Porur - WikiHQ

Porur () is a neighbourhood of the city of Chennai, India. It forms part of the Maduravoyal taluk of Chennai district. Situated about by road from Chennai Central railway station in the western part of the city, Porur is largely a residential neighbourhood known for the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research, Porur market and the Porur Lake which is an important source of drinking water to Chennai city. Readymade garments and footwear are the main industries.

The earliest recorded history of Porur goes back to the Chola period when it formed a nādu of the Chola Empire. Porur was administered by a village panchayat till 1 October 1977, when it was elevated to the status of a town panchayat. In 2011, the Porur town panchayat was abolished and its jurisdiction included within the Greater Chennai Corporation as part of the Corporation wards 151 and 153.

During the 2011 census, Porur had a population of 46,690. Porur is well-connected by road and has a bus terminus, railway stations and an airport in close proximity. Six Chennai metro stations are being constructed in Porur as part of the Phase II extension activities. The Porur Lake is one of the biggest lakes in the Chennai metropolitan area and one of the major sources of drinking water to the city. The Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, a top-ranked private health sciences university is situated in Porur.

Location

Porur is located at 13.03° N and 80.16° E, about west from the Bay of Bengal coast at Foreshore Estate. It is surrounded by the Chennai neighbourhoods of Karambakkam and Maduravoyal in the north and Ramapuram, Valasaravakkam and Manapakkam to the east. To the west, Porur is bound by Iyyapanthangal of Poonamallee taluk, Tiruvallur district and Gerugambakkam and Kolapakkam villages of the Kundrathur taluk of Kancheepuram district in the south and south-west. The shortest distance by road between Porur and Chennai Central Railway Station is .

History

The Ramanatheswarar Temple in Porur has an inscription of the Chola king Kulothunga I who reigned from 1070 CE to 1122 CE.Porur might have served as the administrative centre of the eponymous Perūr Nādū of the Chola province of Puliyur Kottam. The juridisction of Perur Nadu extended over a considerable area and included the surrounding neighbourhoods of Manapakkam and Kolapakkam as evidenced by inscriptions at the Agasteeswarar Temple in Kolapakkam.

The earliest modern references to Porur come from British maps and books of the late 18th century. In the early 19th century, the Kodambakkam-Kunrathur road and the St. Thomas Mount-Poonamallee Road were major trade and communication routes leading into Chennai city.However still, Porur was predominantly rural and sparsely populated till the 1960s, when the W. S. Industries and the Moonlight factory were established with land and support from the Government of Tamil Nadu. The population grew from 1,938 in 1961 to 3,539 in 1971 and accelerated even further in the following decades achieving growth rates of 144 percent and 126 percent during 1971-81 and 1981-91 respectively.

The village panchayat administering Porur was upgraded to a Grade-I town panchayat on 1 October 1977. It was further upgraded to a selection grade town panchayat on 24 February 1982.In 2018, Porur was transferred from Tiruvallur district to Chennai district where it forms part of the Maduravoyal taluk.

Demographics

According to the 2011 India census, Porur had a population of 46,690 with males constituting 23,450 (50.22%) and females 23,250 (49.79%) with a sex ratio of 991. There were also 71 Jains, 27 Sikhs and 16 Buddhists.

Porur forms part of the Maduravoyal Assembly constituency of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha constituency of the Parliament of India. The incumbent member of the Tamil Nadu legislature is P. Rhevanth Charan of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam while the incumbent member of the Lok Sabha is T. R. Baalu of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Porur has many ancient Hindu temples like the Ramanatheswarar Temple that dates from the Chola period. There are also temples that have constructed quite recently. The Sethu Kshetram temple was constructed in 1964 for the employees of W. S. Industries and inaugurated by the Shankaracharya of Sringeri. A tree was planted during the kumbabhishekam of the shrine on 27 October 1966 by R. Venkataraman, Minister of Industries for the Government of Madras. The Ramanatheswarar Temple and Balamurugan Temple are managed by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Water supply is provided by the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board with headworks at Chinna Porur and Mount-Poonamallee Road while electricity is provided by the Tamil Nadu Power Distribution Corporation Limited. Law and order enforcement is handled by the T-15 SRMC police station which comes under the jurisdiction of the Avadi police comissionerate. The nearest fire station is located at Kumananchavadi.

Transport and communication

Porur is well connected by road to the rest of Chennai city. The Mount-Poonamallee Road that runs between Poonamallee and Kathipara Junction is a State Highway that connects Porur with the Grand Southern Trunk Road. Beyond Poonamallee, the Mount-Poonamallee Road links with the National Highway 4 (India, old numbering) to Bengaluru. The Porur Junction is an extremely busy traffic intersection in Porur where the major arterial roads meet. The Arcot Road connects Porur Junction with Kodambakkam while the Kundrathur Road links Porur Junction with Kundrathur. Porur had a total of of roads in 2011.