Muthupet

Muthupettai (முத்துப்பேட்டை) is a town in Thiruvarur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Muthupet is also known as Pearlpet. Muthupet comes under the Thiruthuraipoondi assembly constituency which elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly every five years. The current MLA is Adalarasan From Dmk and it is a part of the Nagapattinam (Lok Sabha constituency) which elects its member of parliament (MP) every five years. Muthupet city in town Panchayat constituted in the year of 1962. The town comes under the administrative territory of Thiruvarur District. The town extends over an area of 12.80 km².

Muthupet Pearlpet City
town
A view of the lagoon and the ocean beyond
Location in Tamil Nadu, India
Coordinates: 10.396°N 79.494°E / 10.396; 79.494
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Thiruvarur
Zone	Cauvery Delta
Region	Chola Nadu
Government
• Type	City Town
• Body	Muthupet Town Panchayat
• Chairman	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Area
• Total	12.80 km2 (4.94 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	41,722
Demonym	Muthupettaiyan
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN	614704,614738
Area code	04369
Vehicle registration	TN 50
Website	http://www.townpanchayat.in/muthupettai

Geography

Muthupet is a town in Tiruvarur District. It is located between Thiruthuraipoondi and Pattukkotai, and around 360 km away from Chennai. The town lies adjacent to the Bay of Bengal and is in the southernmost part of the Cauvery delta. Muthupet is bounded by Korayar and Bamaniyar rivers to the east and west respectively. The rivers Koriayar and Pamaniyar join near Muthupet, and there is a lagoon, which is rich in fish.

Muthupet is an idealistic place for fishing, pearl hunting, and bird hunting. It is well known for its fishing industries such as finfish (koduva), shrimp and crab. A natural mangrove forest, Alayathi Kadu, is one of the largest of its kind in India.

Muthupet is heavily affected by Cyclone Gaja on early hours on 16 November 2018. Wind speed gusting up to 140-160 kmph in Muthupet devastating hundreds of huts and thousands of trees in Muthupet itself, Many houses with sheet in the terrace are fell down during the cyclone. More than 500 electric poles and 20+ a transformers are fell down, Muthupet Got power supply only after 20 days since cyclone Gaya make landfall.

Mangroves and lagoons

Muthupet Mangrove forest is located at the southern end of the Cauvery delta, covering an area of approximately 13,500 ha of which only 4% is occupied by well-grown mangroves. The rivers Paminiyar, Koraiyar, Kilaithankiyar, Marakkakoraiyar and other tributaries of the river Cauvery flow through Muthupet and adjacent villages. At the tail end, they form a lagoon before meeting the sea.

The northern and western borders of the lagoon are occupied by muddy silt ground which is devoid of mangroves. The mangroves beyond Muthupet Lagoon are discontinuously found along the shore and extended up to Point Calimere. Muthupet mangrove forest was under the control of Chatram Department from 1853 to 1912 (Chengappa, 1918). The government of the presidency of Madras Gazette (1937) shows, from 1923 to 1936, half of the revenue obtained from selling mangrove products was paid to the revenue department and the remaining half was spent to maintain the "Chatrams" (Charity homes). The government declared the Muthupet mangrove forest as revenue forest in February 1937 and, accordingly, the mangrove forest was handed over to the forest department of the Madras presidency.

The forest is maintained by the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. The mangrove forest is divided into the Palanjur, Thamarankottai, Maravakkadu, Vadakadu, Thuraikadu and Muthupet reserve forests.

Muthupet reserve forest covers the lagoon, river creeks and the mudflats. Muthupet Lagoon (mullipallam) is a spectacular natural creation, which is 8 km from nearby Muthupet town and can be reached only by boat. The lagoon is shallow with an average depth of 1 m. The bottom of the lagoon is formed of silt clay substratum. The tidal fluctuations can be observed well with the exposure of oyster beds and roots during low tide.

The tidal fluctuations play a major role in dispersing mangrove seeds. Dense mangroves mostly cover the lagoon shore. The islets are found on the western side which are submerged during high tide. The salinity is the major environmental factor, controlling zonation of Muthupet mangrove forest. Avicennia marina is the conqueror of the forest which is found as a single dominant species.

