Vijayawada the city on fast track
There are many tales behind the origin of the name of the city. Legends have it that this was the place where Arjuna was blessed by Shiva, on Indrakiladri Hill. In another legend it is stated that Goddesses Durga killed the demon and relaxed in this place for some time. As she was victorious (Vijaya), the place got the name as Vijayawada (Vijaya- Victory and Wada- city/place/location) which literally means "City of Victory". The Epic of Mahabharata refers to Indrakiladri hills as the place where Arjuna secured “Pasupathastra” from Lord Siva.
In some legends Vijayawada was also known as Vijayavata and Rajendracholapura.
A tale behind its acquiring the name "Bezawada" is that Goddesses Krishnaveni (River Krishna) requested Arjuna to make a passage for her to merge into the Bay of Bengal. Hence Arjuna made a bejjam (hole) through the mountains and the place came to be known as Bejjamwada which later changed to Bezawada.
History
Vijayawada, (then Bezawada) in 1943
The discovery of Stone Age artifacts and remains along the banks of the river from Machilipatnam to Nagarjuna Sagarindicates that this area was inhabited at that time.
The famous Chinese traveler Xuanzang (Hsuan-tsang) visited this place in 639 AD, when Buddhism was at its zenith in the region. Kings Choda Gangadeva and Ananga Bhimadeva of the Eastern Ganga dynasty in the 12th century, whose capital was near modern Bhubaneswar and who built the Lingaraj temple, had re-annexed a considerable part of the modern Andhra region and marched up to Krishna River but could not cross the wide river. He established a town 'Bijaya Bahuda'(Oriya) which means 'return after winning' which became known as Vijayawada.
According to Vishnu Puranam, King Madhava Varma built the kingdom of Vijayawada and he was the ancestor ofPoosapati Kings of Vizianagaram. He also built the Holy Temple of Kanaka Durga in Indrakiladri.
By 1855 AD the town was in the form of small settlement on the eastern side of the Indrakiladri hills. The growth of the town picked up momentum after the construction of a barrage and three irrigation canals namely Eluru, Ryves and Bandar canals in 1855 and, the rail bridge over the river Krishna in 1892. The city experienced a modest growth in the pre-independence era; however, after independence, the construction of Prakasam Barrage over the river Krishna, establishment of South-Central Railway terminal, setting up of divisional headquarters, major government offices including district court, higher education institutions, major commercial and distributive trading activities, wholesale establishments, agricultural marketing centre and Jawahar auto nagar industrial estate have brought a tremendous effect on the city’s growth. The city happened to be the headquarters of the taluk for a long time and acted as a point of centrality to many of the districts of the state.
Geography & Climate
Vijayawada is bounded by the Indrakiladri Hills on the east and west and the Budameru River on the north. The Northern, North-Western, and South-Western parts of the city are covered by a low range of hills, while the Central, South-Western and North-Western parts are covered by rich and fertile agriculture lands with three major irrigation canals. The topography of Vijayawada is flat, with a few small to medium sized hills. The Krishna River runs through the city. These hills are part of the Eastern Ghats cut through by the Krishna river. They have very low elevation compared to the average elevation of the ghats. Three canals originating from the north side of the Prakasham barrage reservoir, Eluru, Bandar and Ryves, run through the city. Buckingham Canal originates from the south side of the reservoir formed by Prakasam Barrage. Due to the presence of the Krishna river the soil around here is very fertile and cultivated intensively.
The climate is tropical, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate, with hot summers and moderate winters. The peak temperature reaches 47 °C (117 °F) in May–June, while the winter temperature is 20-27 C. The average humidity is 78% and the average annual rainfall is 103 cm. Vijayawada gets its rainfall from both the south-west monsoon and north-east monsoon. It's nicknamed "Blazewada" for its scorching summer heat by the Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy.
Kondapalli Forest
About the western outskirts of Vijayawada lies the Kondapalli reserve forest, spread over 121.5 square kilometres (30,000 acres). The forest provides Vijayawada with a "green lung". This pristine forest is home to leopards, wild dogs, jackals, wild boar, wolves etc. The hills produce a soft wood is used for preparing Kondapalli Toys.
Civic Administration
The city of Vijayawada is run by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. The Municipality of Vijayawada (Jamsheed) was constituted on 1st APR, 1888 and was upgraded as a selection grade municipality in the year 1960. The municipality was upgraded to a corporation in 1981. With the merger of Gunadala, Patamata and Bhavanipuram village panchayats and two villages payakapuram and Kundavari kandrika in the corporation in 1985. More than 200,000 people in metro reside outside corporation limits. Many areas on outskirts or yet to be merged into corporation limits. The total area of the corporation is 61.8 square kilometres (23.9 sq mi) and the population of the whole city (along with Vijayawada Sub-Urban and Vijayawada Rural) is more than 2.5 Million.
The city is divided into 59 political wards. Each ward of the Municipal Corporation is represented by an area corporator. An elected body headed by the Mayor performs the Administration of the Corporation. The Commissioner acts as the executive head, and oversees the day to day functioning of the local body. The commissioner is a (IAS) officer of Joint collector rank appointed by the state government.
It has a dedicated Sub-Collector's office for Administration of State and Central Government Programmes. The staff strength of the corporation is just over 5,000. Vijayawada is one of the three cities in andhra pradesh to be provided with its own police commissionerate.The Vijayawada City Police is headed by a Police Commissioner, who is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of DIG rank.
Economy
The total urban market size of vijayawada for the year 2008 is estimated at Rs 5526 crores.The region around the city has fertile soil and irrigation is supported by the river Krishna and its canals. Major crops include sugarcane, Rice and Mango. Vijayawada is famous for automobile body building, garment, iron and hardware small scale industries. The Jawahar Lal Nehru Auto Nagar Industrial Estate in Vijayawada is one of the largest hubs of automobile industry of the state. There are about 1500 automobile accessory units in the city and near about 1,00,000 workers are employed in these industries. Apart from workers of the city, people from other parts of the state also come to work in the industrial estate. The main markets are situated in the old city (popularly known as One Town) and near Besant Road. It is estimated that nearly INR 10 crores of garment business takes place in the Vastralatha building alone in One Town daily. Garments are mainly sold in Besant Roadand Governor Pet, but most upmarket stores have shifted their shops to Bandar Road. The city has many wholesale businesses. They include garments, iron market, pulses, cereals, and other edible products, fancy markets, fertilizers, mango exports, pharmacy, metal and so on.
The industrial estate in Kondapalli, an industrial suburb of Vijayawada,is spread over 450 acres (1.8 km2) and is base to more than 800 industries. In addition a 1800MW Vijayawada Thermal power project(VTPS) and 368.144 MW gas based LANCO power plant which is under expansion to 768.144 MW are located here. In March 2011 Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) announced that it signed an agreement with APGENCO for setting up a 182 MW plant at Vijayawada as a technology demonstration project.[14] Kondapalli suburb also houses Andhra Pradesh Heavy Machinery & Engineering Limited (APHMEL) factory besides being a hub for storage, bottling and transportation of petroleum products
