About

Tadipatri is a newly industrialized town and a Municipality in Anantapur district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is right at the border of Kurnool district and Kadapa district. Tadipatri is located at 14.92°N 78.02°E. Its average elevation is 223 metres or 731 feet. MLA of Tadipatri is J.C.Prabhakar Reddy. He is the brother of J. C. Diwakar Reddy, who won six times as MLA from Tadipatri, before contesting as MP from Anantapur, leaving MLA seat to his brother in 2014 assembly elections. This town boasts of wide cement roads, greenery, a spacious community hall, a vegetable market complex, drainage water treatment plant, multiplexes, new municipal building and several others. This is the only town with an underground drainage in the whole of Anantapur district.

Some of the finest carvings of the early Vijayanagara period are from Tadipatri, a treasure-house of fine Vijayanagara sculpture.

Tadipatri has two notable temples within the town, the Sri Chintala Venkata Ramana Swamy temple and the Sri Bugga Rama Lingeswara Swamy temple. The sthala puranam, or local history, says that these two temples were built in a day by two brothers. The Chintala Venkata Ramana Swamy temple was completed by the next morning but the Bugga Rama Lingeswara Swamy temple wasn’t complete. The belief is that had this temple been completed it would have been ‘Dakshina Kaashi’, or Kaashi of the South. The architecture of these two temples is largely Dravidian and reflects the Vijayanagara style.

Sri Chintala Venkata Ramana Swamy temple: In the Vishnu temple near the river at Tadipatri, where the gopuram has mostly tumbled down, the workmanship of the figures in a pleasing pale greenish stone is admirable. It is located in the heart of the town on a plot about 5 acres (20,000 m2). The vimana or Main Gopuram was rebuilt as a result of earthquake damage. Ramayana, Bhagavata and Mahabharata epics are carved around the Garbha Griha. There may be a secret tunnel or sorangam from this temple to Gooty Fort. The face of the tunnel is still seen. However, it is blocked by a stone by Archeological Survey of India.

Sri Bugga Rama Lingeswara Swamy temple: It is located on the northern end of the town, where the River Penna lies. Water oozes all the time from the pedestal of the Siva Lingam here and people treat this as holy water. Unlike other temples, this temple has main entrances on the south and west. In this temple there is a secret tunnel to Tirupathi, but the entrance of the tunnel is now sealed. At the river side of the temple there is a statue of goddess standing by steps. It is believed that when the water level of the river Penna reaches the navel point of that statue, the entire town Tadpatri will be sinking in the water and that leads to its end.

Sri J. C. Diwakar Reddy garu, S/o Sir J.C Nagireddy garu. He became M.L.A of Tadipatri in the year 1984. He has been as M.L.A up to the year March-2014. During tenure of M.L.A he was Honourable Minister for Sericulture, Minister for Road and Buildings and Minister for Panchayat raj with additional portfolio of endowment of Government A.P. From May-2014 he was elected as Member of Parliament from Anantapur parliament constituency. He is chairmen of the Parliament committee for Food and Safety.

Sri J. C. Prabhakar Reddy garu, S/o Sir J.C Nagireddy garu.He has been elected as chairperson of the Municipal Council Tadipatri. In the elections held in month August 1987. Again he has been elected as chairperson of the Tadipatri Municipal Council in the year March 2000. From October 2005 onwards he was elected as Vice-Chairperson of the Municipal Council Tadipatri up to October 2010. During his tenure as chairperson of the Tadipatri Municipality he has made land marked structures like Diwakar Auditorium, underground drainage scheme, made of all roads of the town as Cement Concrete Roads, Road dividers providing with centre lighting scheme, the road lending with Penna river bridge and New Municipal Office building. He made all school buildings of all Primary, upper primary and fore high schools existing in municipality. He also got construction of four additional overhead tanks in the municipality, in the addition to the four overhead tanks in order to supply the drinking water to every places of the town.

Citizens of this industrial town have set an example to the entire state by strictly adhering to the ban on use of plastic (polythene) carry bags and tea cups and drinking water tumblers imposed by the municipal council. The ban has been practically in force from January 26, 2006. A penalty of Rs 2500 would be imposed if one were found either selling or using the plastic carry bags or tea cups. Residents, as well as shopkeepers, prefer to use recycled paper or cloth bags for normal use.