The southern mudflat separates the lagoon from the adjacent sea that leaves a permanent mouth of lagoon with seasonally opened shallow waterways. The width of mudflat is increased from lagoon mouth to the eastern direction. The mudflat looks like a desert in summer, but the presence of dead gastropods under the surface soil layer and the erosion of soil at the centre of mudflat reveal the submergence of mudflat during flood. There is a difference between the lagoon shore and seashore of the same mudflat, in the aspect of distance of mangroves from fluctuating water level.

The mangroves have grown close to water level in the lagoon side but not in the seashore. The reason may be the difference in the nature of fine clayey silt deposition that carried by the rivers. The salt marshes are found as under herb as well as lining the inner side of the forest. In the degraded central part of the mudflat, the soft fine silt is found only around the salt marshes. The remaining barren ground is hard clay which may due to the erosion of surface silt by wind or floodwater. Thousands of partially decomposed rooted trunks found on the southeastern side of Muthupet lagoon are indicating the past, indiscriminate exploitation.

At 100–150 m in width and 5–6 km in length, the density of mangroves in the eastern side of Muthupet lagoon is comparatively lower than other areas. Tamil Nadu Forest Department has excavated several canals across the mudflat. Each main canal, which enhances the water movement between sea and lagoon, has several sub canals on either side with a substantial number of mangrove seedlings. The western side has a protruding land pocket has formed an islet-like structure. This part of the lagoon lies near Koraiyar river mouth with small mangrove patches.

Demographics

Religious census
Religion			Percent(%)
Muslim			76%
Hindu			21%
Christian			2.5%
Other			0.5%

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1901	7,503	—
1911	8,515	+13.5%
1921	9,623	+13.0%
1931	10,981	+14.1%
1941	12,709	+15.7%
1951	18,246	+43.6%
1961	24,726	+35.5%
1971	37,682	+52.4%
1981	49,484	+31.3%
1991	57,909	+17.0%
2001	68,756	+18.7%
2011	83,097	+20.9%
Source: 1901 – 2011: As of 2011 India census,

Muthupet had a population of 39,722. Males constitute 47% of the population and females 53%. Muthupet has an average literacy rate of 71%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 65%. Islam is the major religion with an estimated 76.4% of the population being Muslims within the town.

Tamil is the official language and is predominantly spoken. The most commonly used dialects is the Central Tamil dialect.

Culture

White or coloured Lungi is widely used as Male clothing instead of wearing pants. However, School/College Students wear Pants. Muslim ladies observe purdah and a significant number of women do wear niqab (An extra cloth which veils all the face but eyes).

Like any other Marakkar society, It is a close-knit society where people in general do not want to have marital relationships outside the town.

Utility services

Electricity supply to Muthupet is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). The city along with its suburbs is a part of Tiruchirappalli Electricity Distribution Circle.

Muthupet comes under the Thanjavur Telecom circle of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom and internet services provider. Apart from telecom, BSNL also provides broadband internet service.

Economy

Muthupet has two fish market one is Periya kadai theru fish market and azath nagar fish market.periya kadai their fish market is famous for Koduva meen, kalakan meen and viral meen.

Muthupet's Azath Nagar fish is the biggest fish market in Thiruvarur district. Variety of fish, Prawn, Crab are available daily from 6.00 a.m to 6.00 p.m, Muthupet fish market is famous for Koduva and viral in fish type and karuvan Raal in prawn type, From Muthupet they do fish exports to various district and state in India.

Muthupet is famous for its coconut and fishing as well as Aqua Farms. The ancient occupation of the people is fishing.

Politics

Elected Ward Members

DMK - 9

SDPI - 4

AIADMK - 3

INC - 1

BJP - 1

Infrastructure

The Muthupet Bazaar is a busy bazaar which serves not only the town, but also its suburban villages. Muthupet having two biggest fish markets in the town, which serves the surrounding regions of other districts also.

