Bapatla Taluk, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Bapatla Taluk
Taluk of Guntur District, Madras, situated on the coast between 15 37' and 16 16' N. and 8o° 8' and 8o° 37' E., with an area of 679 square miles. The population in 1901 was 213,456, compared with 181,940 in 189 1. It contains three towns — Bapatla (population, 8,595), the head-quarters, ChIrala (16,264), and Veta- palemu (9,547) — and in villages. The demand on account of land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 9,33,000. Its physical features differ greatly in different parts. The north-west portion is black cotton soil, flooded in wet weather but terribly dried up during the hot season, when the villagers in some places have to carry water for miles to their houses. A large portion is deltaic alluvium and is irrigated, the contrast between the expanse of green rice-fields here and the barren-looking villages a few miles north-west being very striking. Parallel to the coast and for some miles inland runs a long sand ridge, which shuts in the drainage flowing towards the sea and causes an enormous swamp communicating with the sea at Chinna Ganjam.