 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.

Pastimes

Pigeon Racing is one of the favourite past time in Tuticorin. Valarpirai Racing Pigeon Club situated in main market place, for the past 25 years organises homing pigeon races from January to April where the pigeon fanciers compete with their pigeons for short, middle and long( 1500 km) distance pigeon racing. The homing pigeon racing history in Tuticorin has roots back to 18th century.

Cock Fighting is another past time where the specially bred cocks will compete in the fights and this sport here has history ranges back to early modern times.

BIKE Racing is one of the popular past time in Tuticorin. It happens along the Beach road, usually on the weekends.

References

External links

Thoothukudi

Tuticorin: Pearl of the south

Tuticorin Churches

Category:Thoothukudi District Category:Former Portuguese colonies Category:Gulf of Mannar Category:Madurai railway division Category:Cities and towns in Tamil Nadu Category:Cities and towns in Thoothukudi district Category:Planned cities in India Category:Port cities in India

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