Salur

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Salur v • d • e Andhra Pradesh • India
Salur
District(s)	Vizianagaram
Coordinates	18.5333° N 83.2167° E
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
Area • Elevation	• 118 m (387 ft)
Population	48,362 (2001)
Codes • Postal • Telephone	• 535 591 • +91 08964

Coordinates: 18.5333° N 83.2167° E

Salur (Telugu - సాలూరు) or Saluru is a Municipality and Mandal headquarters in Vizianagaram district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.^[1]

It is a gateway to reach the Southern districts of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh by Road on the National Highway 43. It is situated at a distance of 55 kilometers from Vizianagaram and 95 kilometers from Visakhapatnam. Salur is connected with 18 kilometer long branch railway line from Bobbili.

Contents 1 Municipality 2 Geography 3 Demographics 4 River Vegavathi 5 Legislative Assembly 6 Features 7 Institutions 8 Religious Places 9 Revenue villages and Panchayats 10 References

[edit] Municipality

Salur was a major panchayat till 1950. It was upgraded as grade III Municipality from 26 September 1950. The extent of area at that time was 13.58 square miles. It was upgraded as grade II Municipality in 2001. The extent of area at present is 19.55 square miles.

Flower production, Lorry body building, Re-buttoning of tyres, tubes repairing are the major works taken up in this town.

There are 24 primary schools, 6 upper primary schools, 9 high schools, 4 junior colleges and 2 degree colleges in the Salur town.

There are 13 rice mills, 3 oil mills, 2 saw mills, 3 engineering work-shops, 15 motor vehicle repairing sheds and 8 lorry body building units.

There is a government general hospital, an ayurvedic and homeopathic treatment centre, 5 private nursing homes and a community health centre with about 30 medical doctors.

Protected water supply system was established in 1959 with one infiltration well, one over head reservoir and one pump house. The source of water is River Vegavathi. Improvements were made to the scheme in 1987, 1993 and 2001 resulting in 80% of the population is being served with protected water since 2002. The daily water supply is 3.69 MLD (8.11 lakh gallons), with per capita supply of 76.30 liters. The ground water table is about 12 meters below the ground level.

[edit] Geography

Salur is located on the banks of River Vegavathi at 18.5333° N 83.2167° E.^[2] It has an average elevation of 118 metres (387 feet).

Salur is surrounded with green forests and chain of hills on two sides and by River Vegavathi on the other two sides.

The climate of the town is generally characterized by high humidity almost all round the year, oppressive summer and seasonal rainfall. The temperature varies between 17 and 40 degrees of Celsius. Average annual rainfall is 1074.0 mm. The nature of the soil is generally black cotton soil.

[edit] Demographics

As of 2001 India census,^GRIndia Salur had a population of 48,362. Males constitute 49% of the population (23,729) and females 51% (24,633). Salur has an average literacy rate of 59%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 68%, and female literacy is 49%. In Salur, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. The population in 1991 was 43,435. The percentage of population growth between 1991-2001 is 11.18%.

In Salur town, about 50% of the population are living in 40 notified and 20 non-notified slums. Most of these slum residents are laborers. There are 10,435 house holds in the Salur town as per 2001 census, amongst them 7,980 house holds are in slum areas. The average house hold size is 4.8 persons. The existing number of houses are 9,425.

There are 90 revenue villages and 29 panchayats in Saluru mandal. The mandal had a population of 1,01,285 in 2001. Males constitute 49,700 and females 51,585 of the population. The average literacy rate of the mandal population is 52%. Male literacy rate is 62% and that of females 43%.

[edit] River Vegavathi

River Vegavathi passes along the East side of the town. It is a tributory of River Nagavali. It is the main source of drinking water for the town.

[edit] Legislative Assembly

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly Constituency of Salur is reserved for Scheduled Tribes.

List of Elected Members of Legislative Assembly:^[3]

• 1951 - Kumisetti Venkata Narayana Dora.^[4]
• 1955 - Allu Yeruku Naidu ^[5]
• 1955, 1967 ^[6], 1983 and 1985 - Boina Rajayya
• 1962 - Suri Dora.^[7]
• 1962 and 1989 - Rajah Lakshmi Narasimha Sanyasi Raju.
• 1972 - Janni Mutyalu.^[8]
• 1978 - S.R.T.P.S. Veerapa Raju
• 1994, 1999 and 2004 - Rajendra Pratap Bhanj Deo.

[edit] Features

• Vengala Raya Sagaram Proejct^[9] was constructed across Suvarnamukhi, a tributary of River Nagavali during 1976-2000. The project is located near Laxmipuram village in Salur Mandal to irrigate a total ayacut of 24,700 acres. The project utilizes 4 TMC of the available water and the Reservoir Storage Capacity is about 1.5 TMC.

• Salur Ghat Road begins shortly after Salur and goes across the Eastern Ghats to reach Koraput.

• It is a road junction to Makkuva and Pachipenta mandals.

• There is a Fort within the city.

• It is well known for Automobile work-force and body building work of heavy vehicles.

• Salur can also be reached from Bobbili by the exclusive Railway branchline to Salur constructed in 1913. It is in the Visakhapatnam Division of East Coast Railway.^[10] Daily Rail Bus services are operated in this narrow-gauze line.

