Ponnur is a town in

Guntur district Guntur district is one of the twenty six districts in the Coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The administrative seat of the district is located at Guntur, the largest city of the district in terms of area and with a po ...

of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. There was a festival on full moon day in May. A road to

Chandole Chandole is a village in Bapatla district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located in Pittalavanipalem mandal of Bapatla revenue division. History Bhattiprolu and Buddham are nearby villages wherein located Buddhist Mahastupa of ...

goes south-east and comes to

Nidubrolu Ponnuru is a neighbourhood in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Ponnur municipality of Tenali revenue division. Government and politics Ponnur Municipality is the governmental body. Transport Nidubrolu railway stati ...

, where there is a temple with a stone bearing inscription recording the erection of 90 temple in A.D. 1132. An ancient Telugu manuscript entitled 'Ponnuru-Chandavolu Shasanam' was present in

Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University The Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University (PSTU) is one of the few Indian language universities in India. University It was established as "Telugu University" on 2 December 1985 through an Act of Legislation (Act No. 27 of 1985) by the State Legi ...

. Kilari Venkata Rosaiah of YSRCP party is the current MLA of the constituency, who won the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. It is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

and the mandal headquarter of

Ponnur mandal Ponnur mandal is one of the 57 mandals in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Kilari Venkata Rosaiah – YSR Congress Party is the present MLA of the constituency, who won the 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly electio ...

under

Tenali revenue division Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Tenali mandal and Tenali revenue division. The city is renowned for art, culture, d ...

Demographics

Census of India The decennial Census of India has been conducted 16 times, as of 2021. While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881. Post 1949, it has been conducted by ...

, the town had a population of with 16,138 households. The total population constitute, males and —a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...

of 1032 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 940 per 1000. children are in the age group of 0–6 years. The average literacy rate stands at 78.33% with literates, higher than the national average of 73.00%.

Government and politics

Civic Administration

Ponnur Municipality Ponnur Municipality is the local self government in Ponnur, a town in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is classified as a ''Grade–II'' municipality. History The municipality was constituted in the year 1964 as ''Grade–III'' and then ...

oversees the civic needs of the town like, water supply, roads, sewage, garbage collection etc. It is classified as a ''Grade–II'' municipality which was established in 1964 as a ''III–Grade'' municipality. It has an extent of with 31 wards. The town gets water from the Krishna river, which is supplied through taps, bores etc. The town has both government and private hospitals which include, clinics, nursing homes and a

Government hospital A public hospital, or government hospital, is a hospital which is government owned and is fully funded by the government and operates solely off the money that is collected from taxpayers to fund healthcare initiatives. In some countries, this ty ...

for public healthcare. It also maintains parks and playgrounds for recreational purpose

Politics

Ponnur being a part of Ponnur mandal, falls under Ponnur assembly constituency of

Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Andhra Pradesh Śāsana Sabha is the lower house of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature. The Legislative Assembly consists of 175 members which are elected by adult universal suffrage under the first-pa ...

. Venkata Rosaiah Kilari is the present MLA of the constituency from

YSRCP The Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP or YCP; ) is an Indian regional political party based in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Its president Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy serves as the state's chief minister. It is currently the fifth la ...

. The assembly segment is in turn a part of Guntur lok sabha constituency and the present

Member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Galla Jayadev Galla Jayadev (born 24 March 1966), also known as Jay Galla, is an Indian politician and industrialist in India. He is the managing director of Amara Raja Group and TDP Parliamentary Party Leader. Jayadev is a member of 16th and 17th Lok Sabha ...

Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (; TDP) is an Indian regional political party operating in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at the state and central level. Since its founding by N. T. Rama Rao (often referred to as NTR) on 29 March 1982, the party has foc ...

Economy

Ponnur is an important town for the nearby villages. The rural areas surrounding the town are mostly dependent on

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. The farming is dominant with paddy cultivation and others crops include ground nuts,

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

betel The betel (''Piper betle'') is a vine of the family Piperaceae, which includes pepper and kava. The betel plant is native to Southeast Asia. It is an evergreen, dioecious perennial, with glossy heart-shaped leaves and white catkins. Betel plan ...

etc. There exists several other economic industries and occupations in the town such as,

brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for cl ...

