Mahbubabad or Mahabubabad mahabübäbäð; Telugu: మహబూబాబాదు, (commonly and informally known as Manukota Telugu: మానుకోట), is the official name of a place in Warangal District of Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh State of India. The city is located on the bank of the Pakala River, which is one of the tributaries to the River Krishna. The city is the second largest and second biggest revenue division in area and population respectively, after Warangal-Hanamkonda-Kazipeta triple cities in Warangal District. It is well known for its prominent historical and traditional importances.
Demographics:
The population of Mahabubabad is around 100,000. The male population is 50,889 (50.9%) and the female population is 48,931 (49.02%). The female to male ratio is 963:1000, which is above the national average 944:1000. The total literacy rate is 72.8%, more than national average 64.8%. Male literacy rate is 76.34%, which is more than national average of 75.3%, and female literacy rate is 54.7%, which is also more than national average 53.7%. Once it was the biggest Revenue Division in Andhra Pradesh state. Later it was divided into two divisions.
The languages spoken by the people here are Telugu as the main language (100%), and then Hindi (40%), and few people can speak Urdu (7%). The educated people can speak English (45%). The Telugu and English are used in official communications and media of instructions.
The majority of the villages and the hamlets including the city are the habitats of Scheduled Tribes S.T.'s (75%). The tribal community is Lambadi. Thus the majority of people of the city will also communicate in the special tribal language, Lambadi or Banjara (60%). This language is one among the officially recognised dialects by the Government of India. This language has no script but is sustained only on the oral spoken words.
History:
Manukota comes from Mranukota. In Telugu 'Mranu' means 'tree' and 'Kota' means 'fort'. In English it will translate to a fort made of trees. In earlier days Manukota used to be covered with plenty of trees like a fort. Later it was spelled as Manukota.
Mahabubabad derived its name from one of its past rulers, Mahabub who is one of the officials, of H'ble Nizam. He once arrived Manukota before Independence and stayed outside the town in a place which is called Shikarkhana. The name of Manukota by the passage of the time, hence changed to Mahabubabad.
Present
The town's main streets are New Abad (Kotha Bazar) and Old Abad (Patha Bazar). The New Bazar is well planned and any construction here should meet the requirements as stated by the Village Secretariat, on the other hand the Old Bazar looks somewhat fusty. The drainage system of the city is not well planned which still follows yester generation systems. Because of which, the drains emanate bad smell along the streets. The civil authorities always fail to solve the problem of pigs.
The predominant activities are business and agriculture. The busiest places where people gather are Nehru Centre, Thorrur bus stand, railway station area, and court area.
Mahabubabad is one of the better-developed places in Warangal District. Though Warangal district has active Naxal movements, Mahabubabad is little prone to them. Due to which it is considered one among Plain Areas and Peace Zones.
Weather:
The city has a semi-tropical climate. Where the people from the city and its surroundings enjoy the pleasant climate. In summer, the temperatures of the city will soar to more than 45°C, and in winter temperatures range between 12°C and 27°C, which will be a pleasant weather to enjoy. The city also receives both the North-East and the South-West monsoon, from June to September, and from October to November respectively. The city mainly relies on the monsoons and rainfall. Live details of the weather are available at Mahabubabad Live Weather Report.
- Water Resources:
The city has two major water bodies/resources. One is Nizam Lake located near the A.P.S.R.T.C. bus station and the other is a dam located towards East at Jamandlapalli. The gram panchayat of the town serves the water through public distribution pumps day after a day to individual houses. The city faces acute water crisis during summers starting from April until the onset of the mansoons which are expected at mid/end of June every year. During this time every year, people of the town face severe water problems wherein the civil authorities failed many number of times to contain the crisis. In this context plenty of times, the authorities cut the water supplies for indefinite times.
The name Nizam Lake is derived as it was dug up during Nizam's rule in order to harvest the water in his regime. The lake served as one of the major water resources to the city even after a long time post independence. The lake helps for balancing the ground water table. During his tenure (1999-2004) of Mr. Ram Bhadraiah as M.L.A.; he assured the surroundings of this lake would be developed like Necklace Road in Hyderabad. On contrary, instead of development, today, the lake is being ruined with the incoming drainage and sewage. Recently it got adversly affected by the land encroachments, thanks to the culprit real estate boom which caused the lake to shrink to a very minimum. Based on the present encroachments, the lake will loose its identity very soon and would be occupied by the concrete jungle and remains of drainage and dust.
The city is located on the banks of the Pakala River which is a non perennial tributary to the River Krishna. The main catchment areas of this tributary are the forests located above at Eturunagaram and Narsampet. This canal serves as another water resource to the city. During the rainy season the canal flows at its fullest and soon it gets emptied with the offset of the rainy season. A meagre amount of water is stored every year in a small dam located across the canal at Jamandlapalli, which was constructed decades back to cater the water needs to the then amount of population. However, the present population of the city increased manifolds and the storage always falls short to serve to the increased population. In addition to that, even the stored water gets wasted due to the improper management of the dam and the amount of ever accumulated silt. There is a demand from the denizens and the civil authorities since longer time, to construct a bigger dam in place of the current small dam, of at least 2 tmcft storage capacity. This will enable to store the water during the rainy season and would serve the water needs during off seasons and summer. However, owing to the poor govt and civil authorities intiatives the demand is in pending state even today.
