Tirunelveli

Tirunelveli (pronunciation^ⓘ), also known as Nellai, and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a city in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is situated 700 km (430 mi) southwest of the state capital Chennai, and about 130 km (81 mi) from Thiruvananthapuram, capital of Kerala.

The city is located on the western side of the Tamirabarani river and its twin town Palayamkottai, is located on the eastern side. The city is believed to be of significant antiquity and has been ruled, at different times, by the Early Pandyas, Medieval Cholas, Later Cholas, Later Pandyas, Ma'bar Sultanate, Tirunelveli Sultanate, Vijayanagar Empire, Madurai Nayaks, Chanda Sahib, Carnatic kingdom, and the British. The Polygar War involving the polygars headed by Veerapandiya Kattabomman and forces of British East India Company were waged in the outskirts of the city during 1797–1801 CE. The city has a number of historical monuments, the Nellaiappar Temple being the most prominent among them.

The main occupation of Tirunelveli include service sector activities like administrative services, agricultural trading, tourism, banking, agro machinery and educational services. The city is an important educational hub of South Tamil Nadu and has important government educational institutes like the Tirunelveli Medical College, Veterinary College and research Institution, Tirunelveli Law College and Government College of Engineering that provides education to aspirants in southern districts of Tamil Nadu. Tirunelveli is administered by a municipal corporation established in 1994 as per the Municipal Corporation Act. The city covers an area of 108.65 km² (41.95 sq mi) and had a population of 411,831 in 2001. Tirunelveli is well-connected by road and rail.

Etymology

The city has been referred in the 7th century Saiva canonical work Tevaram by Tirugnanasambandar as "Thirunelveli".^[2] The inscriptions in the Nellaiappar temple indicate the Hindu god Shiva as Vrihivritesvara descended in the form of a hedge and a roof to save the paddy crop of a devotee. As per Hindu legend, the place was called "Venuvana" meaning "a forest of bamboos" due to the presence of bamboos in the temple under which the deity is believed to have appeared.^[3] The early Pandyas named the city as "Thenpandiyanadu", Cholas as "Mudikonda Cholamandalam", Nayaks as "Tirunelveli Seemai", "Tinnelvelly" by British and "Thirunelveli" after independence.^[4][5] The word Tirunelveli takes its derivation from three Tamil words Thiru, Nel and Veli meaning "sacred paddy hedge".^[6][5]

History

The history of Tirunelveli was researched by Robert Caldwell (1814–91 CE), one of the Christian missionaries who visited the area in the 19th century for promoting Christian religious beliefs and educating the people.^[7][8][9] Tirunelveli was under the rule of Pandya kings, serving as their secondary capital while Madurai remained the empire's primary capital.^[10] The existence of the Pandya dynasty in the region is traced several centuries before the Christian era by the inscriptions from Ashoka (304 BCE – 232 BCE) and mention in Mahavamsa, Brihat-Samhita and the writings of Megasthenes (350–290 CE). The province came under the rule of Cholas under Rajendra Chola I in 1064 CE and it is not clear whether he obtained the region by conquer or voluntary accession.^[11] The city remained under control of the Cholas until the early 13th century, when the second Pandyan empire was established with Madurai as its capital.^[12]

The Nellaiappar temple was the royal shrine of the Later Pandyas during the 13th and 14th centuries. The city benefited from the dams constructed with the help of royal patronage during the period. After the death of Kulasekara Pandian (1268–1308 CE), the region was occupied by the Vijayangara rulers and Marava cheiftians (palayakarars or poligars) during the 16th century. The Maravars occupied the western foothills and the Telugas and Kannadigas settled in the black soil rich eastern portions. The city served as the subsidiary capital of the Madurai Nayaks^[10] Under Viswanatha Nayak (1529–64 CE), the whole city was rebuilt around 1560 CE. Inscriptions from the Nellaiappar temple indicate generous contributions to the temple.^[13] Nayak rule ended in 1736 CE and the region was repeatedly captured several times by Chanda Sahib (1740 – 1754 CE), Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725 – 1764 CE) in the middle of 18th century.^[14][15]

