This article is about the municipality in Tamil Nadu, India. For other uses, see Ariyalur district

The history followed was a power struggle between Hyder Ali and later Tipu Sultan with the British. After the death of Tipu Sultan the English took the civil and military Administration of the Carnatic in 1801. Thus Tiruchirappalli came into the hands of the English and the District was formed in 1801. In 1995 Tiruchirappalli was trifurcated and the Perambalur and Karur districts were formed. Perambalur district was divided into Perambalur and Ariyalur district in the year 2001 and merged with Perambalur in the year 2002. Then now the district is bifurcated from Perambalur and now functioning from 23.11.2007.

Geography

Ariyalur is a municipality and headquarters of Ariyalur District in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is rich in limestone resources.

Economy

Big industrial houses like Birlas (UltraTech Cement), India cements, Dalmia cements, Madras cements have their cement units here. Tamil Nadu government's TANCEM factory is in Ariyalur and is the first factory to establish the cement production in ariyalur.

Sugar cane is grown as a major commercial crop. One private sugar factory near keelapalur is functioning in the district with a capacity of crushing 3000 Tonnes per day. One of the main crop in Ariyalur district is cashew. The pre-dominate soil in the district is red sanding with scattered packers of black soil. This town consists mainly of glade soil. The soil in the district is best suited for raising dry crops. Rice also grown in some places.

The municipality of Ariyalur was established as a second grade town panchayat from 1943 during British rule. It was promoted to a first grade town panchyat in 1995, to a second grade in 1966 and a special grade in October 2004. During December 2004, it was promoted to a third grade municipality.^[6] As of 2008, the municipality covered an area of 7.62 km² (2.94 sq mi) and had a total of 18 members. The functions of the municipality is devolved into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning and the Computer Wing. All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the supreme executive head.^[7] The legislative powers are vested in a body of 18 members, one each from the 18 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a Deputy Chairperson.^[8] The municipality had an estimated income of ₹75,917,000 and an estimated expenditure of ₹63,703,000 for the year 2012–13.^[9]

Ariyalur comes under the Ariyalur State Assembly Constituency and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years.^[10][11] From the 1977 elections, the assembly seat was won by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) three times during the 1977, 1980 and 1989 elections, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) two times during the 2001 and 2011 elections, Indian National Congress once during 2006 and Tamil Maanila Congress once during the 1996 elections.^[12] The current Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the constituency is Durai. Manivel from the AIADMK Party.^[4] Ariyalur is a part of the Chidambaram Lok Sabha constituency and elects a member to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, once every five years.^[5][11] The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is M. Chandrakasi from the ADMK party.^[5]

Demographics

According to 2011 census, Ariyalur had a population of 28,902 with a sex-ratio of 1,014 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929.^[15] A total of 2,977 were under the age of six, constituting 1,538 males and 1,439 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 11.26% and .03% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the town was 76.04%, compared to the national average of 72.99%.^[15] The town had a total of : 7319 households. There were a total of 10,283 workers, comprising 315 cultivators, 670 main agricultural labourers, 298 in house hold industries, 7,165 other workers, 1,835 marginal workers, 159 marginal cultivators, 175 marginal agricultural labourers, 150 marginal workers in household industries and 1,351 other marginal workers.^[14] As of 2008, there were a total of eight notified slums, with 5,907 comprising 21% of the total population residing in those.^[16] As per the religious census of 2011, Ariyalur had 90.55% Hindus, 4.61% Muslims, 3.81% Christians, 0.02% Sikhs, 0.01% Buddhists, 0.01% Jains, 0.97% following other religions and 0.01% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.^[17]

Utility services

Electricity supply to Ariyalur is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The town along with its suburbs forms the Trichy Electricity Distribution Circle.^[18] Water supply is provided by the municipality of Ariyalur from Kollidam river through three schemes with head works of two of them located at Thirumanur. In the period 2010–2011, a total of 2.3 million litres of water was supplied everyday for households in the town. There are three bore wells and 356 water fountains in the town that serve as the source of groundwater.^[19] About 11 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from Ariyalur every day by door-to-door collection out of the 15 metric tonnes generated and subsequently the source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the municipality. The coverage of solid waste management had an efficiency of 73% as of 2001.^[20] There is limited underground drainage system in the town and the major sewerage system for disposal of sullage is through septic tanks, open drains and public conveniences.^[21] The municipality maintains a total of 25.16 km (15.63 mi) of storm water drains in Ariyalur, out of which 7.93 km (4.93 mi) are open drains and 17.23 km (10.71 mi) are unpaved drains.^[22] There is a government hospital and twelve private hospitals and clinics that take care of the health care needs of the citizens.^[23] There are a total of 1,501 street lamps in Ariyalur: 361 sodium lamps, 1,139 tube lights and one high mast beam lamp.^[24] The municipality operates one daily market that has 46 shops and a weekly market that cater to the needs of the town and the rural areas around it.^[25]

Transportation

SH143 - Ariyalur- Thungapuram - Thittakudi, SH27 Ariyalur - Thanjavur and SH139 Ariyalur - Jayamkondam are the major roads via Ariyalur. The Ariyalur municipality maintains a total length of 29.17 km (18.13 mi). The town has 3.2 km (2.0 mi) concrete roads, 16.2 km (10.1 mi) BT roads, 4 km (2.5 mi) of WBM roads and 5.77 km (3.59 mi) earthern roads. A total of 452 roads is maintained by the State Highways Department.^[26] Ariyalur is served by town bus service, which provides connectivity within the town and the suburbs. There are private operated mini-bus services that cater to the local transport needs of the town. The town has a B-class bus stand located in the heart of the town.^[26] There are regular inter-city bus services to Ariyalur. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates daily services connecting various cities to Ariyalur. The State Express Transport Corporation operates long distance buses connecting the town to important cities like Chennai, Pondicherry and Bengaluru. The major inter city bus routes from the town are to cities and towns like Trichy, Chidambaram, Perambalur and Thanjavur.^[27] Ariyalur railway station is located on the line between the state capital Chennai and Trichy and is well connected by rail to major towns like Madurai and Thoothukudi.^[27] The nearest seaport is Karaikal port, located 95 km (59 mi) away, while the nearest airport is the Tiruchirappalli International Airport, located 76 km (47 mi) away from the town.^[27]

Ariyalur railway station is a major railway station on chord line connecting Chennai and Tiruchirappalli. Several daily trains such as Pallavan Express, Rockfort Express, Pearl City Express, Vaigai Express etc. connect Ariyalur with Chennai Egmore and Tiruchirappalli Junction