Bapatla

Bapatla is a town in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the mandal headquarters of Bapatla mandal of Tenali revenue division. The nearest towns and cities to Bapatla are Tenali, Guntur, Chirala and Ponnur of 51km, 61km, 17km and 22km respectively.[6][2]

Bapatla

Bhavapatta, Bhavapattu, Bhavapattana, Bhavapuri
Town
Bapatla
Location in Andhra Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 15°54′16″N 80°28′3″E
CountryIndia
StateAndhra Pradesh
DistrictGuntur
MandalBapatla
Named forBhavanarayana Swamy
Government
 • TypeMunicipal council
 • BodyBapatla Municipality
 • MLAKona Raghupathi
Area
 • Total17.92 km2 (6.92 sq mi)
Elevation6 m (20 ft)
Population
 (2011)[4][5]
 • Total70,777
 • Density3,900/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
Languages
 • OfficialTelugu
Time zoneUTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN
522 101
Vehicle registrationAP–07
Lok Sabha constituencyBapatla (SC)
Assembly constituencyBapatla
Websitebapatla.cdma.ap.gov.in/en, manabapatla.info

Etymology

The town was formerly known as Bhavapattana,[7] Bhavapuri,[7] Bhavapattu[8] and Bhavapatta.[9] The names were derived from the Bhavanarayana Temple located in the town. Later, these names were transformed to the present name of Bapatla.[10]

The temple was constructed in 1465 by a chola king named Krimikantha Chola, and was later restored.

Geography

The coordinates of the town are 15°54′16″N 80°28′3″E and is located at an altitude of 8 mts from the coast of Bay of Bengal.[3]

Climate

The town experiences tropical climate with the average annual temperatures records at 28.4 °C (83.1 °F). Hot summers and cool winters are observed due to its proximity to the coast of Bay of Bengal. It receives both South west monsoon and North-east monsoon as well.[11] The precipitation is very high with an annual rainfall of about 854 millimetres (34 in) and the month of October receives a maximum rainfall of 197 millimetres (8 in).[12] It is most affected by the cyclonic storms that occur on the east coast.[13]

Climate data for Bapatla (1981–2010, extremes 1978–2012)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 35.0
(95.0)		 35.4
(95.7)		 39.3
(102.7)		 43.6
(110.5)		 47.4
(117.3)		 47.0
(116.6)		 40.8
(105.4)		 41.0
(105.8)		 38.7
(101.7)		 36.0
(96.8)		 34.9
(94.8)		 33.2
(91.8)		 47.4
(117.3)
Average high °C (°F) 29.4
(84.9)		 30.7
(87.3)		 32.4
(90.3)		 34.0
(93.2)		 37.7
(99.9)		 37.3
(99.1)		 34.6
(94.3)		 33.6
(92.5)		 33.1
(91.6)		 31.6
(88.9)		 30.2
(86.4)		 29.5
(85.1)		 32.8
(91.0)
Average low °C (°F) 17.4
(63.3)		 19.2
(66.6)		 22.1
(71.8)		 25.6
(78.1)		 27.5
(81.5)		 27.1
(80.8)		 25.8
(78.4)		 25.3
(77.5)		 25.1
(77.2)		 23.8
(74.8)		 20.9
(69.6)		 18.2
(64.8)		 23.2
(73.8)
Record low °C (°F) 11.6
(52.9)		 11.8
(53.2)		 14.8
(58.6)		 19.6
(67.3)		 16.1
(61.0)		 21.7
(71.1)		 21.3
(70.3)		 20.4
(68.7)		 18.4
(65.1)		 17.9
(64.2)		 12.4
(54.3)		 13.6
(56.5)		 11.6
(52.9)
Average rainfall mm (inches) 15.5
(0.61)		 13.5
(0.53)		 7.9
(0.31)		 13.2
(0.52)		 38.0
(1.50)		 95.6
(3.76)		 140.0
(5.51)		 171.2
(6.74)		 187.0
(7.36)		 190.8
(7.51)		 106.8
(4.20)		 32.5
(1.28)		 1,012
(39.84)
Average rainy days 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.6 1.7 5.5 8.0 9.3 9.0 8.8 4.2 1.4 49.8
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST) 65 66 68 70 60 54 62 66 73 77 74 67 67
Source: India Meteorological Department[14][15]

