Summary: Do you wish to explore some details about the body that administrates the city of Vijayawada? Read on to know more:

The Municipality of Vijayawada was established in the year 1888 on the 1st of April. During that period, it was popularly known as Bezawada. Then, the municipality gained status as a selection grade municipality in the year 1960. Again, in the year 1981, it gained status as a corporation. When it was converted into a corporation, the size was limited, but after the conversion into corporation, three village panchayats and two villages were added to the corporation, thereby expanding its size to 61.88 square kilometres.

How about political wards in the city?

The city has 59 political wards and the administration of the corporation is taken care by an elected body that is led by the Mayor. The executive head of the corporation is the commissioner, who is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the local body. There are more than 5000 people working for the corporation.

Population of the corporation:

According to the 2011 censes, total population of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is 10,39,518, which includes a male population of 5,27,307 and female population of 5,12,211. These many people live in the corporation of Vijayawada as per the census taken in the year 2011.

Governance by the municipal corporation:

When talking about the governance by the municipal corporation, the online collection of different taxes through the e-seva centres has brought great deal of advantages, not just for the corporation, but also for the people residing in this part of the Andhra Pradesh. When it comes from the perspective of the locals, they are satisfied that their government has set up e-seva, which is actually a citizen service center that involves state-of-the-art technologies. Yes, like in other parts of AP, there are many such centers in Vijayawada that makes tax paying and payment of other bills like electricity bills easier for the locals. It is helpful for the municipal corporation as they can use the collected amount easily for city administration and other related functions.

City Civic Center:

In developing countries like India, even though, internet has penetrated in the lives of people, there are still many villages and towns in which internet is not widely used. But, Vijayawada Municipal Corporation wants to eradicate computer illiteracy among the locals. As a move towards this the corporation wants to make sure that the benefits of Versatile Online Information for Citizen Empowerment, shortly called as VOICE, rightly reaches the people.
Yet another move towards this goal is that the corporation has developed a model computerized facility called as ‘City Civic Center’ with all amenities in the premises of the corporation, such that people can avail a wide range of civic services from the premises of the corporation itself. For instance, activities like issuance of birth/death certificates, water tap applications and requests for registration of building plans are carried out at this center.
Now, you know a number of details about the corporation, but do you know about the social and physical infrastructural improvement made by Vijayawada Municipal Corporation? Let us explore the details in this regard:

Physical infrastructure:
Water supply:

This corporation holds the pride of being the forerunner in the entire AP state in the supply of safe drinking water to the residents. Every day, the corporation supplies 59 MGD of safe drinking water to the residents and also there are 59 water reservoirs in the corporation area with a storage capacity of 620.5 lakh gallons. The total length of water mains supplied by the corporation is 960 kms and the total number of house service connection is 1,08,712. Not just for houses, but there are also public stand posts in 2,892 places in the corporation. The number of boosters installed is 27 and number of hand bores and power bores are 2421 and 56 respectively.
How about roads?

The corporation has widened and extended approximately 1200 kms of internal paths in the areas coming under the corporation.

UGD:

In the city of Vijayawada, UGD or Under Ground Drainage was constructed in the year 1967-68 and about 35% of the area coming under the corporation was brought under this project. But, the corporation is engaged in the task of expanding UGD at a cost of Rs.271.48 crores. Presently, nearly 32,837 UGD connections are given in the city.

Solid waste management:

Waste management is the toughest task for any corporation and VMC has done well in this arena as well. Every day, city cleaning task is done and the city is divided into 34 sanitary divisions for easy completion of the solid waste management work. The wastes are sent to different plants for recycling purpose for using them in power generation and for manuring the plants. Vijayawada holds the pride of being the only city in India to use generated waste in productive manner.

Solid infrastructure:

When it comes to social infrastructure, health and education should form part of the agenda of any corporation and VMC has rightly understood the same.

Health:

To ensure the health of the local people, there are 22 urban health centers, 12 ayuredic, 2 unani and 4 maternity hospitals functioning in this corporation.

Education:

A number of schools are functioning under the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. There are 28 high schools, 2 upper primary schools and 75 elementary schools functioning under VMC. The student-strength is 24,350, while the sanctioned teacher number is 924.