, furniture making, handloom weaving, spinning khadi yarn, rice mills,

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

etc. The town is also a part of

Tenali Tenali is a city in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Tenali mandal and Tenali revenue division. The city is renowned for art, culture, drama and hence, it is called ''Andhra ...

–Ponnur growth corridor.

Culture

''Legend about Ponnuru'' , Once there lived two brahmans namely ''Kasibhatlu'' who was childless and his sister's son ''Nanduri Gunugovindu'' with deformed haunchback. They went on pilgrimage to ''Benares'' where ''Kasibhatlu'' moved with ''compassion,'' promised Govindu if ever daughter should be born to him, she would be given to him in marriage. Instantly Govindu called upon ''Bhava Narayana Swamy, a sacred river'' and ''certain trees'' growing on the banks as witnesses. Brahmans returned to Ponnuru. A daughter was born to ''Kasibhatlu''. When She grew up, Govindu claimed the fulfillment of promise by ''Kasibhatlu'' . ''Kasibhatlu'' was reluctant to keep his word. Witnesses were called upon by Govindu. One night, when ''Kasibhatlu'' slept, ''Bhava Narayana Swamy'' appeared to remember promise. In morning when awoke, ''Kasibhatlu'' saw ''Ganges'' and ''trees'' at door, because of overflown river. Warned by witnesses ''Kasibhatlu'' gave his daughter to Govindu in marriage.A manual of Kistna District in the Presidency of Madras by Gordan Mackenzie , 1883 , Page : 204 , There are a few notable people from the town with their contributions to various fields such as,

N. G. Ranga Gogineni Ranga Nayukulu (7 November 1900 – 9 June 1995), also known as N. G. Ranga, was an Indian freedom fighter, classical liberal, parliamentarian and farmers' leader. He was the founding president of the Swatantra Party, and an exponen ...

, Pragada Kotaiah. The town has an auditorium and a function hall for cultural events of the town. There are many religious worship centers in the town like, temples, mosques and churches. Most notable religious structures are, the temples of ''Sakshi Bhavanarayana'' and ''Sahastra Lingeswara'', a single stone carved statues of Anjaneya and Garuthmantha.

Transport

The town has a total road length of . State Highway 48, also known as ''Guntur-Bapatla-Chirala Road'' passes through Ponnur, which connects it with the district headquarter,

Guntur Guntur () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Guntur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Guntur is spread across 168.49 km square and is the third-largest city in the state. It is situated to the west of the Ba ...

. The ''Ponnur–Repalle Road'' connects

National Highway 216 The following highways are numbered 216: Canada * Anthony Henday Drive, Alberta Highway 216 * Manitoba Provincial Road 216 * Prince Edward Island Route 216 * Quebec Route 216 * Nova Scotia Route 216 China * China National Highway 216 Costa Rica ...

. The state government operates

APSRTC Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) is the state-owned road transport corporation in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Its headquarters is located at NTR Administrative Block of RTC House in Pandit Nehru bus station of ...

bus services to the nearby towns and villages. Nearest railway station is , a ''D–category'' station in the

Vijayawada railway division Vijayawada railway division (formerly: Bezawada railway division) is one of the three railway divisions under South Coast Railways of the Indian Railways. The headquarters of the division are located at Vijayawada. History It was formed a ...

South Central Railway zone The South Central Railway (abbreviated SCR) is one of the 19 zones of Indian Railways. The jurisdiction of the zone is spread over the states of Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh. It has three divisions under its administrati ...

Education

Zilla parishad high school is the prominent one, run by Panchayat Raj department under the government of Andhra Pradesh. PBN is famous college for intermediate and degree courses. The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the ''School Education Department'' of the state. The medium of instruction followed by different schools are English and Telugu. The town has both government and private educational institutions with a total of 34

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

, 3 upper primary and 12

high schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. There are also two government run

junior colleges A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

References

{{Guntur district Towns in Guntur district Mandal headquarters in Guntur district Towns in Andhra Pradesh Capital Region