Mettur
Mettur | |
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Town | |
UTC+5:30 (IST) | |
Vehicle registration | TN-52,93 |
Mettur is an industrial and tourist town located in the
Mettur is also known for its power generation, chemical manufacturing, and aluminium production. Most of the water requirements for irrigation in Tamil Nadu is provided by the Mettur Dam. Usually the dam opens in June every year for irrigation in the
Geography
There is a park located at the base of Mettur Dam, where there are a snake park, deer park, and views of the dam. A charge for sightseeing of the dam is fixed.
Nerinjipettai is about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the heart of Mettur at the foot of Palamalai. The hills almost reach out to the river with just the State Highway from Mettur to Erode between the river and the hills. There is boat transportation to Poolampatti, a place known for shooting films.[citation needed]
Pannavadi Parisal Thurai near Kolathur is located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) far from Mettur. There is a boat transportation in between the Kolathur and Nerupur of Dharmapuri district. The boat transportation also available from Koattaiyur it is 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Mettur. When the water level decreases in Mettur dam, it is possible to see an Old Nandhi statue, an old church, and a palace (Koattai) of Tippu Sultan which has sunk beneath the water.
Male Mahadeshwara Hills is a famous pilgrimage in Karnataka for lord shiva, located 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Mettur. From there it is also possible to reach Mysore .
One of the famous mariyamman festival celebration during the summer in Tamil term Vaikasi Masam thiruvizha is celebrated in the temple called "sri Anukundu mariyamman kovil" Thiruvizha that temple located in PERIYAR NAGAR near Ukkamparuthikkadu.
Mettur can be divided into upper and lower Mettur based on whether the part of the town lies upstream or downstream of the river.
Mettur, meaning "town with crests and troughs", obtained its name from the undulating rocky nature of the land that makes the town an ideal place for the dam on Cauvery river.
Mettur is located at border of the
Palamalai ("malai" meaning "hill" in Tamil language) is an offshoot of the
The town houses the Stanley Reservoir, which is a standing example of British stone masonry, and the 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) dam. The reservoir capacity touches 120 feet when full, and can rise a few feet beyond its full capacity during surplus seasons.
The town is hemmed to a narrow strip of less than a kilometre in width by the Cauvery let out by the Dam on the east, and Eli Karadu (Mouse hill) on the west. This forms an interesting pattern of three similar peaks with identical longer shoulders to their left, increasing in height from the Dam's crest level about a 1,000 feet (300 m) from sea level in the north to about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) peak in the Palamalai.
Stanley Reservoir
Mettur Dam, which forms
Electrical power
Mettur is one of the sources of electricity for Tamil Nadu. It has thermal and hydroelectric power stations.
The 840-megawatt thermal power station acts as one of the base load power plants for Tamil Nadu each. A new power station has also been constructed with a capacity of 600 megawatts.[citation needed]
There are two hydroelectric power stations at Mettur, called Dam and Tunnel Power Houses, respectively. Dam Power House has a capacity of 40 MW, and Tunnel Power House has a capacity of 200 MW.
Mettur also has several barriage[clarification needed] power houses located in the bank of Kaveri River, namely Chekkanur, Nerinjipettai, Koneripatti, UratchiKottai, and Bhavani Kattalai Barriage.
It[specify] has one of the largest private sector power suppliers in Madras Aluminium Company (MALCO), which has a power generation capacity of 100 MW from four units of 25 MW each.