In view of the water crisis and to benefit from the critical situations, today a lot of Mineral Water Plants were mushroomed in and around the city, claiming to provide treated water in cans/bottles of 20 litres each. The plants acquire water through the bore pumps and wells that are located in the farm lands in the nearby villages. The uncapitalised pumping of the water further depletes the ground water table. Each can/bottle with water is sold at Rs 20, which can be affordable only by the rich. One of the sad thing here is; though the mineral water plants claim selling treated water, majority of them even do not have the mandatory ISI ceritification. The revenue authorities keep seizing such plants regularly.
Educational Institutions & Knowledge Centres:
There are many educational institutions serving education for denizens of this town right from K.G. to P.G. with full-fledged infrastructure for faculty, own buildings and transport facilities. There are more than 30 schools located here, as well as around 12 junior colleges, 5 Degree Colleges, 2 P.G. colleges, 1 Engineering College, 1 College of Education. People from not only within the city but also from the nearby villages about a radius of more than 20 km will commute daily in order to pursue their education.
Among them the most prominent institutions category wise are:
- Schools:
Fathima High School: English Medium school, from K.G. to X standard, run by Christian Missionaries, Secunderabad. A student from 1999 X batch secured state 3rd rank at the Board of Secondary Education Examination, 1999. This school owns a sprawling campus with an intake of 1000. Run two buses with two trips for shuttling pupils from their homes to school and vice-versa daily. This is located on the outskirts of the town towards Thorruur.
Twinkle Star High School: This school established in 1991. Classes run from K.G. to X standard, run by Oxford educational society. This school has a residential campus with 300 students and around 500 day school students. This school has 2 acres land. The day school campus and residential campus divided separately. This is located near old bus stand towards Kesamudram.
Maharshi Vidhyalaya: English Medium school, Residential and semi-residential, from Nursery to X standard, run by Integrated resources development society. It has a sprawling campus on the other end of the town, towards Kesamudram. It is well maintained and the total strength of the institution is around 1000. It shuttles 10 buses for carrying pupils both from within the city and also covering a distance of 15 k.m. from the city. This is the first school to introduce Smart Class program whereby teaching is done by audio-visual methods by Educom software services.
The Other English Medium schools are Gadhe Rukma Reddy Memorial (K.G. to X.), Panini Public school (K.G. to X) Holy Angels School (K.G. to 7th), Oxford School (K.G. to 7th). The other prominent Telugu medium schools are Nethaji Memorial, Aravindha School, Saraswathi Vidhya Mandhir, Pragathi Vidhyalayam (EM & TM), Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalayam, Vidya Bharathi High School etc..,
In addition, there are ample number of Government run schools. Among them the Government School for both boys and girls, located at the heart of the city with a huge and sprawling campus. Another is Kankara Board School.
- Junior Colleges:
Government Junior college for both boys and girls: This is a government run institution with a huge campus and good infrastructure. It is located right at the heart of the city. It has a large ground capable to accommodate more than 20,000 people will be used for many meetings more often. On the eve of both Independence day and Republic day all the institutions run by Government and Private education institutions will assemble here. The Honourable R.D.O. will hoist the flag and pupil will march for the ceremony.
Vikas Junior College: Established a decade ago, run by Excellent Education Society have a good faculty and ample student strength. It paved way for many students for pursuing their higher education from its well teaching and training.
Vignana Bharathi Junior College: Established two decades ago, has two 3 storey buildings. Runs buses for shuttling its students.
Samaikya Junior College: Medium of Instruction is Telugu. Located at Kanakara Board, has good faculty and ample student strength.
- Degree & P.G. Colleges:
Government Degree College: Located in the outskirts of the city, has its alumni in reputed positions now. It has good faculty and sprawling campus.
Vikas Degree College: Established recently by Excellent Education Society.
Vignana Bharathi Degree College: Run by Vignana Bharathi Junior college administration.
P.G. colleges: Vignana Bharathi Degree & P.G. College, Government P.G. college.
Mother Theressa College of Education etc., are the other prominent Educational Institutions which offers courses in Bachelor of Education degree.
- Technical Institutes:
Numerous Tile Industries are available in and around the city, particularly towards Yellandu direction. These tile industries manufacture bricks and tiles made from mud/clay and cement which are useful for both domestic and industrial needs. Owing to the fact of the availability of these tile industries, numerous technical institutes ITI's are established in the city for training the group 3 & 4 level personnel to meet the required industrial needs.
Ramapppa Engineering College affiliated to JNTUH is established here in the year 1999 to offer courses in B.Tech. degree programmes in ECE, EEE, CSE, IT, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. The college is located in the sprawling campus at Anantharam towards East.
- University (Tribal University):
Owing to the fact that the neighbour five districts viz. Khammam, Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nalgonda & Warangal including in and around the city are home to large percentage of tribal population (around 40%), recently the M.P. and the M.L.A. of Mahabubabad constituency made proposals with the state and the central governments for the establishment of a Tribal University in Mahabubabad.
The concept of the proposed Tribal University is to provide residential type quality education from elementary level to the level of university in all fields exclusively for benefitting the indigenous Scheduled Tribes of the five districts.
The reason behind choosing the city for the establishment of the proposed university is due to the following ideal reasons;
A government run District General Library called Mahabubabad Grama Panchayithi Grandhalayamu maitained by the Village Secretariat is located in the new bazar adjacent to south side of the railway station at vegetable market. This library contains various books and printed materials on entertainment, weekly magazines, literature, novels, stories, puzzles etc.., Also the library has references, guides & question banks on various competitive examinations. In additon to these all the leading Telugu and English daily news papers are available here.