Demographics

As of 2011 Census of India, the town had a population of 70,777 with 18,216 households. The total population constituted 34,385 males and 36,392 females —a sex ratio of 1058 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 940 per 1000.[16] 6,182 children were in the age group of 0–6 years, of which 3,156 were boys and 3,026 were girls—a ratio of 959 per 1000. The average literacy rate stood at 80.67% with 52,106 literates, significantly higher than the national average of 73.00%.[2][17]

Governance

Civic administration

Bapatla Municipality was established in 1951. It oversees the civic needs of the town like, water supply, sewage, and garbage collection. It is a Grade–I municipality which has an extent of 17.92 km2 (6.92 sq mi) with 34 wards.[1]

Utility services

Kommamuru and Poondla channels of the Krishna Western Delta system provide irrigation water to Bapatla and the surrounding areas.[18]

Politics

Bapatla, being a part of Bapatla mandal, falls under Bapatla assembly constituency of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Kona Raghupathi of YSR Congress Party is the present MLA of the constituency.[19] The assembly segment is in turn a part of Bapatla (SC) lok sabha constituency and the present MP is Nandhigam Suresh of the YSR Congress Party.[20][21]

Economy

Aquaculture and agriculture are the main occupations of the coastal areas of the town. Aquaculture involves pisciculture and the farming is dominant with paddy cultivation.[22][11] The Cairn India have conducted oil drilling onshore of Bapatla which is a part of KG basin stretch.[23]

Tourism also plays a role in generating revenue with the presence of Suryalanka Beach near the town, operated by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.[24]

Culture

The Clock Tower, built in 1948, was demolished for road extension and started to be rebuilt in December 2017.[25]

The Edward Coronation Memorial Town Hall was built in 1905 in coronation of the then Emperor of India, Edward VII.[26]

The town has various religious structures depicting the presence of different worshipers, such as Bhavanarayana Temple and Centenary Baptist Zion Church[27][25]

The Suryalanka Beach connected by the Beach Road of the town hosts the Bhavapuri Beach Festival.[24]

Transport

The town has a total road length of 165.50 km (102.84 mi).[28]

Until 1993, Vijaya Krishna Bus Service was the sole operator in Bapatla. APSRTC started operations in 1994 with its bus services to various parts of the state from Bapatla bus station.[29] The town has frequent buses to Vijayawada, Guntur, Ponnur, Repalle and Chirala.[30][31]

The National Highway 216 passes through the town, which connects Digamarru and Ongole.[32] State Highway 48 also known as Guntur-Bapatla-Chirala (G.B.C) Road passes through Ponnur and connects the town with the district headquarters, Guntur.

Bapatla railway station is located on the Howrah-Chennai main line of Indian Railways. It is a B–category station and was recognised as an Adarsh station in the Vijayawada railway division of South Central Railway zone.[33]

Education and research
Bapatla Engineering College

The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the School Education Department of the state.[34][35] The mediums of instruction followed by different schools are English and Telugu.

The town has many schools, colleges and universities. The Agricultural College was established on 11 July 1945 by Government of Composite Madras State. It is the oldest of all the colleges under Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University.[36] Bapatla Engineering College, College of Agricultural Engineering under Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, College of Food Science and Technology,[37] Bapatla Polytechnic College,[38] and Bapatla College of Arts & Sciences[39] are other prominent ones.

Research and defense establishments

An automatic weather station of India Meteorological Department is located in the town which records the temperatures.[40] BPT 5204 (rice variety of Sona Masuri), BPT 2270 (Bhavapuri Sannalu) and BPT 2231 (Akshaya) were developed at this rice research unit.[41][42] There are also a number of research institutes of this agricultural university, such as the AICRP on Betelvine, and a cashew research station.[43]

Air Force base

Suryalanka Indian Air Force base on the shore of the Bay of Bengal is located near Bapatla. The base carries out activities such as testing missiles and guided weapon firing range.[44]