• The city is famous for jasmine flowers.

• There is a Jute Mill in Jeegiram village.

[edit] Institutions

The Leprosy Mission Salur began 100 years back to help Leprosy patients. It was first known as Philadelphia Asylum, then Philadelphia Leprosy Hospital and now Philadelphia Community Hospital. It was established by Rev Paul Schulze of Germany on the 16-acre land bought from the Rajah of Salur. The Philadelphia Leprosy Hospital situated in Jeegiram village 3 kilometers from Salur was opened in 1906 under the auspices of the German Lutheran Church. Rev Schulze became the first Superintendent and served the poor patients till 1914 and between 1928-1934. He left the country along with all the German missionaries due to World War. He was awarded the Kaiser-I-hind award by the Indian Government for his work in the Leprosy field. There were many Honorary Superintendents between 1939 and 1965. There was big funding problem and resulted in deterioration of the condition.

Dr. R.H.Thangaraj and Mrs. Thangaraj, Dr. V.P.Das and Dr.J.F.Neudoerffer together revived the hospital from 1965 and put it on progressive path. A Reconstructive Surgery Hospital, staff quarters and an artificial limb center were constructed in 1970. Local funds raised and both state and central government funds are provided. By 1973, they recognized Salur hospital for training programmes for medical officers, medical supervisors, paramedical workers and physiotherapy technicians. Salur became one of the major training institutions and grown into one of the best Leprosy centers in India. The number of staff increased from 5 in 1965 to about 100 in 1977. Dr.R.H.Thangaraj had to leave Salur to become the Leprosy mission secretary for South Asia.

Dr.Alexander Thomas (1978-1989), Dr.Mrs.Thangaraj (1989-1992), Dr. G.Rajan Babu (1992-1995), Dr. B.P.Ravi Kumar (1995-2004) and Dr.B.Narender Rao (2004 onwards) were appointed as Superintendents and they continued and consolidated the earlier efforts and expanded into specific areas of medical care and related services. In April 1979 an opthalmic department was opened and funded by the Christoffel Blinden Mission and subsequently a complete opthalmic unit was completed in December 1981. The hospital celebrated the platinum jubilee in 1982. The new training unit with all facilities was built. Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) was introduced in the treatment of leprosy in 1983. The women's hostel was constructed in 1987. The artificial limb center was shifted from Jeegiram to Salur in 1998. Personnel from Uzbekistan were trained in Leprosy at Salur. New administrative block was constructed in 1999 and diagnostic scanning services are started functioning. As the Leprosy is well under control and declared eradicated in India, the efforts are more diversified to other medical services recently. Comprehensive Diabetic clinics, orthopedics and obstetrics and gynecology departments are servicing the people.

• Government Community Health Centre

• Government Degree College.
• Prof. G.Sunder Reddy Degree College

• Government Junior College
• Vasavi Junior College
• Satya Sai Junior College
• Laxmi Agarwal Lions' Club Junior College

• Vedasamajam Sanskrit High School established in 1888 A.D.
• Government High School
• Government Girls High School
• R.C.M. St.Theresa's High School

[edit] Religious Places

• Sri Panchamukheswara Temple: According to local legend, the shivalinga with five faces (pancha+mukha+eswara) was brought from River Ganges in Kasi long time ago. Yogi Tata Venkanna of Tarapuram village built a temple in Salur along the banks of River Vegavathi about 500 years ago. The religious people of the town have renovated the temple and brought it under the temple committee in 1960. There are Ganesh and Parvathi temples in the main temple complex. There is smashanam, north flowing river and jasmine gardens around makes the temple very auspicious and peaceful.
• Lord Jagannadh Temple
• Sri Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple
• Sri Shyamalamba Temple
• Sri Venu Gopala Swamy Temple
• St. Paul's Luthern Church
• Roman Catholic Church

[edit] Revenue villages and Panchayats

There are 90 revenue villages and 29 panchayats in Saluru mandal.^[11]

• Annamurajulavalasa (village and panchayat)
• Densari (village and panchayat)
• Ganjayabhadra (village and panchayat)
• Jeegiram (village and panchayat)
• Jilleduvalasa (village and panchayat)
• Kandulapadam (village and panchayat)
• Karadavalasa (village and panchayat)
• Karasuvalasa (village and panchayat)
• Kharagivalasa (village and panchayat)
• Kodama (village and panchayat)
• Kothavalasa (village and panchayat)
• Kottuparuvu (village and panchayat)
• Kurmarajupeta (village and panchayat)
• Maripalle (village and panchayat)
• Mavudi (village and panchayat)
• Narlavalasa (village and panchayat)
• Neliparti (village and panchayat)
• Pagulachenneru (village and panchayat)
• Parannavalasa (village and panchayat)
• Pattuchenneru (village and panchayat)
• Pedaborabanda (village and panchayat)
• Peddapadam (village and panchayat)
• Purohitunivalasa (village and panchayat)
• Saluru (Town, panchayat and mandal headquarters)
• Sampangipadu (village and panchayat)
• Sariki (village and panchayat)
• Sivaramapuram (village and panchayat)
• Thonam (village and panchayat)
• Thunda (village and panchayat)

[edit] References