Garbage collection van spotted going on its daily rounds. The municipality of Tadipatri purchased 15 vehicles with financial aid from donors and municipal funds to collect garbage at the doorstep of residents. This program came into existence from January 1, 2009. These vehicles collect about 50 tonnes of garbage being generated per day in the town.

Granite Industries

Tadipatri is well known place for producing black stone and granite polishing in Anantapur District. It is having about 1300 stone polishing and 300 granite industries, from these industries around 20000 people are getting employment directly and indirectly.

Cement Industries

Ultra Tech cements – Larsen and Toubro was the first cement plant commissioned in 1994 at Bhogasamudram in Tadipatri. Tadipatri was chosen after many considerations of availability of limestone, water, etc. It was very difficult to build the factory in this location because it was a hilly area. There are many advantages to this – when the cement is manufactured, the cement bags would go down on a conveyor belt without much power due to gravity. All the products would then go into the railway siding or lorry siding and could then be dispatched. It is now known as Ultra Tech cements on acquisition of this factory by Aditya Birla Group. It also has its own thermal power plant. Penna Cements – It was commissioned on 2008 at Talaricheruvu in Tadipatri. The facility is used for sourcing limestone from the captive mines of Gudipadu, coal from Singarenni Collieries Company Limited and for transportation of finished goods to the consuming markets in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.

Steel Industries

Gerdau Steel, Tadipatri – is the first investment made by Brazilian steel major Gerdau in Asia. The plant become operational from January 2014 and producing the special bar quality bars and supplying to many automotive component manufacturers. The existing plant capacity is 3,00,000 tons per year and there is a plan to increase the capacity in near future. Gerdau Steel at Tadipatri is employing around 2000 people directly (900 on company role and 1100 on contract basis). Presently a large scale project – Coke oven and CPP is under implementation and will become operational by mid 2015.

Local transport within Tadipatri, is provided by shared auto rickshaws, which run between Tadipatri Railway Station and Tadipatri Bus Depot. The fare is Rs. 10/- from anypoint to anypoint on this stretch.

Railway

Tadipatri railway station is on the Guntakal-Chennai line which is part of Mumbai-Chennai line. There are daily trains from Delhi, Mumbai,Chennai, Hyderabad , Kanyakumari, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Tirupathi, Kolhapur and Goa – which halt at Tadipatri. One can also reach Tadipatri from Bangalore by changing train at Gooty railway station. Tadipatri Railway Station is located at one end of the Town.

Road

There are direct buses from Hyderabad and Bangalore to Tadipatri. Notable is the drive from Tadipatri to Anantapur. The rocks on either sides of the road from a particular point on the drive appears beautiful.Tadipatri Bus Depot is located at the other end of Tadipatri Town.

Aluru Kona

This village is at a distance of 5 km. to the east from Tadipatri Town on the north bank of Pennar River half a kilometer south of the Penna Cement Factory at 14°56′32.48″N 78°4′31.14″E. It is said that Yerramraju, the chief representative of King Bukkaraya, built Sri Aluru Kona Ranganatha Swamy temple, in 1334 A.D., atop the hill. There is a perennial water falls just adjacent to the temple whose source is a cold water spring at the top of this hill. Trekkers climb up the hill to locate the water source. To find this water source in the midst of arid region is like an oasis in the desert. There is green vegetation in this area, which is quite a contrast to the surrounding desert vegetation. Apart from that, thousands of tourists and devotees visit it throughout the year. Brahmotsavam of Lord Ranganathaswami is celebrated on Chaitra Sudha Paurnami Day.

Belum Caves

Belum Caves is the second largest cave in Indian subcontinent and the longest caves in plains of Indian Subcontinent, known for its stalactite and stalagmite formations. From Tadipatri, one can catch a bus to Belum Caves which is 30 kilometers away. Tadipatri is the nearest railhead for Belum caves and is accessible from all parts of the country easily. Belum Caves has a length of 3229 metres, making it the second largest natural caves in Indian Subcontinent. The caves are maintained by APTDC.