See also

References
  1. "Municipalities, Municipal Corporations & UDAs" (PDF). Directorate of Town and Country Planning. Government of Andhra Pradesh. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  2. "District Census Handbook – Guntur" (PDF). Census of India. pp. 14, 46. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
  3. "Maps, Weather, and Airports for Bapatla, India". fallingrain.com.
  4. "Census 2011" (PDF). The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  5. "Statistical Abstract of Andhra Pradesh, 2015" (PDF). Directorate of Economics & Statistics. Government of Andhra Pradesh. p. 43. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  6. "Guntur District Mandals" (PDF). Census of India. pp. 102, 112. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  7. "Stories of Bapatla, a Seacoast Town". The Hans India. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  8. Kumari, M. Krishna (1 September 1985). Rule Of The Chalukya-Cholas In Andhradesa. B.R. Pub. Corp.
  9. Annual Report of the Department of Archaeology & Museums, Andhra Pradesh . Government of Andhra Pradesh. 1981.
  10. "Bhavanarayana Swamy Temple". Official website of Guntur District. National Informatics Centre. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  11. "Water woes bog down Bapatla ryots". 28 October 2015. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  12. "CLIMATE: BAPATLA". Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  13. "Cylcones and depressions over the north Indian Ocean during 2010" (PDF). MAUSAM. 62: 287. 3 July 2011. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  14. "Station: Arogyavaram Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. pp. 93–94. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  15. "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2020.
  16. "Sex Ratio". The Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  17. "Chapter–3 (Literates and Literacy rate)" (PDF). Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  18. "Water woes bog down Bapatla ryots". The Hindu. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  19. "MLA". AP State Portal. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 13 October 2014.
  20. "Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order, 2008" (PDF). Election Commission of India. p. 22,31. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  21. "MP (Lok Sabha)". Government of AP. Archived from the original on 21 November 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  22. Avadhani, R (31 August 2014). "Floating sensor buoy saves aqua farmers from 'drowning'". The Hindu. Sangareddy. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  23. Sudhakar Reddy, U (16 September 2015). "Oil search moves to Guntur". Deccan Chronicle. Hyderabad. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  24. Sujatha Varma, P (23 December 2015). "Plans apace for Bhavapuri Beach Festival". The Hindu. Guntur. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  25. "Clock Tower to be built again at Bapatla". The Hindu. Bapatla. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  26. Jonathan, P. Samuel (18 July 2018). "A piece of history in Bapatla". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  27. "115-year-old Baptist Zion Church dedicated". The Hindu. Bapatla. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  28. "Details of Roads in each ULB of Andhra Pradesh". Commissioner and Directorate of Municipal Administration. Municipal Administration and Urban Developmemt Department – Government of Andhra Pradesh. Archived from the original on 1 August 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  29. "Bus Stations in Districts". Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  30. Samuel Jonathan, P (8 October 2015). "Nizampatnam backwaters beckon adventure geeks". The Hindu. Guntur. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  31. "Narrow roads prove to be a bane at Ponnur". The Hindu. Ponnur (Guntur district. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2016.}
  32. "National Highways in A.P". AP Online Portal. Archived from the original on 10 October 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  33. "Vijayawada division – A Profile" (PDF). South Central Railway. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  34. "School Education Department" (PDF). School Education Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 December 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  35. "The Department of School Education – Official AP State Government Portal | AP State Portal". www.ap.gov.in. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  36. "Agricultural College, Bapatla". agcbapatla.in. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  37. "College of Food Science & Technology – Bapatla". angrau.ac.in. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  38. ":: Bapatla Polytechnic College ::". Bpcbapatla.net. Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2013.
  39. "The Bapatla College of Arts, Sciences". bcasbapatla.ac.in. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  40. "List of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS)" (PDF). Indian Meteorological Department, AWS Lab. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  41. "Sona Masuri variety rice". Business Standard. Chennai/ Hyderabad. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  42. Samuel Jonathan, P (25 May 2010). "Two new rice varieties developed". Guntur. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  43. "List of Research Stations in the Krishna Zone". angrau.ac.in. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  44. Samuel Jonathan, P (19 February 2015). "Southern Air Command chief visits Suryalanka IAF station". Bapatla. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
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