In addition to providing education to students, the corporation also supplies free mid-day meals at all 105 schools and nearly 24000 students are benefited from this facility.

Parks and open spaces:
The corporation takes care of 4 city level parks, apart from 35 unfenced and 45 fenced spaces. With the instruction of the state government, the VMC also regularly conducts tree plantation drives. In addition, 50 parks are developed and maintained by the corporation through park committees specially formed for this purpose.

Sports facilities:
The following stadiums and gymnasiums come under Vijayawada Municipal Corporation:

• 3 enclosed stadiums
• 3 Swimming pools and
• A number of gymnasiums

Lessening poverty and slum recuperation:

With an estimated poor population of 2.27 lakhs, the corporation of Vijayawada has 105 slums. Mostly, the slums are spread in the banks of the Krishna River and in its canals. With a view to alleviate poverty and to rehabilitate the slum areas, funds are reserved and are used for the same by VMC.

Awards:
The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has won the following awards and accolades for its services:

• For effective administration system, the corporation earned the first ISO 9001 certification in the entire state of AP
• In Stockholm Challenge Award, VMC was the qualifier for finals
• The information and technology ministry awarded the corporation, the CSI Nihilent runner-up award
• For the site e-governance project, the corporation has won the Best Practices Award from CRISIL
• For the year 2009, the corporation won the National Urban Award.

Summary: Do you want to learn some details about the Vijayawada Bus Station and its services? Read on to learn more:

The Vijayawada Bus Station is called as the Pandit Nehru Bus Station, shortly called as PNBS. This station is situated on the southern side of the main city and it is also located adjacent to the Krishna River. This is a State Road Transport Corporation owned Bus Station and it was opened on the 23^rd of September 1990.

What is special about this bus station?

• India’s biggest and Asia’s second largest bus terminal. Also the Busiest Bus terminal of India, followed by stations in Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad
• Many buses from different states like Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh reach this station on a daily basis.
• This station acts as the best road transport connector with each and every town and city in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
• This station is spread over an area of 28 acres of land and there are 62 platforms with two terminals.
• The Vijayawada bus station has a departure terminal with 48 platforms and also has arrival terminal with 14 platforms.
• To ensure a comfortable waiting time for the passengers, a waiting hall for passengers, who have reserved their tickets is present in this bus station.
• Even, for passengers, who have reserved for AC buses, there is an air-conditioned waiting hall.
• Even, there are food services located in the station and there is enough space for car, two-wheeler and of course for parking buses.

Not just this terminus, Vijayawada has also got another terminus for city buses as well. From this station, buses are operated within Vijayawada and even to nearby cities.

Latest mews about Vijayawada Bus Station:

Recently, on the month of May 2015, the news that enthralled the passengers using this station was that the station is provided access with 5G Wi-Fi connection. This means that the passengers can get free 5G net connection with 17 hotspots across the station. They can get free access for 30 minutes.

Association with BSNL:
According to this news, the APSRTC or Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation has entered into an agreement with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited or BSNL and Quad Gen for providing this service.

This station again holds the pride of being the first bus stand to have round-the-clock Wi-Fi Connection in the entire nation. Other than 30 minutes free access, the passengers are also provided with the chance to purchase an additional scratch card for Rs.30 for addition 300 MB of net access. Nearly 400-500 people can access the internet through this facility at the same time.

Expansion plans:
APSRTC has also recently announced their plans for expansion of the Vijayawada Bus Station. Accordingly, additionally 20 platforms are planned to be constructed. Even, plans have been announced for the Metro AC buses to get LED screens.

As the city of Vijayawada was recently announced as one of the capital cities of the state, many new developments are expected to be on the cards when it comes to the Vijayawada Bus Station.

Summary: If you wish to know the place that provides more employment opportunities for automobile field in Vijayawada and nearby cities, it is the Jawahar Autonagar.

Autonagar is the short form for the Jawaharlal Nehru Auto Nagar Industrial Estate. This is an industrial estate that is situated on the Eastern side of the city of Vijayawada. This industrial estate holds the pride of being one of the largest hubs for auto industry in the whole of Asia. It was established in the year 1966 and it is also the former united AP’s first Autonagar. This place is actually a cluster of service activities that are served with a view to help the automobile industry.