The library is open to all the general public. After a mere subscription fee of Rs 5/- a person is issued a library card. This card enables the subscibed person to borrow a book for a maximum of 15 days, after which he is penalised with NP 75/day in possession. A person can be given any number of cards upon paying the subscription fees. Note: Magazines and competitive exams guides and questions banks are not issued through the library cards and can be accessed only at the library alone.
Timings of the library: Sunday to Saturday: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Closed on Fridays and Public Holidays.
Transport Facilities:
Mahabubabad is well connected with both road and rail routes to every other place of the state and the nation as well.
- Bus Route:
Mahabubabad has a bus depot of APSRTC which owns 100 buses and ply many services for catering the needs of the citizens. It falls on the main route of Warangal-Bhadrachalam. Nearly 20,000 people ply from this city daily to and fro through the bus facilities.
Busy Center & Bus Stop At Railway Station, Looking Towards Bus-Stand Road
In addition, apart from the main Bus Stand, to meet the needs of the passengers there exists at various locations, Kuravi bus stand, Thorruur bus stand, Pusalapalli bus stop, and also many seven seater autorickshaws and Commander Jeeps ply connecting the nearby villages.
- Rail Route:
Mahabubabad has one of the busiest Railway stations in the Kazipet-Vijayawada route. Nearly as many as 4000 passengers travel through this system daily. People here will prevalently prefer rail route than bus route to reach distant destinations. The Mahabubabad railway station has been graded as B1-category railway station by the South Central Railway. Train Reservation booking facility is available here, on Platform no. 1 during 8 am to 2 pm.
Famous trains which halt at this station include Charminar Express, Padmavati Express, Satavahana Express, Intercity Express, Simhapuri Express, Golconda Express, Navjivan Express, Dakshin Express, etc. It is located 61 km (towards west) from Warangal, and 47 km (towards east) from Khammam.
Details of the trains at Mahabubabad Railway Station, are available at Trains Particulars At Mahbubabad Railway Station.
- Air Connectivity:
The nearest airport is Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, 200 km, and the nearest aerodromes are at Warangal 60 km, (This is being under upgradation to the level of airport, by the joint participation of AAI and Govt. of A.P..) and at Gannavaram 150 km near Vijayawada.
Festivals & Places of Worship:
Every festival is celebrated here in spirit. The famous festivals are Vinayaka Chavithi, Dassera, Bathukamma, Deepawali, Sankranthi, Shivaratri, Sri Rama Navami, Ugadi and Holi. During Sree Rama Navami, the Lord's solemnisation will takes place in huge possession.
During Bathukamma, a special nine days festival only celebrated by the Telangana people in Andhra Pradesh before the Vijaya Dasami, women adore Goddess Bhadrakali while preparing special Bathukammas from flowers and fruits to merge them into the Nizam Cheruvu (Nizam Lake). A Telangana Thalli statue is located near Nizam Cheruvu, which is also adored and offered prayers on this occasion. On the Vijaya Dasami day people from all over the city gather at northeast corner of the city to have a glimpse at Pala Pitta (Indian Roller bird) which is believed by the people that watching this bird on this day will bring good fortunes for the entire year. At the same occasion which is organised by the Arya Vysya Community the Goddess Kanaka Durga is adored in special dress, and special prayers are offered, which will be made successful by large gathering of the denizens. The Shami Leaves are distributed, which are believed to bring good to those who possess them.
Sri Veerabhadra Swami Temple [1], is located 10 km away from here at Kuravi towards south. This famous Shivite temple was established by the rulers of the Kakatiya dynasty.
A temple for Lord Venkateshwara Swamy was recently reconstructed at Anantharam which is 2 km away from the Railway Station towards East.
In addition, there are numerous other temples viz. Lord Shiva temple, Venugopala Swamy Temple, Sri Venkateshwara Swami Temple, Sri Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple are located at numerous locations criss cross the city.
Gandhi Park located adjacent to Railway station towards west, is the place where large meetings/gatherings are held. The festival Sri Rama Navami is celebrated here with full adorance and glory.
- Spiritual Centres:
Brahma Kumaris, Arya Samaj and few voluntary organisations established here for serving Spiritual education and knowledge, which try to build spiritual strength among the denizens.
Administration:
Mahabubabad has one seat for state Assembly constituency. Mrs. Kavitha Maloth Indian National Congress (INC) was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly in the 2009 general elecitons. It has a village secretariat headed by Sarpanch. The R.D.O. and M.R.O. will look after the revenue administration. The Mahabubabad though has Major Gram panchayath status, but it has to be upgraded to municipality long back. Earlier Hanamkonda and Warangal were two Lok Sabha Constituencies located in the same area but recently the Election Commission of India based on the Population sensus has shifted Warangal Lok Sabha Constituency to Mahabubabad. Mr. P Balram Indian National Congress (INC) was elected as Member of Parliament from here in 2009.
Judiciary:
Mahabubabad has a Court Complex right at the heart of the city, which include the following five different courts:
VI Additional Dist and Sessions Court (III FTC)
Senior Civil Judge Court
Principal Junior Civil Judge Court
Judicial First Class Magistrate Court
Special Judicial Magistrate of Second Class
Recently, in October 2007, a model sub-jail has been constructed at a cost of Rs 2 crore (20 million). The DGP of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Basith, inaugurated the sub-jail and police quarters constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 45 lakh (4.5 million) by the AP Police Housing Corporation. The residential complex has 12 quarters for police constables. The sub-jail is located in the North-West corner of the city, with a prisoner strength of more than 150.
