Udangudi
| Udangudi jaggery place |
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|---|---|
| village | |
 Udangudi
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| Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | |
| Country |  India |
| State | Tamil Nadu |
| District | Thoothukudi |
| Population (2001) | |
| • Total | 19,347 |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Tamil |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 628203 |
| Telephone code | 04639 |
| Vehicle registration | TN 69 |
| Website | www |
Udangudi is a Panchayat town in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a small village in Tamil Nadu, India situated near Thiruchendur. The village was once known for Vetrilai (betal leaves) and Karupatti.
Contents
Demographics
As of 2001[update] India census,[1] Udangudi had a population of 19,347. Males constitute 59% of the population and females 31%. Udangudi has an average literacy rate of 81%, very much higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 86.25%, and female literacy is 77.85%.
There is a famous church called St. Mark's Church which was established by Rev. Christian Samuel Kohlhoff. Udangudi in British rule had railway line connected to Tiruchendur. This railway line was laid primarily to take advantage of collecting the Palm Juice extraction going around Udangudi and British established a Jaggery Factory near Kulasekaran pattinam for export market. Unfortunately the factory became non-operational which resulted in non-usage of this railway line.
The entire town is an example of secularism with population of Muslims, Christians and Hindus distributed in equal proportions and the entire people live in harmony. T.D.T.A.Higher Secondary School is the oldest school for boys, Mary Ann Best Higher Secondary School for girls from which most people got educated and One more School Sri. Ramakrishna Chidhambareshwarer.Hr.Sec.School (Sri.R.K.C) is also there and there is most famous schools are there like St.Antony's RC Middle School, SaivaPrakasa Vidyasalai School, Anitha Kumaran Matric Higher Secondary School. Najath School and Salma School etc.
Each place has one govt. primary School.
Centre for Karuppatti
Years back Udangudi and its suburbs had a lot of Palmyrah groves, where the main occupation was to extract Palm Juice and prepare Karuppukatti or KarpagaKatti (Palm Jaggery, presumably karuppukatti is a transformed form for "Karumbukatti- sugar(cane)piece). More than a century back this centre was the place which catered to the Palm Jaggery requirements to the demands of South India and also Palm Jaggery requirements to several other countries where it was exported.
Reason for the Name 'Udangudi'
The name Udangudi might have been derived from two Tamil words. "Udai" means the thorny firewood tree (Prosopis juliflora) which is abundant in that area. "Kudi" refers to a village or a human settlement. The two words when joined together its pronounced as "Udangudi". Some people told, This is the village having equal number of Hindu, Christian and Muslims. They lived here with a close relationship. So it named as 'Udangudi'.
Temples
There are several temples for "Satharakonvillai Sri Utchinimaakaali amman kovil", Mutharamman, Suadali Madan'. Satharakonvillai(SKV) is near Mary Ann Best Higher secondary school for girls. 'santhaiyadioor ayya vaigundar' temple, santhaiyadioor mutharamman koil and Ayyanar temples around Udangudi. Some of the famous Ayyanar temples are ThuthuVaalai Ayyanar, Alli Oothu Kal Aal Ayyanar, Pon vandu Ayyanar, Arunjunai Katha ayyanar, vennimalai aiyyan sastha koil located around Udangudi, Iyndhu veetu swami Temple at Chettiyapathu located 3 km from Udangudi. And one of the famous temple is Mutharamman Temple.
Santhaiyadiyoor is the main place in Udangudi. Weekly market (Santhai) is very famous in that place.
Dasara
The city celebrates the famous festival called "THE GRAND DASARA" every year in the month of September / October, it will be celebrated over 10 days. Devotees wore many fancy dresses to worship Kulasai Shri Mutharamman. It is very famous next to Mysore Dasara.
Churches
There are many Churches for Protestant and Catholic in the small town. Many Churches have a history of 150 years.
St.Mark's Church (Christianagaram) CSI St.Mark's Church - Website & Orkut Community Page, Yesuvin Thirunama Aalayam (Santhaiadiyoor), St Luke's Church (Pandaranchettivilai), St.Joseph's Church, Bharathar street & St.Antony's, Church Bharathar Street both are built by British (150 years).
St.Mark's Church (Christianagaram) is famous for 'Asanam' which is conducted every year in the month of January.
BHEL signs MoU with TNEB for Udangudi power project
On 26 October 2007, Bharat Heavy Electricals signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to form a joint venture company (JVC) for setting up a 1,600 MW (2x800 MW) coal based thermal power unit at Udangudi in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu.
The JVC is expected to be in place by January 2008 in which BHEL and TNEB will have principle equity stake. The project will entail an investment of Rs.8,700 crore.
Land has already been identified for the project. The boilers and the turbine generators will be manufactured by BHEL at its Tiruchirapalli and Ranipet works in Tamil Nadu in technical collaboration with Alstom, France and Siemens, Germany respectively.
Reversing the previous Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government's decision on the 1,600-megawatt (MW) Udangudi super critical thermal power project, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday announced that her government would implement it as a State sector project, ensuring the availability of the entire power generated to the State.
When the coal-fired project was mooted in October 2007, it was meant to be a joint venture project involving the erstwhile Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) and the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). A special purpose vehicle – Udangudi Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) – was established in December 2008 to implement the project that would have two units of 800 MW each. The project was named after its site, Udangudi, about 45 km from the Tuticorin town.
Announcing her decision in a statement, the Chief Minister said she discussed with senior officials on Thursday the factors that contributed to the non-implementation of the project. What became clear was that the project could not be executed through the UPCL. The State government would fund the project and implement it through the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO). It would provide to the TANGEDCO the project cost of Rs. 8,000 crore as equity share capital assistance.
It had been decided to import coal for meeting the requirements of the project, as the Union Coal Ministry had not issued orders for allocation of coal. The environmental clearance from the Union Environment and Forests (E&F) Ministry would be sought after informing the Union Ministry of the latest decision to import coal.
As the project was going to be implemented by the TANGEDCO, it would earn ‘mega power' status. This would facilitate the provision of several tax sops, which would eventually create the scope for reducing the project cost.
Giving an account of the project, the Chief Minister recalled that the project cost of Rs. 8,000 crore included equity and debt components. As for the equity component, the [now-defunct] TNEB and the BHEL would contribute 26 per cent each with the remainder to be raised through financial institutions or a private promoter. It had been decided to tap any company for debt.
Till the end of the DMK regime in May 2011, the private promoter was not finalised.
Apart from the allocation of Rs. 32.5 crore each by the State power utility and the BHEL, no work was carried out for the project. As the Long Term Coal Linkage was not firmed up, the environmental clearance from the Union E&F Ministry was not obtained.
The BHEL's “lack of cooperation” was one of the factors that led to the non-execution of the project. A senior official says that the State government's annual contribution to equity share capital assistance to the TANGEDCO can be linked with the project.
Another official says that even though the project was originally proposed as a joint venture scheme involving a Central government entity, the Central authorities did not provide encouragement. In respect of Udangudi, they did not grant the mega power status or the long term coal linkage.
Under such circumstances, the State was left with no option but to pursue its own course as it was desperate to launch the project.
References
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