Virudhunagar

Tamilnadu > Virudhunagar

Kalyana Venkattaramasami temple

Virudhunagar is a city and a municipality in Virudhunagar district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Virudhunagar is very famous for business.[citation needed] Virudhunagar does not Produce anything but Export everything. It is a business hub like singapoore.

The District is divided into two Revenue Divisions comprising four taluks each. The Aruppukkottai Revenue Division comprises Kariapatti, Tiruchuli, Aruppukkottai and Virudhunagar taluks, and Sivakasi Revenue Division of Sattur, Sivakasi, Srivilliputur and Rajapalayam taluks.

There are 6 Assembly Constituencies in the District. 209. Rajapalayam Assembly Constituency is reserved for the scheduled castes. 204. Aruppukkottai, 205. Sattur, 206. Virudhunagar, 207. Sivakasi and 208. Srivilliputur are the other Assembly Constituencies.

There are 2 Parliamentary Constituencies in the District. Aruppukkottai Assembly Constituency falls within 34. Ramanathapuram Parliamentary Constituency and 35. Sivakasi Parliamentary Constituency extends over all the other five Assembly Constituencies and also includes 212. Kovilpatti Assembly Constituency in Tuticorin District.

Climate in Virudhunagar

The climate of the region is semi-arid tropical monsoon type. It has a high mean temperature and a low degree of humidity. The temperatures range from 20° C to 37° C. April, May and June are the hottest months of the year. Virudhunagar receives scanty rainfall with an annual average of 812 mm. The South West monsoon which sets in June and lasts till August brings scanty rain. The bulk of the rainfall is received during the North East monsoon in the months of October, November and December.

Forests, Fauna and Flora of Virudhunagar

The forests are found on the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats. Only 6.3% of the total geographical area is under forests. The type range from west coast tropical evergreen forests, west coast semi evergreen forests, dry teak forests, southern mixed deciduous forests and dry grasslands. According to the National Forestry Resolution the optimum area under forests should be 1/3rd of the total geographic area. Given the nature of the topography of the District, the soil profile and the rainfall pattern this is an unattainable target. However measures have been undertaken to increase the area under forest coverage and to ensure among other things adequate pasture for live stock, supply of firewood for domestic consumption and raw material for industries. Social forestry programmes have enlarged their range of activities and the area covered by plantations is 3216 hectares. Revenue from the forest for the year 1999-2000 was Rs.53 lakhs.

Many rare and endemic varieties of flora and fauna are found along the mountain slopes. A wildlife sanctuary, spread over 480 sq. kms. was established in 1989 at Shenbagathopu in Srivilliputur taluk.. This sanctuary is contiguous with the Periyar tiger reserve on the south-western side and the Megamalai reserve forest on the north-western side. The altitude varies from 100m to 2010 m above sea level. The sanctuary is home to the endangered, arboreal grizzled giant squirrel Ratufa macrora. This grayish brown squirrel weighs 1 to 1.8 kg. and is the size of a small cat. It measures about 73.5 cms. from nose to tail with the tail being 36 - 40 cm. long. They construct drays at forked branches where the crowns of neighbouring trees meet. This enables the squirrel to move away from the site by jumping from tree to tree when threatened. The home range of an individual is between 0.197 hectares and 0.611 hectares.

The sanctuary also hosts a variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and butterflies. Resident and migratory elephants are common. Other animals sighted are tiger, leopard, Nilgiri thar, spotted deer, barking deer, sambar, wild boar, porcupine, Nilgiri langur, lion-tailed macaque, common langur, slender loris, bonnet macaque, sloth bear and flying squirrel. Over 100 species of birds have been identified. The rare Great Indian horn bill is also found.

Transport and Communications in Virudhunagar

Roads

Three National Highways run through the district.

• NH 208 - Thenkasi, Rajapalayam, Sriviliputur, Tirumangalam - 49.8kms.
• NH 45B - Trichy, Viralimalai, Thuvarankuruchi, Madurai, Aruppukkottai, Tuticorin-32.6 km.
• NH 7 - Madurai to Kanyakumari - 50.40 km.

In addition to the National highways there are 162.13 km. of State Highways, 122.20 kms of major District Roads and 1378.48 kms of other District roads. There are 256 government owned and 175 private stage carriers operating in the district. Buses serve about 4 lakhs people and cover a distance of 61,523 kms per day.

Railways

Both Broad Gauge and Metre Gauge sections of the Southern Railway serve Virudhunagar. The newly laid Broad Gauge line links Tuticorin with Chennai. In the District, the Broad Gauge route line covers 43.16 km. and the Meter Gauge 125.17 km. At present ,gauge conversion takes place from Virudhunagar to Rajapalayam and once this project is over, the entire district will be ready for Broad gauge railway transportation.

Post and Telegraphs

The Post and Telegraphs network is fairly extensive. There are 4 Head Post Offices, one each at Aruppukkottai, Virudhunagar, Sattur and Sivakasi, 72 Sub Post Offices, 9 Extra Departmental Sub Offices and 196 Extra Departmental Branch Offices. There are 74 combined telegraph offices to provide telegraph facilities to the District.