Mahabubabad has two police stations namely Mahabubabad town & Mahabubabad Rural. It has the offices of D.S.P., Circle Inspector of Police and one Fire station.
Media
Mahabubabad, has both print media and entertainment media to cater to the needs of the denizens.
- Print Media:
Various leading news papers viz. Sakshi ,Eenadu,Vaartha,Andhra Jyothi,Prajasakti, Andhra Bhoomi,The Hindu,Deccan Chronicle, are available. Sirachukka is the local tabloid printed here and circulated weekly. And the leading Telugu news papers has their regional centres here for updating the news. Various weekly and bi-weekly magazines viz. Swathi, CSR, CSC etc., are also available.
- Entertainment:
Mahabubabad has 5 theatres, which play daily shows. They are:
Surya Theatre A/C DTS
Lakshmi Theatre, A/C DTS
Mukund Theatre A/C DTS
Venkatrama Theatre A/C DTS
Sreenivasa Theatre A/C DTS
The "Siti Cable" and "Incable" are the two dish connection network providers who provide dish connections to the television sets in and around the city. These two providers are very competitive and frequently try to increase the monthly rent due to which they often enter into feud. Because of this, they are failing in the basic work in providing qualitative network. By the arrival of DTH services in India and also presence of private players in the field, various TV-broadcastings are being serviced by the DTH facilities in addition to the existing Cable TV operators.
- Telephone & Internet Facilities:
Owing to the developments in the Telecom Sector, in India, various telephone and internet service providers viz. BSNL and various other private players RIL, Idea, Airtel provide telephone and internet services to the domestic customers. Also, to provide services to the seasonal customers, various Telephone Booths and internet cafes were mushroomed. The Telephone Exchange (STD Code: 08719), located here is the biggest and busiest one in the nearby proximity places.
- Postal Services:
The post office (PIN: 506101) of Mahabubabad has a stature of Head Post Office. It is regarded as the biggest post office next to the Warangal District Post Office in the district. In order to meet the demand and to cater better services, there exists another sub-post office located in new bazaar. Various private postal agencies or courier services viz. DTDC, Sanchar Courier, Professional Courier etc., has their centres in the nook and corner of the city for facilitating postal services round the clock, as against regular Govt. Post Office timings.
Business & Activities:
The main occupation of the denizens is business and the people nearby villages is Agriculture. The other major activities include service sectors like Educational Institutes, Hospitals and govt. offices.
- Markets:
1) Grain Market: The people from the nearby villages come here to sell their produce at the grain market. The grain market is one of the largest market in the Telangana region. This grain market is run by the state and central governments, which is officially called the Mahabubabad Grain & Agriculture Market. This market is responsible for purchasing the crops produce from the farmers during the Rabi and Kharif seasons with MSP, while storing the purchased crops in the FCI godowns which are available here near the railway station (old) and at Anantharam (new). The main crop produces here are paddy, cotton, pulses, jowar, chilli, vegetables etc.
2) Vegetable Market: There are two large vegetable marktets available;
2.1) Near Thorrur Bus Stand, New Bazar.
2.2) Infront of Govt. Girls Junior College, Bus Stand Road, Old Bazar.
3) Fish Market: A Fish Market is available adjacent to the vegetable market in Old Bazar. Here varieties of water and sea foods are available.
4) Two private run Cold Storage buildings available near By Pass Road for the storing agricultural products for longer time.
- Hospitals & Medical Facilities:
The city has good number of hospitals in order to cater the medical needs of the denizens, where there are good facilities for performing some major operations also. Many specialist doctors serve here for this purpose. The most prominent hospital is Area Hospital located at the heart of the city, which is considered as the next biggest hospital to M.G.M. hospital Warangal, in the District. Many super speciality facilities are now available in the city. Many general and dental hospitals are mushrooming by the day. The 108 service introduced by the A.P. state government recently, enables 24X7 ambulance services in the city including the surrounding villages/hamlets in case of medical emergencies. For this dedicated ambulance services are available with the Area Hospital. Also, Lion's club of Mahabubabad provides Ambulance services to the needy patients.
Numerous Medical Shops are available across the city 24X7.
- Banks:
The branch offices of various national and co-operative banks are established in the city. The prominent list of the banks include, Andhra Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Kakatiya Gramina Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad etc. ATM facilities of State Bank and Andhra Bank are available at M.R.O Office and at Andhra Bank, near Nehru Centre respectively. The chit fund companies like Shri Ram Chits, Kapil Chit Funds etc., have their branch offices located here.
- Industries:
Owing to the large scale crops sold here, there are numerous rice mills available which refines paddy into rice.
Numerous Tile Industries are available in and around the city, particularly towards Yellandu direction. These tile industries manufacture bricks and tiles made from mud/clay and cement which are useful for both domestic and industrial needs.
A few number of Small Scale Industries are established here which include Cotton Spin Mills, Ice Making etc..,
- Politics:
There are branch offices of each leading state political parties viz. TDP, INC, TRS, CPI and CPM are established here.
Notable People
Telugu Music Director Chakri born and brought up here.
Journalist Late Subhash Chander Kondapally run News Weekly Sathya from here.
Dasari Rangacharyulu a writer & freedom fighter
Dasari Venkatramaiah, a freedom fighter
K. Keshava Rao is a senior most politician.
మహబూబాబాదు
Links
Warangal District website. Come & Explore the Glorious Historic City
Demographics:
The population of Mahabubabad is around 100,000. The male population is 50,889 (50.9%) and the female population is 48,931 (49.02%). The female to male ratio is 963:1000, which is above the national average 944:1000. The total literacy rate is 72.8%, more than national average 64.8%. Male literacy rate is 76.34%, which is more than national average of 75.3%, and female literacy rate is 54.7%, which is also more than national average 53.7%. Once it was the biggest Revenue Division in Andhra Pradesh state. Later it was divided into two divisions.
