Thoothukudi is located in South India, on the Gulf of Mannar, about 540 km (340 mi) south of Chennai and 125 km (78 mi) north of Kanyakumari. The hinterlands of the port of the city is connected to the districts of Madurai, Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram and Tiruchirapalli. The city mostly has a flat terrain and roughly divided into two by the Buckle channel. Being in coastal region, the soil is mostly clay sandy and the water table varies between 1 m (3.3 ft) to 4 m (13 ft) below ground level. The city has loose soil with thorny shrubs in the north and salt pans in the south. The city experiences tropical climatic conditions characterized with immensely hot summer, gentle winter and frequent rain showers. Summer extends between March and June when the climate is very humid. Tuticorin registers the maximum temperature of 39 °C (102 °F) and the minimum temperature of 32 °C (90 °F). The city receives around 444 mm (17.5 in) rainfall from the Northeast monsoon, 117.7 mm (4.63 in) during summer, 74.6 mm (2.94 in) during winter and 63.1 mm (2.48 in) during the South-west monsoon season. The coolest month is January and the hottest months are from May to June. The city has a very high humidity being in the coastal sector.
Historically, Thoothukudi is known for pearl fishing and the city being a maritime port attracts lot of visitors. The Shiva temple in the centre of the town and the Our Lady of Snow Church are the major religious attractions in the city.The Church attracts lot of visitors around the country.It is one of Catholic Pilgrimage centres in india dedicated to Virgin Mary.It was build around 16th Century. Pope John Paul II raised it to the status of Basilica through his apostolic letter Pervenute illa Dei Beatissimae Genitricis Effigies.Roche Park located on the southern corner of the city, Harbour Beach park, Nehruji Park located in the northern side of the city, Rajaji Park near the Government hospital and Pearl Beach are the primary attractions of the city.There are numerous islands located close to the city namely Hare Island,Nalla Thanni Island which attracts lot of visitors during weekends and festival seasons. The church festival celebrated yearly during August and the Shiva temple festivals like Adi Amavasai, Sasti and Chittirai chariot festivals are the major festivals of the land.
About 96 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the city every day by door-to-door collection and subsequently the source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the Thoothukudi Municipal corporation. The coverage of solid waste management had efficiency of 94% as of 2011. The underground drainage system was constituted in 1984 and covers only certain zones of the corporation area. The remaining sewerage system for disposal of sullage is through septic tanks and public conveniences. The corporation maintains a total of 69.47 kilometres (43.17 mi) of storm water drains. The corporation operates five health posts throughout the city. Apart from these, there are various private hospitals and clinics that take care of the health care needs of the citizens. There are a total of 16,302 street lamps comprising 1,568 sodium lamps, 74 mercury vapour lamps, 14,383 tube lights, 178 SV lamps and 100 energy saving lamps.
Salt pans in and around the city contribute majorly to the economy of the city. The salt pans produce 12 lakh tonnes of salt every year, contributing to 90% of the salt produced in the state and 50% needed by the chemical industries of the state. The other major industries are copper, shipping, fishing, agricultural, power and chemical industries. Sterlite Copper,one of the largest copper producers in India is located in Thoothukudi.The Thoothukudi Thermal Power Station has five 210 megawatt generators. The first generator was commissioned in July, 1979. The thermal power plants under construction include the coal-based 1000 MW NLC TNEB Power Plant. Sterlite Copper, Southern Petrochemical Industrial Corporation(SPIC), Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals, Heavy water plant, Venus Home Appliances, Maris Associates, VVD Coconut oil, Ramesh flowers and KSPS Salts are some of the small scale and large scale industries in the city.
As of the census of India 2001, Thoothukudi had a population of 215,054; 107,758 males and 108,296 females. The sex ratio of the town stood at 1005, which was higher than the state average of 982 in 2001. There were a total of 50,018 households. A total of 13,900 people constituting 7.25% of the total population belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC) and 323 people constituting 0.17% of the population belong to Scheduled tribes (ST). Thoothukudi had an average literacy rate of 90.41%: male literacy is 83.46%, and female literacy is 77%. A total of 12.69% of the population of the city was under 6 years of age. There were a total of 72,608 workers, comprising 212 cultivators, 196 agricultural labourers, 1,721 in house hold industries, 67,997 other workers, 2,482 marginal workers, 2,482 marginal cultivators, 9 marginal agricultural labourers, 227 in marginal workers in household industries and 2,180 other marginal workers.
