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Pugalur is a municipality in Karur district in Tamil Nadu, India. It is divided into two parts, Nanjai and Punjai. Nanjai refers to land with plenty of water, and Punjai refers to land with few bodies of water. In the Nanjai area it is known as Nanjai Pugalur and in the Punjai area is known as Punjai Pugalur.

This article may require copy editing for grammar. (January 2022)

Pugalur
Municipality
Pugalur Location in Tamil Nadu, India Show map of Tamil Nadu Pugalur Pugalur (India) Show map of India
Coordinates: 11°05′N 78°01′E
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Karur
Government
• Body	Municipality
• Member of Parliament	Jothimani[1]
Area
• Total	45 km2 (17 sq mi)
Population
• Total	50,897
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	639117
Area code	04324
Vehicle registration	TN 47

Demographics

Pugalur is located on the bank of the perennial Kaveri River. The population of Pugalur is around 40,000 in Punjai and 15,000 in Nanjai.[2] Apart from Coimbatore, Erode, Namakkal, Nilagiri, Karur with Pugalur also comes under Kongu Nadu.

Geography

Pugalur includes many villages and towns. Among these TNPL Pugalur is the most famous, then come Punjai Thottakurichi and Thirukkattuthurai panchayats.

Some of the villages in Pugalur are:

• Thavittupalayam
• Thirukkattuthurai
• Agraharam
• Modhukadu
• Nanjai Kalakurichi
• Karai Pasupathipalayam
• Kombupalayam
• Nadayanur
• Kattipalayam
• Nathamettu Palayam
• Alamarathumedu

Some of the villages/towns in Punjai Pugalur are:

• Punjai Pugalur
• Kattur
• Bharathi Nagar
• MurugamPalayam
• Pugalur 4 Road
• Punjai Kalakurichi
• TNPL Pugalur
• Punjai Thottakurichi
• Ganapathipalayam
• Moolimangalam
• Kunjampatty
• Valaiyanur
• Katchinampatti
• Salapalayam
• Sembadapalayam
• Kadambakurichi
• Mettupalayam
• Sottaiyur
• Pandipalayam
• Sokkankadu
• Masagoundanpudur
• Thadampalayam
• Kurukkapalayam
• Ponniagoundanpudur
• Velayuthampalayam

Climate

The highest temperature is in early May to early June, usually about 34 °C (93 °F), though it usually exceeds 38 °C (100 °F) for a few days most years. Average daily temperature during January is around 23 °C (73 °F), though the temperature rarely falls below 17 °C (63 °F). The average annual rainfall is about 725 mm (28.5 in) in Nanjai and 310 mm (12 in) in Punjai. These areas get most of their seasonal rainfall from the north-east monsoon winds, from late September to mid November.

Hill

The temple in Pugalur situated north west of Karur dedicated to Lord Murugan on a small hill at Velayuthanpalayam is famous for excellent sculpture from the time of King Chera. Panchayats around this hill are Punjai Pugalur town panchayat, Thirukkattuthurai village panchayat (3 km [1.9 mi]) and TNPL Pugalur town panchayat (3 km [1.9 mi]).

Every year during the first week of February Thaipusam is celebrated in this temple. During this festival devotees take Kavadi to this temple and at night a Theru (Temple Cart) with Lord Muruga in it is moved around the hill by people with the help of chains.

Arulmigu Megabaleeswarar, which is another famous 800-year-old temple, is located on the Kauvery river bank. The image of Lord Eswar faces west.

Vangal Temple, Vangal and Malaiamman Temple, Punjai Thottakurichi, Shree Kandiamman Temple and Puliyamarathan temples are also famous in Pugalur.

The great Nanaparappu Mariyamman temple is the most popular temple in the surrounding area. The Poomithi, which means walking on fire, festival, usually held in April (chithirai), is the most important festival; more than 2000 people generally participate on the eve.

Education

In recent days^[when?] because of increased awareness children go to the nearby TNPL Matric School, Pugalur (accredited with Five Star status by Bharathidasan University, Trichy) and Pugalur Boys and Girls High School for better education of course including Rangasamy Gounder Higher Secondary School.Mathi nursery and primary school have located in the TNPL factory road. ^{[citation needed]}

M. Kumarasamy College of Engineering (MKCE), Thalavapalayam, 639 113, is a landmark on the National Highway No.7, located on the Karur–Salem route. The college is affiliated to the Anna University, Chennai, and also approved by the All India Council of Technical Education, New Delhi. It is the major engineering college close to this village.

Kandaswami Kandar's College, Paramathi Velur is the Arts & Science college nearest to Pugalur. But this college comes under Nammakkal district.