The languages spoken by the people here are Telugu as the main language (100%), and then Hindi (40%), and few people can speak Urdu (7%). The educated people can speak English (45%). The Telugu and English are used in official communications and media of instructions.
The majority of the villages and the hamlets including the city are the habitats of Scheduled Tribes S.T.'s (75%). The tribal community is Lambadi. Thus the majority of people of the city will also communicate in the special tribal language, Lambadi or Banjara (60%). This language is one among the officially recognised dialects by the Government of India. This language has no script but is sustained only on the oral spoken words.
History:
Manukota comes from Mranukota. In Telugu 'Mranu' means 'tree' and 'Kota' means 'fort'. In English it will translate to a fort made of trees. In earlier days Manukota used to be covered with plenty of trees like a fort. Later it was spelled as Manukota.
Mahabubabad derived its name from one of its past rulers, Mahabub who is one of the officials, of H'ble Nizam. He once arrived Manukota before Independence and stayed outside the town in a place which is called Shikarkhana. The name of Manukota by the passage of the time, hence changed to Mahabubabad.
Present
The town's main streets are New Abad (Kotha Bazar) and Old Abad (Patha Bazar). The New Bazar is well planned and any construction here should meet the requirements as stated by the Village Secretariat, on the other hand the Old Bazar looks somewhat fusty. The drainage system of the city is not well planned which still follows yester generation systems. Because of which, the drains emanate bad smell along the streets. The civil authorities always fail to solve the problem of pigs.
The predominant activities are business and agriculture. The busiest places where people gather are Nehru Centre, Thorrur bus stand, railway station area, and court area.
Mahabubabad is one of the better-developed places in Warangal District. Though Warangal district has active Naxal movements, Mahabubabad is little prone to them. Due to which it is considered one among Plain Areas and Peace Zones.
Weather:
The city has a semi-tropical climate. Where the people from the city and its surroundings enjoy the pleasant climate. In summer, the temperatures of the city will soar to more than 45°C, and in winter temperatures range between 12°C and 27°C, which will be a pleasant weather to enjoy. The city also receives both the North-East and the South-West monsoon, from June to September, and from October to November respectively. The city mainly relies on the monsoons and rainfall. Live details of the weather are available at Mahabubabad Live Weather Report.
- Water Resources:
The city has two major water bodies/resources. One is Nizam Lake located near the A.P.S.R.T.C. bus station and the other is a dam located towards East at Jamandlapalli. The gram panchayat of the town serves the water through public distribution pumps day after a day to individual houses. The city faces acute water crisis during summers starting from April until the onset of the mansoons which are expected at mid/end of June every year. During this time every year, people of the town face severe water problems wherein the civil authorities failed many number of times to contain the crisis. In this context plenty of times, the authorities cut the water supplies for indefinite times.
The name Nizam Lake is derived as it was dug up during Nizam's rule in order to harvest the water in his regime. The lake served as one of the major water resources to the city even after a long time post independence. The lake helps for balancing the ground water table. During his tenure (1999-2004) of Mr. Ram Bhadraiah as M.L.A.; he assured the surroundings of this lake would be developed like Necklace Road in Hyderabad. On contrary, instead of development, today, the lake is being ruined with the incoming drainage and sewage. Recently it got adversly affected by the land encroachments, thanks to the culprit real estate boom which caused the lake to shrink to a very minimum. Based on the present encroachments, the lake will loose its identity very soon and would be occupied by the concrete jungle and remains of drainage and dust.
The city is located on the banks of the Pakala River which is a non perennial tributary to the River Krishna. The main catchment areas of this tributary are the forests located above at Eturunagaram and Narsampet. This canal serves as another water resource to the city. During the rainy season the canal flows at its fullest and soon it gets emptied with the offset of the rainy season. A meagre amount of water is stored every year in a small dam located across the canal at Jamandlapalli, which was constructed decades back to cater the water needs to the then amount of population. However, the present population of the city increased manifolds and the storage always falls short to serve to the increased population. In addition to that, even the stored water gets wasted due to the improper management of the dam and the amount of ever accumulated silt. There is a demand from the denizens and the civil authorities since longer time, to construct a bigger dam in place of the current small dam, of at least 2 tmcft storage capacity. This will enable to store the water during the rainy season and would serve the water needs during off seasons and summer. However, owing to the poor govt and civil authorities intiatives the demand is in pending state even today.
In view of the water crisis and to benefit from the critical situations, today a lot of Mineral Water Plants were mushroomed in and around the city, claiming to provide treated water in cans/bottles of 20 litres each. The plants acquire water through the bore pumps and wells that are located in the farm lands in the nearby villages. The uncapitalised pumping of the water further depletes the ground water table. Each can/bottle with water is sold at Rs 20, which can be affordable only by the rich. One of the sad thing here is; though the mineral water plants claim selling treated water, majority of them even do not have the mandatory ISI ceritification. The revenue authorities keep seizing such plants regularly.
Educational Institutions & Knowledge Centres:
There are many educational institutions serving education for denizens of this town right from K.G. to P.G. with full-fledged infrastructure for faculty, own buildings and transport facilities. There are more than 30 schools located here, as well as around 12 junior colleges, 5 Degree Colleges, 2 P.G. colleges, 1 Engineering College, 1 College of Education. People from not only within the city but also from the nearby villages about a radius of more than 20 km will commute daily in order to pursue their education.