Thoothukudi has an extensive transport network and is well-connected to other major cities by road, rail and air. The corporation maintains a total length of 428.54 km (266.28 mi). The city has 37.665 km (23.404 mi) concrete roads, 329.041 km (204.457 mi) black topped surface roads, 56.592 km (35.165 mi) water bound macadam roads and 5.242 km (3.257 mi) earthern roads. The major roads within the city are NH 7A connecting Palayamkottai, Ettayapuram road (also called Madurai road), Ramanathapuram road, Tiruchendur road and West Cotton road. A bye pass road located outside the city connects the harbour, thermal plant, SPIC industry and Madurai Road. There are two bus stands in the city; the old bus stand is located in the Palayamkottai road and the new bus stand is located in the Ettaiyapuram road. Around 700 buses are operated from these two bus stands, catering the local and inter city transport.
The Thoothukudi municipality was established in 1866 during British times. It was promoted to a municipal corporation in 2008, bringing an area of 90.663 km2 (35.005 sq mi) within the city limits. The municipal corporation has four zones namely East, West, North and South. The corporation has 60 wards and there is an elected councillor for each of those wards. The functions of the corporation are devolved into six departments: general administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information Technology (IT). All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the executive head. The legislative powers are vested in a body of 60 members, one each from the 60 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a Deputy Chairperson. Thoothukudi city is the district head quarters for the Thoothukudi district.
Thoothukudi is known as “Pearl City” due to the pearl fishing carried out in the town. It is a commercial seaport which serves the inland cities of Southern India and is one of the sea gateways of Tamil Nadu. It is also one of the major seaports in India with a history dating back to the 6th century AD. The city is believed to be of significant antiquity and has been ruled, at different times, by the Early Pandyas, Medieval Cholas, Later Cholas, Later Pandyas, Ma’bar Sultanate, Tirunelveli Sultanate, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Chanda Sahib, Carnatic kingdom, Portuguese, Dutch and the British. Thoothukudi was settled by the Portuguese, Dutch and later by the British East India Company. The city is administered by a municipal corporation covering an area of 90.663 km2 (35.005 sq mi). As of 2001, the city had a population of 320,466.
Thoothukudi railway junction is one of the oldest and popular railway stations in India. The line between Madurai and Thoothukudi was opened in 1874. Tuticorin City railway station is one of the oldest stations in India and South Indian Railway began a Madras – Tuticorin service connecting with the boat to Ceylon in 1899. The station was declared a Model Station in 2007 and several infrastructure developments are in process. There are other station within the city limit such as Tuticorin Melur, Milavittan.The survey to lay a new coastal railway line has been completed from Karaikudi to Kanyakumari via Ramanathapuram – Tuticorin (Milavittan) – Tiruchendur – Koodankulam – Kanyakumari. This project will cost a 1965.763 crores to complete. The survey has been sent to the Railway Board and is awaited for its approval
The 21 islands between Thoothukudi and Rameswaram shores in the Gulf of Mannar are notified as the first Marine Biosphere Reserve of India. About 36,000 species of flora and fauna exist in the region covered with mangroves, sandy shores, sea grass beds that are conducive for turtle nesting. The region around the Thoothukudi shores are home to rare marine flora and fauna. Coral reefs and pearl oysters are some of the exotic species while algae, reef fish, holothurians, shrimps, lobsters, crabs and Mollusca are very common. Out of 600 recorded varities of fish in the region, 72 are found to be commercially important. The thermal discharge from the thermal plants and excessive brine run off from the salt pans impact the flora and fauna in the region to a large extent.