Development of Autonagar:

This place holds the pride of being the first of its kind in the entire country. Yes, it is exclusively meant for automobile servicing niche. The foundation for the estate was laid by Smt. Indira Gandhi, who was the PM of the nation during that period and the inauguration was done by Mr. Morarji Desai, who was the Prime Minister during the inaugural period.

During the period 1967 to 1975, many automobile servicing units in Vijayawada were shifted to Autonagar by the APSRTC, Police Department and municipal authorities. The reason is that the Reserve Bank of India agreed to offer credit facilities to the units functioning in Autonagar following the request made by Industries Association Discussions at Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).

In the year 1963, land for the development of Autonagar was acquired. This was done adjacent to the industrial estate that was planned earlier. By the end of the year 1964, the construction of the initial batch of sheds for auto servicing was completed. However, there was a time gap of three years after the establishment of the estate and the starting of production at the first unit in this industrial estate.

Trades in Autonagar:
The important activities performed by the industries located in the estate include:

• Clutch and break servicing
• Servicing of radiators
• Vulcanizing
• Retreading of tyres
• Automobile Body building works
• Electrical works
• Upholstery
• Blacksmith work
• Tinkering
• Carpentry
• Painting

Many engineering and mechanical workshops are functioning within this huge industrial estate that sprawls around an area of 276 acres of land.

Even though, initially, many automobile units functioning in different parts of Vijayawada were brought into the industrial unit, in the later stages, many new units were also established.

How about the land area?

As mentioned earlier, Autonagar is spread over an area of 276 acres and it was developed close to the industrial estate that was promoted earlier and had just 54 acres of land. Out of the total acres, 117 acres are reserved for common facilities and services, while 159 acres are the net usable area for servicing/manufacturing of automobiles. The common areas include banks, open spaces, common centres for facilities to employees, roads and other organizations.

There are three phases in Autonagar, where in the first and second are used by automobile servicing units, while third phase is for manufacturing units. Earlier, some portion of land was reserved for green belt, but some of them were used for construction of factory sheds due to the increasing demand among automobile industries. On a portion of land that was used as common area, electrical installations were done. Likewise, banks, postal and telephone departments were offered some areas for establishing their facilities. Automobile Technicians Association for the construction of office complex and auditorium used around 1000 square yard plot.

Maintenance:
After the construction of Autonagar, maintenance of different common services was handed over to the APIIC for many years. Then, from the year 1995, the management was taken over by the Estate Association. As against Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, APIIC functions as the local authority and the management of facilities in Autonagar are taken care by the Industrial Area Service Society (IASS), which is otherwise called as IALA or Industrial Area Local Authority.

Responsibilities of the service society:

The service society is responsible for collection of taxes from industrial units on a yearly basis. From the income generated through taxes by the society, 30% is paid to the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation. This is done as a part of social responsibility to the corporation. The remaining amount is used by the IASS for maintenance of services in the part of Vijayawada by getting the works done through contracts and from concerned government organizations.

What happened to the lands in Autonagar initially?

During the initial stages (i.e.) from the year 1967 to 1975, the plots were allotted to all the business owners, who showed their interest to setup their units in Autonagar. This was done with a view to quicken the occupation of plots and development within a short period. Initially, as the demand for plots were low, all those, who approached for acquiring a space, regardless of whether they had the idea of what trade they are going to do, were allotted the requested space. This made many entrepreneurs, who rightly judged the development of Autonagar as an industrial estate to take advantage of the situation. But, when many automobile servicing units, were forcefully shifted to autonagar, it became an area of great demand.

Furthermore, the announcement of the growth of transport industry in the coastal part of AP gave a stimulus to the demand and so the Industries Department of AP sold the lands on an outright basis. Then, in the year 1973, the development of Autonagar, came to the hands of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, which was established during that period. The zonal office of this corporation is located in Autonagar itself.

Purpose of Autonagar:
This place was actually conceived as a project of self-help for auto technicians, such that they can turn plans for the availability of other services required for service of heavy vehicles. Over the years, entrepreneurs, who purchased lands in the initial stages, let out their space on rental basis. Some plots were allotted for sales shops for sale of engine oil, spare parts and for lathe machine workshop, etc. Then, during a field study, those units functioning under rental basis were categorized separately. Then, hotels and other services to serve the employees came into the industrial area.