Among them the most prominent institutions category wise are:
- Schools:
Fathima High School: English Medium school, from K.G. to X standard, run by Christian Missionaries, Secunderabad. A student from 1999 X batch secured state 3rd rank at the Board of Secondary Education Examination, 1999. This school owns a sprawling campus with an intake of 1000. Run two buses with two trips for shuttling pupils from their homes to school and vice-versa daily. This is located on the outskirts of the town towards Thorruur.
Twinkle Star High School: This school established in 1991. Classes run from K.G. to X standard, run by Oxford educational society. This school has a residential campus with 300 students and around 500 day school students. This school has 2 acres land. The day school campus and residential campus divided separately. This is located near old bus stand towards Kesamudram.
Maharshi Vidhyalaya: English Medium school, Residential and semi-residential, from Nursery to X standard, run by Integrated resources development society. It has a sprawling campus on the other end of the town, towards Kesamudram. It is well maintained and the total strength of the institution is around 1000. It shuttles 10 buses for carrying pupils both from within the city and also covering a distance of 15 k.m. from the city. This is the first school to introduce Smart Class program whereby teaching is done by audio-visual methods by Educom software services.
The Other English Medium schools are Gadhe Rukma Reddy Memorial (K.G. to X.), Panini Public school (K.G. to X) Holy Angels School (K.G. to 7th), Oxford School (K.G. to 7th). The other prominent Telugu medium schools are Nethaji Memorial, Aravindha School, Saraswathi Vidhya Mandhir, Pragathi Vidhyalayam (EM & TM), Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalayam, Vidya Bharathi High School etc..,
In addition, there are ample number of Government run schools. Among them the Government School for both boys and girls, located at the heart of the city with a huge and sprawling campus. Another is Kankara Board School.
- Junior Colleges:
Government Junior college for both boys and girls: This is a government run institution with a huge campus and good infrastructure. It is located right at the heart of the city. It has a large ground capable to accommodate more than 20,000 people will be used for many meetings more often. On the eve of both Independence day and Republic day all the institutions run by Government and Private education institutions will assemble here. The Honourable R.D.O. will hoist the flag and pupil will march for the ceremony.
Vikas Junior College: Established a decade ago, run by Excellent Education Society have a good faculty and ample student strength. It paved way for many students for pursuing their higher education from its well teaching and training.
Vignana Bharathi Junior College: Established two decades ago, has two 3 storey buildings. Runs buses for shuttling its students.
Samaikya Junior College: Medium of Instruction is Telugu. Located at Kanakara Board, has good faculty and ample student strength.
- Degree & P.G. Colleges:
Government Degree College: Located in the outskirts of the city, has its alumni in reputed positions now. It has good faculty and sprawling campus.
Vikas Degree College: Established recently by Excellent Education Society.
Vignana Bharathi Degree College: Run by Vignana Bharathi Junior college administration.
P.G. colleges: Vignana Bharathi Degree & P.G. College, Government P.G. college.
Mother Theressa College of Education etc., are the other prominent Educational Institutions which offers courses in Bachelor of Education degree.
- Technical Institutes:
Numerous Tile Industries are available in and around the city, particularly towards Yellandu direction. These tile industries manufacture bricks and tiles made from mud/clay and cement which are useful for both domestic and industrial needs. Owing to the fact of the availability of these tile industries, numerous technical institutes ITI's are established in the city for training the group 3 & 4 level personnel to meet the required industrial needs.
Ramapppa Engineering College affiliated to JNTUH is established here in the year 1999 to offer courses in B.Tech. degree programmes in ECE, EEE, CSE, IT, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering. The college is located in the sprawling campus at Anantharam towards East.
- University (Tribal University):
Owing to the fact that the neighbour five districts viz. Khammam, Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nalgonda & Warangal including in and around the city are home to large percentage of tribal population (around 40%), recently the M.P. and the M.L.A. of Mahabubabad constituency made proposals with the state and the central governments for the establishment of a Tribal University in Mahabubabad.
The concept of the proposed Tribal University is to provide residential type quality education from elementary level to the level of university in all fields exclusively for benefitting the indigenous Scheduled Tribes of the five districts.
The reason behind choosing the city for the establishment of the proposed university is due to the following ideal reasons;
- Government can easily provide the required land at cheaper cost (at least 1000 acres).
- Majority of the population is Scheduled Tribes, S.T's.
- Frequent & easy rail and road connectivity to every place of the 5 subject districts.
- Its ideal and proximal geographical location becoming near to the cities & places like KhammamWarangal (60 KM), Vijayawada (170 KM), Hyderabad (200 KM), Karimnagar (150 KM), Kothagudem (70 KM), Bhadrachalam (105 KM), Yellandu (35 KM), Nalgonda (75 KM) etc..,
- In order to uplift the development in the far reach areas of the Telangana region in the state, while simultaneously creating employment oppurtunities.
- Availability of well trained faculty & labour at cheaper costs, stationery shops for books, clothes & any articles.
- Peaceful & pollution free environment etc..,
A government run District General Library called Mahabubabad Grama Panchayithi Grandhalayamu maitained by the Village Secretariat is located in the new bazar adjacent to south side of the railway station at vegetable market. This library contains various books and printed materials on entertainment, weekly magazines, literature, novels, stories, puzzles etc.., Also the library has references, guides & question banks on various competitive examinations. In additon to these all the leading Telugu and English daily news papers are available here.