Occupation

The main occupation of people is agriculture. The main crops grown are sugarcane, paddy, plantain, yuca or manioc (Maravalli kizhangu), groundnuts, maize, millet and corn. In recent years coconut trees have become more popular. Many people are also working in TNPL Company & EID Parry. Some go to Karur to work in the textile industry. There is a Farmers Market (ulavar santhai) in Velayuthampalayam where farmers sell their agricultural commodities during the morning and every Thursday evening vendors in and around Velayuthampalayam sell domestic commodities in the Velayuthampalaym Market near to the municipality building.

Governance

Pugalur is governed by the Directorate of Village panchayat which has a president, vice-president, councilor and members. They are the elected representatives of the village/Town. Elections are held once every five years.[3]

At present Panchayat is managed by an individual secretary appointed by the government as president and councillor elections have been postponed by the Government.

Banks and other facilities

There are grocery shops in all major villages/towns where pulses, fuel, and domestic commodities are on sale. Sports grounds have been established through the Rural Development Department for the village panchayat/town panchayat. In every village/town panchayat there is a Tamil Nadu co-operative Society.

Banks:

• Indian overseas bank in Nadayanur [Thirukkattuthurai Panchayat]
• Indian Overseas Bank, Kandhampalayam [Punjai Pugalur Panchayat]
• Bank Of India, Velayuthampalayam branch[Punjai Pugalur Panchayat]
• State Bank of India, Pugalur branch in Kagithapuram[TNPL Panchayat]
• Lakshmi vilas bank, Pugalur branch in Pugalur bye pass[Pugalur panchayat]
• Dhanlakshmi Bank, Pugalur branch in Pugalur[Punjai Pugalur Panchayat]

ATM's of Bank of India, Karur Vysya Bank, Axis Bank, Indian Overseas Bank (2) and Lakshmi Vilas Bank (3), Dhanlakshmi Bank, RBL Bank with ATM are located in the town.

Police and emergency

• Police station : Nearby police station is located at Velayuthampalayam.
• Fire & Rescue Service : It is located in Velayuthampalayam-Pugalur branch.
• Ambulance Service : Contact 108 / Rotary Club Of Karur

Healthcare

There is Government General Hospital[4] at the footsteps of Pugali Malai in Velayuthampalayam. There are two main private hospitals on the Karur-Velur highway which has inpatient services. There are many small clinics run by several doctors. The medical services are well supported by clustered medical stores in the junction of Velayuthampalayam. For major medical and surgical services, the public go to one of the places (Paramathy Velur, Karur, Erode, Coimbatore, and Trichy).

Nearby primary healthcare centre are in Vangal,

Entertainment and festivals

Most of the town residents have access to almost all Television channels. One has to travel to 'Karur' (21 km [13 mi]) or 'Paramathi Velur' (4 km [2.5 mi]) to watch a movie in theatre.

The temple in Pugalur is situated north west of Karur and dedicated to Lord Subramania on a small hill at Velayuthanpalayam near Cauvery is famous for superb sculpture. Sri Mariamman Temple is one of the famous temples of Karur District, which is situated in the heart of the city. The temple festivals are celebrated periodically during the month of May by all age groups, irrespective of caste and creed, taking the `Kumbum` from the temple to the Amaravathi River is a glorious act for the pilgrim.

Transport

The town has very good transport facilities in the form of Private and Government run buses. All the buses from Karur to Salem highway(NH-44) have a stop here. Almost 250 buses ply through this town daily.

The nearest airports are in Trichy (90 km [56 mi]), Coimbatore (112 km [70 mi]) and Madurai (156 km [97 mi]). Major Airport are located at Coimbatore and Trichy. The nearest major sea port is at Cochin (259 km), Thoothukudi (365 km [227 mi]) and Chennai (353 km [219 mi]).

Pugalur Railway Station

The town Pugalur (Code: PGR) has a railway station which is well connected to Erode, Coimbatore, Trichy, Chennai, Madurai, Tuticorin, Palakad, Thrisur, Ernakulum, Bangalore, Nagercoil, Salem and Mysore. Both passenger trains and express trains pass through this station.

Communication

BSNL, Aircel, Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, Tata DoCoMo are the communication providers to this town. The well penetrated landline connections are provided by BSNL again. Internet access is also very good (Mostly dial-up connection). Now BSNL has provided very good broadband internet connection. Velayuthampalayam Branch post office is available for the residents. . Others are Nadayanur Sub post office and other Sub post office at TNPL Kagithapuram. Nearby Head post office is in Paramathy Velur (Nammakkal District).

Industries

Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd is promoted by the Government of Tamil Nadu with loan assistance from the World Bank. Today TNPL is the largest producer of bagasse (sugarcane waste from Sugar mills) based paper in the world and the second largest paper producer in Asia. TNPL produces 4,00,000 tons of printing and writing paper and consumes one million tons of bagasse every year. It is located 2.5 km (1.6 mi) away from this village.

EID Parry India (Pvt) Ltd has a sugar factory in Pugalur, about 0.4 km (0.25 mi) away from this village. It has a capacity of 4000 TCD per year. It also has a 22 MW co-generation power plant, with TNPL.

References

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