About Visakhapatnam

pronunciation? (also Viśākhapaanamu, shortened and anglicized: Vizag or Vizagapatnam or waltair) is a port city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh(Coastal Andhra Pradesh). It is located on the eastern shore of India, nestled among the hills of the Eastern Ghats and facing the Bay of Bengal to the east. The city is about 650km northeast of Hyderabad. The city is the administrative headquarters of Visakhapatnam District.

Alternatively, it sometimes goes by its now mostly defunct colonial British name, Waltair. During the colonial era, the city had at its hub the Waltair railway station, and that part of the city still goes by the name of Waltair. It is also popularly referred to as “Vizag”, a shortening of its full name. It is sometimes also referred to as the “City of Destiny”.[citation needed]

The city is home to several state owned heavy industries, and has one of the country’s largest ports and its oldest shipyard. It has the only natural harbour on the eastern coast of India.

Andhra University, a prominent seat of education in Andhra Pradesh, is located here.

Vizag is primarily an industrial city, apart from being a tourist destination. Tourists are attracted by its unspoilt beaches, nearby scenic Araku Valley and Borra caves, the 11th-century Simhachalam temple and ancient Buddhist sites spread across the area, the development of IT sector is fastnening the city view and growth of it.

The city boasts a submarine museum, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, at Rama Krishna Beach.

Visakhapatnam is also the headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy.

This region, formerly part of the great Kalinga empire that stretched up to the river Godavari, has also been mentioned in Hindu and Buddhist texts from the 5th and 6th centuries BCE, as well as by Sanskrit grammarians Panini and Katyayana in the 4th century BCE.

This city was ruled by several dynasties: the Kalingas during the 7th century, the Chalukyas during the8th century, the Cholas, the Qutb Shahis of Golconda, the Mughal Empire and the Nizams of Hyderabad.
Scenic beauty of Vizag beach

There is a wide diversity in which, there are schools for different boards like ICSE, CBSE and State. There are co-educational as well as separate schools for boys and girls. There are also schools for the physically and mentally challenged. Few popular schools are -

* Delhi Public School
* St. Aloysius Anglo-Indian High School
* Kotak Salesian School
* Visakha Valley School
* Seventh Day Adventist High School
* St Francis Desales School (SFS)
* Timpany School
* St Joseph’s Secondary High School, Malkapuram.
* Sri Satya Sai Vidya Vihar
* Mahendra Infotech
* MATRIX The Call Center Academy
* Tiny Tots Public School

Economy

The city’s growth has mostly been due to its heavy industries (both state-owned and private), such as:

* HPCL – Oil Refinery (Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited)
* Visakhapatnam Steel Plant Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL)Vizag Steel Plant
* Hindustan Zinc Limited
* Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd (BHPV).
* Hindustan Shipyard Limited
* Visakhapatnam Port Trust
* Coromandel Fertilizers
* National Thermal Power Corporation
* Rain Calcining Limited
* Essar Pelletization Plant (Recently a major expansion occurred. The iron ore now used by this plant comes via a pipeline 267km long from Bailadila, helping reduce transportation costs substantially.)
* HSBC
* Book and Host Online Services (Official IN Registrar)

Its traditional importance in ship-building is confirmed by the fact that India’s first ship, the “Jala Usha”, was launched in Vizag.

Vizag is also one of India’s main fishing ports, has a dedicated harbour for the fishing industry and handles a large percentage of India’s seafood exports.

Vizag city has about 50 small and medium software and call centre units, of which about 10 units started their operations during the year 2005-06; the foremost being HSBC followed by Encore India. Software exports from the Visakhapatnam region increased by around 56 per cent at Rs 109 crore in the financial year ended March 31, 2006, as compared to Rs 70 crore in the corresponding previous year. Also Nipuna, the BPO arm of Satyam Computers, is about to start its operations very soon in this port city. Other companies that are in Visakhapatnam include: OpenLogix, Miracle Software among others. Also many other IT companies like Wipro, Infosys were about to launch their operations in nearest future.
Events
Timeline of Vizag’s history

* 260 BCE: Ashoka conquered the Kalinga empire (of which Vizag was a part).
* 208: Chandra Sri Satakarni was king of this region.
* 11th century: Simhachalam Temple built by Kulottunga I.
* 13th century: Simhachalam Temple renovated and made southern imperial centre by the Ganga king Narasimha I of Orissa.
* 1515: Krishna Deva Raya was ruler of the area comprising Vizag
* Mid-17th century: A factory was founded in “Vizagapatam” by the British East India Company.
* 1652: Foundation of the most powerful zamindari family of the area, the Pusapatis of Vizianagaram.
* 1689: The Britush factory was occupied by the forces of Aurangzeb.
* 1735: Duth Colony was established.
* 1765: The territory of the Northern Circars, of which Vizag was a part, ceded to the East India Company by the Nizam of Hyderabad. Following this, a British colony was established.
* 1904: Railway from Madras to Calcutta, passing through Vizagapatam, was opened.
* 1923 :Andhra Medical College started.
* 1926: Andhra University established.
* 1933: Visakhapatnam Port established.
* 1942: Japanese war planes attack Vizag.
* 1947: Eastern Naval Command established its base here. Before 1947 the Royal Navy had a base in HMIS Sircars.
* 1949: Scindia Shipyard started. Later nationalised and called Hindustan Shipyard.
* 1953: The Boat Repair Shop expanded into a Base Repair Organisation (BRO) and shifted to the location at the mouth of the northwest channel.
* 1957: A petroleum refinery by Caltex, currently owned by HPCL.
* 1965: Two survey ships, “Jumna” and “Investigator”, were permanently rebased at Visakhapatnam.
* 1971: INS Rajput of the Indian Navy destroys the Pakistani submarine Ghazi in the Indo-Pak War off the coast of Visakhapatnam.
* 1981: Visakhapatnam Steel Plant commenced operations.