Pykara is river from

Ooty Ooty (), officially known as Udhagamandalam (also known as Ootacamund (); abbreviated as Udhagai), is a city and a municipality in the Nilgiris district of the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north west of Coimbatore and ...

in the Indian State of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

with a village by the same name nearby. The Pykara River is considered very sacred by the

Todas Toda people are a Dravidian ethnic group who live in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu. Before the 18th century and British colonisation, the Toda coexisted locally with other ethnic communities, including the Kota, Badaga and Kurumba, in a ...

. It rises at Mukurthi peak, flows northwards, and then turns to the west after reaching the edge of the plateau. The river flows through Murkurti, Pykara and Glenmorgan dams, and forms part of an important hydro-electric power project. The river flows over a series of waterfalls, the last two of and being known as Pykara Falls. The falls are approximately from the bridge on the main road. There is a forest rest house at Pykara. A boat house on the Pykara reservoir is an added attraction for tourists. Pykara boasts well-protected, fenced sholas, Toda settlements, large grassy meadows and good wildlife habitat. The Pykara Dam, falls and reservoir attract many tourists.

Climate

Pykara features a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(Cwb) under

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

. Pykara, due to its location in the Nilgiris, gets rain from both the

monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

. The wet season runs from April to December and the dry season from January to March.

Dam and power station

The dam is near the main Ooty–Gudalur road and includes a power station. One of the oldest power plants in south India, the Pykara station still functions, generating about 60 megawatts. The first unit of 6.65 MW was commissioned in October 1932. Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar, Diwan of Travancore, worked with the British regime in 1920s and 1930s in the setting up of the Pykara project. A team of engineers led by H.G.Howard, a chief engineer in the then electricity department, was responsible for carrying out the project. The Bengaluru-Chennai industrial region is highly dependent on the Pujara hydroelectric plant. The Pykara Station, declared as a heritage plant in September 1997, triggered the establishment of more hydro-electric power stations in the state. Today, the Nilgiris district alone boasts hydro-electric stations with an aggregate installed capacity of 837 MW. Five decades after establishment of the old plant, the Electricity Board (EB) authorities came up with a plan for the Pykara Ultimate Stage Hydro Electric Plant (PUSHEP), containing three units of 50 MW each. The construction of an underground powerhouse, 17 tunnels and the

hydraulic head Hydraulic head or piezometric head is a specific measurement of liquid pressure above a vertical datum., 410 pages. See pp. 43–44., 650 pages. See p. 22. It is usually measured as a liquid surface elevation, expressed in units of length, ...

of are the special features of the new plant. According to the EB, the hydraulic head is the highest in Asia. The access to the powerhouse is a tunnel long.

Boat house

A boat house on the Pykara Reservoir is an added attraction for tourists. The boat house with restaurant is maintained by Tamil Nadu Tourism and Development Corporation. It consists of several boats and has motor boats which are allowed for 20 minutes and speed boats which are allowed for 10 minutes.

Image gallery

File:Pykara Lake Nilgiris.jpg, Pykara Boathouse File:Pykara.jpg, Pykara, Town File:T.R.Bazar, Pykara.jpg, T.R.Bazar, Pykara File:T.R (2).jpg, T.R.Bazar, Pykara File:ஊட்டியின் அழகு.JPG, Pykara waterfalls File:View of Pykara lake from a boat.jpg, View of Pykara lake from a boat

References

External sources

{{coord, 11.4547, N, 76.5972, E, source:wikidata, display=title Rivers of Tamil Nadu Geography of Ooty Waterfalls of Tamil Nadu Tourist attractions in Nilgiris district Tourist attractions in Ooty Rivers of India