Vijayawada

Vijayawada is a city on the banks of the Krishna River, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the headquarters of Vijayawada (urban) mandal in Krishna district of the state. The city forms a part of Andhra Pradesh Capital Region and the headquarters of Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority is located in the city. The city is one of the major trading and business centres of the state and hence, it is also known as "The Business Capital of Andhra Pradesh". The city is one of the two metropolis in the state, with the other being Visakhapatnam.

As of 2011 census, the city had a population of 1,048,240, making it the second largest city in the state in terms of population and it had an urban agglomeration population of 1,491,202. As per the Demographia World Urban Areas:2016, the city is the third most densely populated in terms of urban population in built-up areas of the world. The city has been recognised as a "Global City of the Future" by McKinsey Quarterly. It is one of the commercial hubs of Andhra Pradesh with a GDP of $3 billion in 2010, and is expected to increase to $17 billion by 2025.

Toponomy

There are many legends behind the origin of the name Vijayawada. Goddess Durga killed the demon and relaxed in this place for some time. As she was victorious (vijaya), the place came to be known as Vijayawada (vijaya translates to victory and wada as place/location, literally "The Place of Victory"). The epic Mahabharata refers to the Indrakiladri hills as the place where Arjuna secured Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva. The city thereafter came to be known as Vijayavatika and later as Vijayawada. In some legends, Vijayawada was referred to as Rajendracholapura. A tale behind its acquiring the name "Bezawada" is that Goddess 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 history reveals that Bezawada (Vijayawada) was ruled by King Madhava Varma (Ancestor of Pusapatis of Vizianagaram). Chinese Buddhist scholar Xuanzang stayed few years in Bezawada (Vijayawada) in around 640 A.D. to copy and study the Abhidhamma Pitaka, the last of the three pitakas (Pali for baskets) constituting the Pali canon, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism.

Geography

Vijayawada is located at 16°31′09″N 80°37′50″E / 16.5193°N 80.6305°E / 16.5193; 80.6305 and has an altitude of 11 m (36 ft). It lies on the banks of Krishna River and is also surrounded on the north by Budameru River. The northern, northwestern, and southwestern parts of the city are covered by a low range of hills, while the central, southwestern and northwestern 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 along the city. These hills are part of the Eastern Ghats cut through by the Krishna river. Three canals originating from the north side of the Prakasham barrage reservoir, Eluru, Bandar and Ryves, run through the city.

Culture

The city has good history in art, literature and culture. There exists many religions, languages with different traditions and festivals. Dussera celebrations are noticeable which involves Durga Pooja, Theppotsavam mainly due to the existence of self manifested Kanaka Durga Temple, other festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali etc., of Hindus, Eid ul-Fitr of Muslims and Christmas of Christians. The clothing includes traditional men wearing dhoti and women wearing saree and salwar kameez. Western clothing is also predominant in the urban areas.

Arts, crafts and artefacts

Vijayawada Art Society promotes Telugu arts. The city had hosted Poetic Prism-2015, a multi-lingual poet's meet in the city on 19 September 2015. All these activities are organised in collaboration with organisations like the Cultural Centre of Vijayawada. Kondapalli Toys are an example handmade toys by local artisans at Kondapalli village, a suburb of Vijayawada. Victoria Jubilee Museum is an archaeological museum which has sculptures, paintings and artefacts of Buddhist and Hindu relics, dated back to 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Transport

The city is known for traffic Jams both on Roads and in Railways.

Road

Vijayawada is well connected to the major destinations through various national and state highways. National Highway 16, a part of Asian Highway 45 and Golden Quadrilateral is a major highway that passes through the city and connects Kolkata and Chennai. While, other highways such as, National Highway 65 links the city with Pune–Machilipatnam route and National Highway 221 with Jagdalpur of Chhattisgarh. Inner Ring Road connects both NH 16 and 65 and serves the main purpose of easing city traffic congestion. Canal Road, M.G.Road and Eluru Road are the major internal arterial roads of the city. It is connected to other areas of the district by district roads and the city has a total road length of 1,264.24 km (785.56 mi).

The Pandit Nehru Bus Station was inaugurated on 23 September 1990 and was officially named as Telugu Satavahana Prayana Pranganam later renamed to its current name. It is Fourth largest and busiest bus terminals in India alongside Delhi, CMBT (Chennai) and MGBS (Hyderabad). State run APSRTC buses are operated from the terminal. APSRTC runs more than 450 city buses in the city which include Ordinary, Metro Express and City Sheetal (A/C Buses). It is the first city in the south India to introduce CNG buses in its fleet. Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has a BRTS circuit of 15.5 km in the city.

Private bus operators also provide transport services. Motor-driven auto-rickshaws and manual-driven cycle-rickshaws are the other alternative means of transport within Vijayawada. Private lorries, cars and two-wheelers are common.

Rail

Vijayawada railway station is an important junction in South Central Railway zone of Indian Railways. It is situated along the Howrah-Chennai main line and Delhi–Chennai line and categorised as an A-1 station under the jurisdiction of Vijayawada railway division. It is one of the busiest station, handling more than 320 trains (both passenger and freight trains) per day next to Howrah and Mumbai. It has an Electric Loco Shed with a capacity to maintain 100 Electric Locomotives and a Wagon workshop at Guntupalli, near Vijayawada. Madhuranagar, Gunadala, Rayanapadu, Kondapalli, Nidamanuru, Krishna Canal, Ramavarappadu, Kolanukonda, Mangalagiri, Gannavaram are the other railway stations in the city.

Air

Vijayawada Airport is located at Gannavaram. It connects the city Hyderabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Chennai, Delhi, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Kadapa. Vijayawada Airport is served by Air India, SpiceJet, TruJet and Air Costa. Annually, about 380,000 passengers use this airport. A plan for its expansion has been proposed which will enable the landing of larger aircraft and also provide night landing facilities.