It houses a Government Hospital along with enough number of private hospitals/clinics. The Muthupet Police station serves the town as well as the surrounding villages. Government establishments like Post Office, Sub-Registrar office, Municipality Office, Village Panchayat Office, Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Customs Preventive Unit and Government Library have their base in the town.

Muthupet has four petrol bunks which sell petrol, diesel and oil to the public. Muthupet has a good mobile phone network as well. Mobile Network Operators such as BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone, MTS, TATA, TATA DOCOMO, Videocon, Jio and Reliance provide their services. In addition, wireless WI-FI connections named Med WI-FI are given by the Med Group and the town also has sufficient number of internet browsing cafes.

Tourism

The 700-year-old Islamic shrine Muthupet Dargah of Andavar Sheikh Dawood Khamil Oliyullh, was built using traditional architecture. People irrespective of caste, creed and religion visit this holy Dargah. Maximum number of visitors are from Kerala and Karnataka. Some of the international people from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia etc., are also attend the main functions.

Transport

This town is well connected via road and rail with major towns and cities in Tamil Nadu. The East Coast Road (ECR) from Chennai to Kanyakumari connects this town as well. Frequent bus services are available to the nearby town, Pattukkottai, Adirampattinam, Thiruthuraipoondi, Nagapattinam, Mannargudi and Vedaranyam. There are 11 Private omnibuses runs daily night services for passengers as well as freight to Chennai in addition with the state-owned TNSTC regular passenger services.

Muthupet Railway Station is on the Karaikkudi-Thiruvarur broadguage line. Now Thiruvarur-Karaikudi-Thiruvarur Demo rail is service in daily except sunday and Ernakulam - Velankanni - Ernakulam express also operate on the Sunday only but there is no stop in muthupet railway station , there are no direct trains from Chennai to Muthupet.

Tiruchirapalli airport is the nearest International airport and is located around 110 km from Muthupet.

This town itself had been a small seaport during British period. The old customs building near the coast stands as a landmark site in Muthupet.

By rail

City	Distance (in km)
Chennai	371
Mumbai	1655
Bangalore	444
New Delhi	2561
Pattukkottai	21
Thiruvarur	50
Adirai	15

By road

City	Distance (in km)
Pattukkottai	21
Thiruthuraipoondi	25
Mannargudi	34
Thiruvarur	60
Thanjavur	65
Nagapattinam	65
Tiruchirappalli	110
Chennai	348
Coimbatore	320
Thoothukudi	275
Madurai	165
Kilakarai	160
Adirampattinam	15
Kayalpattinam	302
Vedaranyam	40

• All are approximate distances. Please verify with reliable and authentic sources.

Auto rickshaws act as a major mode of private transportation for short-distance travels. For long travels, people prefer private run taxis.

Daily bus trips from Muthupet to Chennai

• SVT Semi Sleeper
• Universal (Semi Sleeper) (via ECR)
• TNSTC (Super Deluxe)(via Mannargudi, Kumbakonam)
• SETC (Ultra Deluxe) (Via Thiruthuraipoondi, Puducherry)
• Tippu sultan (semi-sleeper)
• apple travels
• universal semi-sleeper/sleeper non a/c

For Coimbatore

• city travels
• universal travels

Education

Muthupet has a commendable number of educational institutions for higher studies. Name of the some institutions are,

• Winners Matriculation School, Alangadu. https://winnerschool.online/
• Govt Boys Higher Secondary School, Mannai Salai
• Perianayaki Govt Girls higher secondary school Muthupet
• மதியழங்காரம் தொடக்கப் பள்ளி pettai road, near Arab shahib masjid
• Govt Middle School, Pettai
• Rahmath Girls Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Abdul Kasim Nagar http://rahmathschool.com/
• Brilliant Matriculation Higher Secondary School, (opposite Rahmath Mosque) PKT road
• A.N (SANGATH) Primary School, near big Bazzar, Pettai road
• O.M.A School, O.M.A Garden, Jambavanodai, Melakadu http://www.omaschool.in/
• Al'Maha Primary School, New Busstand
• KAP Girls Higher Secondary School, Mannai Salai
• New Street Govt Primary School, Old Busstand, opposite of police station
• Saraswathi Vidhyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Ecr-Mannai Salai