The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates daily services connecting various cities to Thoothukudi. The corporation operates a computerised reservation centre in the bus stand of the city. The State Express Transport Corporation operates long distance buses connecting the city to important cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Kanyakumari. Thoothukudi being a harbour city has lot of container truck transport. As of 2008, the number of container trucks entering the city is 1000. The expansion of ECR from Tuticorin to Kanyakumari via Tiruchendur and Koodankulam at a cost of 257 crores sanctioned and is in progress.
The major harbour of Thoothukudi is well known as a pearl diving and fishing centre. It is one of the oldest seaports in the world and was the seaport of the Pandyan kingdom after Korkai, near Palayakayal. It was later taken over by the Portuguese in 1548, captured by the Dutch in 1658, and ceded to the British in 1825. The lighthouse built in 1842 marked the beginning of the history of harbour development in the city. Thoothukudi was established as a Municipality in 1866 with Roche Victoria as its first chairman. It attained the status of Corporation on August 5, 2008 after 142 years of being a municipality.
Industries like Southern Petrochemical Industrial Corporation(SPIC), Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals, Heavy water plant, Sterlite, Venus Home Appliances, Maris Associates, VVD Coconut oil, Ramesh flowers and KSPS Salts have their manufacturing units in Thoothukudi. Majority of the people of the city are employed in salt pans, sea-borne trading, fishing and tourism. The major attraction in the city is Our Lady of Snows Basilica, a 16th century site. There are in total 117 schools, five arts and science colleges, three polytechnics, two engineering colleges, one medical college and a fisheries college in the city.
There are 31 schools in Thoothukudi city, of which 10 are operated by the municipal corporation. There are 31 high schools and higher secondary schools, one of which is a government school. There are five arts and science colleges, three polytechnics, and a fisheries college in Thoothukudi city. There is an engineering college on the highway to Tirunelveli, and one in Sawyerpuram. There is also a government medical college. The colleges are affiliated to the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli. There are three Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and about 50 computer training centres also.
Electricity supply to the city is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). Thoothukudi is the headquarters of the Thoothukudi region of TNEB that has four divisions. The city along with its suburbs forms the Thoothukudi Electricity Distribution Circle. A Chief Distribution engineer is stationed at the regional headquarters. Water supply is provided by the Thoothukudi City Corporation from the Tamirabarani with 8 overhead tanks. In the period 2010–2011, a total of 21 million litres of water was supplied everyday for households in the city.
To cope with the increasing trade through Thoothukudi, the Government of India sanctioned the construction of an all-weather Port at Thoothukudi. On 11 July 1974, the newly-constructed Thoothukudi port was declared the tenth major port in India Second only to JN Port (Mumbai) in size. Thoothukudi is an artificial port. This is the third international port in Tamil Nadu and its second all-weather port. The port also helps to increase the tourism in the region. A new ferry has been commenced between Thoothukudi and Colombo.
The Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency was originally part of the Tirunelveli constituency and was delimited to Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi constituencies during 2009 Lok Sabha election. The constituency was formed after the 2008 delimitation with the following assembly constituencies;Tiruchendur, Srivaikuntam, Tuticorin, Ottapidaram, Kovilpatti and Vilathikulam The current Member of parliament (MP) from the constituency is S. R. Jeyadurai (2009-present) from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
Tuticorin (Thoothukudi) is also known by the name ‘Thiru mandira Nagar’. Thoothukudi is part of the Pearl Fishery Coast, and is known for its pearl fishing and shipbuilding industries. Thoothukudi was the seat of Portuguese during 16th century, and the Dutch occupied in 17th century. During 18th century the British overpowered and occupied the town. Being a port town, the town received attention from the rulers for improving their trade, and so it was brought to Municipal status in 1866.
Thoothukudi comes under the Thoothukudi Telecom District of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India’s state-owned telecom and internet services provider. Both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile services are available. Apart from telecom, BSNL also provides broadband internet service. Thoothukudi is one of the few cities in India where BSNL’s Caller Line Identification (CLI) based internet service Netone is available.
Thoothukudi comes under the Thoothukudi assembly constituency and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years. From the 1977 elections, the assembly seat was won by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for three times during 1989, 1996 and 2006 elections and All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for six times during 1977, 1980, 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2011 elections. The current MLA of the constituency is S.T. Chellapandian from AIADMK.