Vazhapadi (Valapady, or Valappadi) is a

town panchayat A nagar panchayat (town panchayat; ) or Notified Area Council (NAC) in India is a settlement in transition from rural to urban and therefore a form of an urban political unit comparable to a municipality. An urban centre with more than 12,000 ...

Salem district Salem District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The district is now divided into Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Namakkal as individual districts. Salem is the district headquarters and other major towns in the distri ...

in 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 ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. It is the headquarters of

Vazhapadi taluk Vazhapadi taluk is one of the thirteen taluks of Salem district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The headquarters of the taluk is the town of Vazhapadi. Administration Vazhapadi taluk is divided into two revenue blocks, Valapady block and Ay ...

, one of the 13

taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

s of Salem district.

Geography

Vazhapadi is within Vazhapadi taluk, which is the central part of Salem district. It covers in the eastern part of the taluk, near the border with

Attur taluk Attur Taluk is one of the ''taluks'', or administrative division of Salem District in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The division's headquarters is Attur town. Background Attur Taluk is surrounded by Gangavalli Taluk on east and Pethanaickenp ...

. National Highway 79 passes to the south of the town, and the only railroad line in the taluk runs through the town. It is east of

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada Ontario * Bruce County ** Salem, Arran–Elderslie, Ontario, in the municipality of Arran–Elderslie ** Salem, South Bruce, Ontario, in the municipality of South Bruce * Salem, Dufferin County, Ontario, part ...

, the district headquarters, north of

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

, and southwest of the state capital of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Demographics

In 2011 Vazhapadi had a population of 17,559 people living in 4,582 households. 8,843 (50.4%) of the inhabitants were male, while 8,716 (49.6%) were female. 1,679 children in the town, about 9.6% of the population, were at or below the age of 6. The literacy rate in the town was 74.4%.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

accounted for 26.4% and 0.26% of the population, respectively.

Politics

Former union minister

Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy Vazhappady K. Ramamurthy or Vazhapadi K. Ramamoorthy (1940 – 22 October 2002) was an Indian trade unionist and politician. Political career He was an ardent follower of the late K Kamaraj and E. V. K. Sampath. He belonged to the Vanniyar commu ...

was born in Vazhapadi. He served as Union Minister of Petroleum as part of NDA government under Atal Behari Vajpayee. He was widely known as Valappadiyar.

References

Cities and towns in Salem district {{SalemIN-geo-stub