Now, Autonagar provides a wide range of employment opportunities, not just for people in Vijayawada, but also for those from nearby cities as well.

Summary: If you are looking for train trips to Vijayawada, regardless of the state you belong to, you can find trains reaching this station.

If you are an individual from any popular city in India like Chennai, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Jammu, Bangalore and any other city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and look for affordable and comfortable journey to Vijayawada, the best thing you can do is to take up train journey. You can choose a train that reaches from your city to the Vijayawada Railway Station.

About the station:
This railway station in the state of Andhra Pradesh is one of the important junctions of the Indian Railways. It falls under the Vijayawada Railway Division of the South Central Railway Zone.

What is special about the station?

• The station has 10 platforms and it holds the pride of being the solitary station to have 5 gates with hostages for booking tickets in the entire nation.
• It is one of the active railway stations with nearly 250 fast-moving trains and nearly 150 freight trains transit through this station.
• The station serves around 1.5 lakh passengers in a day and 50 million passengers every year
• In the year 2008, the station earned A-1 Status and the reason is the increase in the revenue, which crossed 100 crores during that financial year.
•  Not just Vijayawada Railway Station, but also Vijayawada railway division produces more income as compared to other divisions and stations that comes under the South Central Railway and more active as compared to its regional headquarter Secunderabad.

History of the station:

• The station was built in the year 1888
• In the year 1889, the Nizam’s Guaranteed State Railway built a line between Secunderabad station and Vijayawada as an extension line.
• Successively, the Vijayawada railway station turned out to be junction of three lines from varied directions.
• In the year 1899 to make the connection between many top cities in India like Hyderabad, New Delhi, Howrah, Mumbai and Chennai, the broad gauge line was built between the city of Vijayawada and Chennai.
• In the year 1969, Golconda Express was introduced between Vijayawada and Secunderabad as the fastest steam-hauled train in the country, with an average speed of 58 km/h.

From there on, the station developed into a junction and this continued until the nationalization of independent railways in India took place. Once the nationalization happened, the Indian Railways was constituted under the Ministry of Railways three years after the Indian independence. This was done by the then Indian Government. Then, the Vijayawada Railway Station as the headquarters of the division of Vijayawada was brought under the Southern Railway as it belongs to one of the Southern states in India Andhra Pradesh.

When talking about the milestones in the History of this railway station, in the year 1969, the Golconda Express was introduced between the Vijayawada and Secunderabad as the fastest steam-based train in overall India. The reason is that it had an typical speed of around 58 km/h, which was the fastest at that time.

Except the Vijayawada-Machilipatnam line, wherein Diesel engine based trains are operated, all other tracks in this railway station are electrified and they are broad gauge lines as well.

Platforms in the station:
As mentioned earlier, the station has 10 platforms in total and all of them are covered by the armour-plated cement concrete roof. Each of these platforms is designed in such a way that they can handle trains with 24 coaches and higher. Here are the details about the platforms through which trains to different cities are operated:

• 1^st Platform: Trains from Bangalore, Chennai and Howrah passes through this platform
• 2^nd and 3^rd Platform: These are used for passenger and diesel-electric multiple unit trains to Guntur and Machilipatnam
• 4^th Platform is used for mails and passenger trains up to Vizag
• 5^th Platform is for Passenger and diesel-electric multiple unit trains towards Khammam
• 6^th to 9^th platforms are meant for long trains that are operated towards New Delhi.
• From the 10^th platform and to the platform trains from and to Secunderabad are operated.

Trains originating from Vijayawada Railway Station:

• Amaravati Express to Hubli
• Vijayawada to Sai Nagar Shirdi
• Jan Shatabdi Express to Chennai Central
• Ratnachal Express to Vizag
• Satavahana Express to Secunderabad
• Pinakini Express to Chennai Central
• Vijayawada - New Delhi AC Express Train

In addition to these trains that start from Vijayawada Railway Station, many other trains also pass by this station to make the traveling convenient for people from many parts of India.