Climate
Climate data for Mettur (Mettur Dam) 1981–2010, extremes 1951–2006 | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 37.6 (99.7) |
39.0 (102.2) |
40.9 (105.6) |
41.6 (106.9) |
42.4 (108.3) |
42.0 (107.6) |
39.4 (102.9) |
38.0 (100.4) |
38.9 (102.0) |
38.0 (100.4) |
37.6 (99.7) |
34.4 (93.9) |
42.4 (108.3) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 31.9 (89.4) |
34.5 (94.1) |
37.0 (98.6) |
37.9 (100.2) |
37.9 (100.2) |
35.5 (95.9) |
34.6 (94.3) |
34.1 (93.4) |
34.2 (93.6) |
32.9 (91.2) |
31.6 (88.9) |
30.7 (87.3) |
34.4 (93.9) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 20.4 (68.7) |
21.8 (71.2) |
24.2 (75.6) |
26.2 (79.2) |
25.8 (78.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
24.5 (76.1) |
24.1 (75.4) |
23.8 (74.8) |
23.4 (74.1) |
22.3 (72.1) |
20.7 (69.3) |
23.5 (74.3) |
Record low °C (°F) | 14.4 (57.9) |
13.1 (55.6) |
17.4 (63.3) |
19.6 (67.3) |
20.7 (69.3) |
18.6 (65.5) |
16.8 (62.2) |
21.0 (69.8) |
18.2 (64.8) |
18.5 (65.3) |
16.4 (61.5) |
14.0 (57.2) |
13.1 (55.6) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 4.9 (0.19) |
7.0 (0.28) |
20.4 (0.80) |
76.6 (3.02) |
105.0 (4.13) |
48.3 (1.90) |
77.7 (3.06) |
92.7 (3.65) |
157.9 (6.22) |
185.5 (7.30) |
97.5 (3.84) |
34.8 (1.37) |
908.4 (35.76) |
Average rainy days | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 5.9 | 3.5 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 9.0 | 9.3 | 5.4 | 2.3 | 51.7 |
Average relative humidity (%) (at 17:30 IST )
|
40 | 30 | 27 | 36 | 43 | 48 | 51 | 52 | 55 | 61 | 59 | 51 | 46 |
Source: India Meteorological Department[1][2] |
Demographics
Population
According to
Government and politics
The Mettur assembly constituency is part of
Economy
Mettur has a number of industries. An important one is chemical manufacturing:
Mettur is also called the "Aluminium city of Tamil Nadu". Its aluminium plant, operated by MALCO, has its own bauxite mines at Yercaud (Salem district) and Kolli Hills (Namakkal district). The company is one of five integrated primary aluminium producers in India, with an alumina refinery capacity of 55,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) and an aluminium smelter capacity of 29,500 tpa.
Industrial pollution
Mettur's industrial development has taken a heavy toll on many parts of its farming and fishing communities. However, despite protest from both international groups such as Greenpeace and local groups such as West Gonur Farmers' Association or SpeakOut Salem!, the local authorities have failed to bring the problems under control.[7]
Recent tests undertaken by Dr. Ruth Stringer and Dr. Mark Chernaik of ELAW-US (an Oregon-based environmental laboratory) revealed high levels of contamination. From nine samples taken from around the plants run by Chemplast and MALCO, there were 17 chemicals were found to be at levels significantly above USEPA 'safe' levels.[8]
Culture/Cityscape
Villagers in Mettur celebrate the Mariamman festival during the summer vacation time (May) and lasts for an entire week.
The Aadi Perukku festival is celebrated every year on 18th day of Tamil month Adi.
Transport
By Air
The nearest airport is Salem Airport, which has daily flights to Chennai.
By Rail
There is a railway station located near the upper part of Mettur Dam that connects to Salem. From the station there is also a daily express train to and from Chennai.
By Road
Mettur, being close to the transportation hubs of
References
- ^ "Station: Mettur Dam Climatological Table 1981–2010" (PDF). Climatological Normals 1981–2010. India Meteorological Department. January 2015. pp. 491–492. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Extremes of Temperature & Rainfall for Indian Stations (Up to 2012)" (PDF). India Meteorological Department. December 2016. p. M199. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b "Census Info 2011 Final population totals". Office of The Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
- ^ "Census Info 2011 Final population totals - Mettur". Office of The Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
- ^ "Population By Religious Community - Tamil Nadu" (XLS). Office of The Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
- ^ "List of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies" (PDF). Tamil Nadu. Election Commission of India. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2009. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
- ^ "The Stranger- the Chlorine Industry in India", Greenpeace International, 1996. Page 21 & 66
- ^ "Unfolding Disaster. A Study of Chemplast Sanmar's Contamination in Mettur" (PDF). Community Environmental Monitoring. November 2007. Retrieved 10 November 2012.