The library is open to all the general public. After a mere subscription fee of Rs 5/- a person is issued a library card. This card enables the subscibed person to borrow a book for a maximum of 15 days, after which he is penalised with NP 75/day in possession. A person can be given any number of cards upon paying the subscription fees. Note: Magazines and competitive exams guides and questions banks are not issued through the library cards and can be accessed only at the library alone.
Timings of the library: Sunday to Saturday: 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Closed on Fridays and Public Holidays.
Transport Facilities:
Mahabubabad is well connected with both road and rail routes to every other place of the state and the nation as well.
- Bus Route:
Mahabubabad has a bus depot of APSRTC which owns 100 buses and ply many services for catering the needs of the citizens. It falls on the main route of Warangal-Bhadrachalam. Nearly 20,000 people ply from this city daily to and fro through the bus facilities.
Busy Center & Bus Stop At Railway Station, Looking Towards Bus-Stand Road
In addition, apart from the main Bus Stand, to meet the needs of the passengers there exists at various locations, Kuravi bus stand, Thorruur bus stand, Pusalapalli bus stop, and also many seven seater autorickshaws and Commander Jeeps ply connecting the nearby villages.
- Rail Route:
Mahabubabad has one of the busiest Railway stations in the Kazipet-Vijayawada route. Nearly as many as 4000 passengers travel through this system daily. People here will prevalently prefer rail route than bus route to reach distant destinations. The Mahabubabad railway station has been graded as B1-category railway station by the South Central Railway. Train Reservation booking facility is available here, on Platform no. 1 during 8 am to 2 pm.
Famous trains which halt at this station include Charminar Express, Padmavati Express, Satavahana Express, Intercity Express, Simhapuri Express, Golconda Express, Navjivan Express, Dakshin Express, etc. It is located 61 km (towards west) from Warangal, and 47 km (towards east) from Khammam.
Details of the trains at Mahabubabad Railway Station, are available at Trains Particulars At Mahbubabad Railway Station.
- Air Connectivity:
The nearest airport is Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad, 200 km, and the nearest aerodromes are at Warangal 60 km, (This is being under upgradation to the level of airport, by the joint participation of AAI and Govt. of A.P..) and at Gannavaram 150 km near Vijayawada.
Festivals & Places of Worship:
Every festival is celebrated here in spirit. The famous festivals are Vinayaka Chavithi, Dassera, Bathukamma, Deepawali, Sankranthi, Shivaratri, Sri Rama Navami, Ugadi and Holi. During Sree Rama Navami, the Lord's solemnisation will takes place in huge possession.
During Bathukamma, a special nine days festival only celebrated by the Telangana people in Andhra Pradesh before the Vijaya Dasami, women adore Goddess Bhadrakali while preparing special Bathukammas from flowers and fruits to merge them into the Nizam Cheruvu (Nizam Lake). A Telangana Thalli statue is located near Nizam Cheruvu, which is also adored and offered prayers on this occasion. On the Vijaya Dasami day people from all over the city gather at northeast corner of the city to have a glimpse at Pala Pitta (Indian Roller bird) which is believed by the people that watching this bird on this day will bring good fortunes for the entire year. At the same occasion which is organised by the Arya Vysya Community the Goddess Kanaka Durga is adored in special dress, and special prayers are offered, which will be made successful by large gathering of the denizens. The Shami Leaves are distributed, which are believed to bring good to those who possess them.
Sri Veerabhadra Swami Temple [1], is located 10 km away from here at Kuravi towards south. This famous Shivite temple was established by the rulers of the Kakatiya dynasty.
A temple for Lord Venkateshwara Swamy was recently reconstructed at Anantharam which is 2 km away from the Railway Station towards East.
In addition, there are numerous other temples viz. Lord Shiva temple, Venugopala Swamy Temple, Sri Venkateshwara Swami Temple, Sri Kanyaka Parameshwari Temple are located at numerous locations criss cross the city.
Gandhi Park located adjacent to Railway station towards west, is the place where large meetings/gatherings are held. The festival Sri Rama Navami is celebrated here with full adorance and glory.
- Spiritual Centres:
Brahma Kumaris, Arya Samaj and few voluntary organisations established here for serving Spiritual education and knowledge, which try to build spiritual strength among the denizens.
Administration:
Mahabubabad has one seat for state Assembly constituency. Mrs. Kavitha Maloth Indian National Congress (INC) was elected as Member of Legislative Assembly in the 2009 general elecitons. It has a village secretariat headed by Sarpanch. The R.D.O. and M.R.O. will look after the revenue administration. The Mahabubabad though has Major Gram panchayath status, but it has to be upgraded to municipality long back. Earlier Hanamkonda and Warangal were two Lok Sabha Constituencies located in the same area but recently the Election Commission of India based on the Population sensus has shifted Warangal Lok Sabha Constituency to Mahabubabad. Mr. P Balram Indian National Congress (INC) was elected as Member of Parliament from here in 2009.
Judiciary:
Mahabubabad has a Court Complex right at the heart of the city, which include the following five different courts:
VI Additional Dist and Sessions Court (III FTC)
Senior Civil Judge Court
Principal Junior Civil Judge Court
Judicial First Class Magistrate Court
Special Judicial Magistrate of Second Class
Recently, in October 2007, a model sub-jail has been constructed at a cost of Rs 2 crore (20 million). The DGP of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Basith, inaugurated the sub-jail and police quarters constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 45 lakh (4.5 million) by the AP Police Housing Corporation. The residential complex has 12 quarters for police constables. The sub-jail is located in the North-West corner of the city, with a prisoner strength of more than 150.
Mahabubabad has two police stations namely Mahabubabad town & Mahabubabad Rural. It has the offices of D.S.P., Circle Inspector of Police and one Fire station.
Media
Mahabubabad, has both print media and entertainment media to cater to the needs of the denizens.
- Print Media:
Various leading news papers viz. Sakshi ,Eenadu,Vaartha,Andhra Jyothi,Prajasakti, Andhra Bhoomi,The Hindu,Deccan Chronicle, are available. Sirachukka is the local tabloid printed here and circulated weekly. And the leading Telugu news papers has their regional centres here for updating the news. Various weekly and bi-weekly magazines viz. Swathi, CSR, CSC etc., are also available.
- Entertainment:
Mahabubabad has 5 theatres, which play daily shows. They are:
Surya Theatre A/C DTS
Lakshmi Theatre, A/C DTS
Mukund Theatre A/C DTS
Venkatrama Theatre A/C DTS
Sreenivasa Theatre A/C DTS
The "Siti Cable" and "Incable" are the two dish connection network providers who provide dish connections to the television sets in and around the city. These two providers are very competitive and frequently try to increase the monthly rent due to which they often enter into feud. Because of this, they are failing in the basic work in providing qualitative network. By the arrival of DTH services in India and also presence of private players in the field, various TV-broadcastings are being serviced by the DTH facilities in addition to the existing Cable TV operators.
- Telephone & Internet Facilities:
Owing to the developments in the Telecom Sector, in India, various telephone and internet service providers viz. BSNL and various other private players RIL, Idea, Airtel provide telephone and internet services to the domestic customers. Also, to provide services to the seasonal customers, various Telephone Booths and internet cafes were mushroomed. The Telephone Exchange (STD Code: 08719), located here is the biggest and busiest one in the nearby proximity places.
- Postal Services:
The post office (PIN: 506101) of Mahabubabad has a stature of Head Post Office. It is regarded as the biggest post office next to the Warangal District Post Office in the district. In order to meet the demand and to cater better services, there exists another sub-post office located in new bazaar. Various private postal agencies or courier services viz. DTDC, Sanchar Courier, Professional Courier etc., has their centres in the nook and corner of the city for facilitating postal services round the clock, as against regular Govt. Post Office timings.
Business & Activities:
The main occupation of the denizens is business and the people nearby villages is Agriculture. The other major activities include service sectors like Educational Institutes, Hospitals and govt. offices.
- Markets:
1) Grain Market: The people from the nearby villages come here to sell their produce at the grain market. The grain market is one of the largest market in the Telangana region. This grain market is run by the state and central governments, which is officially called the Mahabubabad Grain & Agriculture Market. This market is responsible for purchasing the crops produce from the farmers during the Rabi and Kharif seasons with MSP, while storing the purchased crops in the FCI godowns which are available here near the railway station (old) and at Anantharam (new). The main crop produces here are paddy, cotton, pulses, jowar, chilli, vegetables etc.
2) Vegetable Market: There are two large vegetable marktets available;
2.1) Near Thorrur Bus Stand, New Bazar.
2.2) Infront of Govt. Girls Junior College, Bus Stand Road, Old Bazar.
3) Fish Market: A Fish Market is available adjacent to the vegetable market in Old Bazar. Here varieties of water and sea foods are available.
4) Two private run Cold Storage buildings available near By Pass Road for the storing agricultural products for longer time.
- Hospitals & Medical Facilities:
The city has good number of hospitals in order to cater the medical needs of the denizens, where there are good facilities for performing some major operations also. Many specialist doctors serve here for this purpose. The most prominent hospital is Area Hospital located at the heart of the city, which is considered as the next biggest hospital to M.G.M. hospital Warangal, in the District. Many super speciality facilities are now available in the city. Many general and dental hospitals are mushrooming by the day. The 108 service introduced by the A.P. state government recently, enables 24X7 ambulance services in the city including the surrounding villages/hamlets in case of medical emergencies. For this dedicated ambulance services are available with the Area Hospital. Also, Lion's club of Mahabubabad provides Ambulance services to the needy patients.
Numerous Medical Shops are available across the city 24X7.
- Banks:
The branch offices of various national and co-operative banks are established in the city. The prominent list of the banks include, Andhra Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Kakatiya Gramina Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad etc. ATM facilities of State Bank and Andhra Bank are available at M.R.O Office and at Andhra Bank, near Nehru Centre respectively. The chit fund companies like Shri Ram Chits, Kapil Chit Funds etc., have their branch offices located here.
- Industries:
Owing to the large scale crops sold here, there are numerous rice mills available which refines paddy into rice.
Numerous Tile Industries are available in and around the city, particularly towards Yellandu direction. These tile industries manufacture bricks and tiles made from mud/clay and cement which are useful for both domestic and industrial needs.
A few number of Small Scale Industries are established here which include Cotton Spin Mills, Ice Making etc..,
- Politics:
There are branch offices of each leading state political parties viz. TDP, INC, TRS, CPI and CPM are established here.
Notable People
Telugu Music Director Chakri born and brought up here.
Journalist Late Subhash Chander Kondapally run News Weekly Sathya from here.
Dasari Rangacharyulu a writer & freedom fighter
Dasari Venkatramaiah, a freedom fighter
K. Keshava Rao is a senior most politician.
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Links
Warangal District website. Come & Explore the Glorious Historic City