In 1743 CE, Nizam-ul-mulk, the lietunent of the Deccan, displaced most of Marathas from the region and Tirunelveli came under the rule of Nawabs of Arcot. The original power laid with the hands of polygars, who were originally military chiefs of the Nayaks. The city was the chief commercial town in the period of Nawabs and Nayaks. They called the city "Nellai Cheemai", with Cheemai meaning "a developed foreign town".^[16] The poligars built forts in hills, had 30,000 strong troop and were fighting among themselves. The British government sent a mission under Major Heron and Mahfuz Khan in 1755 restored some order and restored the city to the latter. The poligars waged a war against Mahfuz Khan 7 miles outside Tirunelveli, but were defeated. The failure of Mahfuz Khan lead the East India Company to send Muhammed Yusuf for help. Khan became renter subsequently, rebelled in 1763 CE and was hanged in 1764 CE. In 1758 CE, the British troops under Colonel Fullarton reduced the stronghold of the polygars under Veerapandiya Kattabomman. In 1797 CE, the first Polygar war broke out between the British under Major Bannerman and the polygars headed by Kattabomman. Some of the polygars like the head of Ettaiyapuram helped the British, which lead to the defeat of Kattabomman, who was hanged in his own province of Panchalaguruchi. Two years later, there was another rebellion called the second polygar war. Panchalankuruchi fell after stiff resistance to the British. The whole of Carnatic fell under the British after a treaty with the Nawab of Carnatic.^[17][18][15]

After acquiring Tirunelveli from the Nawab of Arcot in 1801 CE, the British anglicised its name as "Tinnevelly" and made it the headquarters of Tinnelvelli district. The administrative and military headquarters was located in Palayamkottai (which was also anglicized as "Palankottah") from where the attack against the Paloygars were carried out. Post-independence, both towns reverted to their original names and Tirunelveli remained the district head quarters of the Tirunelveli district. The district was bifurcated during 1986 to form a separate Thoothukudi district.^[4]

Geography

Tirunelveli is located at 8°44′N 77°42′E / 8.73°N 77.7°E / 8.73; 77.7.^[19] It has an average elevation of 47 metres msl(154 ft). It is located in the southernmost tip of the Deccan plateau. Tamirabarani river roughly divides the city into the Tirunelveli quarter and the Palayamkottai area. The river along with its tributaries like Chittar is the major source of irrigation. The river receives supply from both the north east and south west monsoons.^[20] The major lakes in the city are Nainar lake and Udayarpetti lake. The area around the Tamirabarani river and Chittar have five channels namely Kodagan, Palayan, Tirunelveli, Marudur East and Marudur West channel. The Chittar feeds fifteeen other channels. The soil of the fry land is of red and sandy series.^[13] The arid, desert-like regional pattern is observed only in the Tirunelveli district and is referred as Palai in Tamil literature.^[21]

The climate of Tirunelveli is generally hot and humid. The average temperature during summer (March to June) ranges from 25 °C (77 °F) to 41 °C (106 °F) and 18 °C (64 °F) to 29 °C (84 °F) during the rest of the year. The average annual rainfall is 680 millimetres (27 in), most of which occurs during the northeast monsoon (October–December). Since the economy of the district is primarily based on agriculture, fluctuations in the monsoon rains or flooding of the Tamarabarani river has an immediate impact of livelihood in the area. The major crops grown in the region are paddy and cotton. Chilli and tobacco plantation was introduced in the late 16th century, potatoes in the early 17th century and pineapple in the 16th century.^[22] The most common tree is the Palmyrah trees which is used as raw material for the cottage industries.^[21] The other trees grown in the region are teak wood, wild jack, manjakadambu, venteak, vengai, pillaimaruthu, karimaruthu and bamboo. The major livestock of the city and the district comprises cattle, buffaloes, goats, sheeps and minor set of other animals.^[23]

Panoramic view of Tirunelveli as viewed from the Palayamkottai bank of river Thamirabarani. Sulochana Mudaliar bridge, the 12-arch link between both cities, is on the far right of this Deepavali 2009 image.

Demographics

As of the provisional population totals of 2011 census, Tirunelveli urban agglomeration had a population of 498,984, with 246,710 males and 252,274 females. The sex ratio of the city was 1023 and the child sex ratio stood at 957. Tirunelveli had an average literacy rate of 90.86% with male literacy being 94.93% and female literacy being 86.91%. A total of 42,756 of the population of the city was under 6 years of age.^[24]

As of the census of India 2001, Tirunelveli had a population of 411,831; 203,232 males and 208,599 females.^[25] The sex ratio of the city stood at 1026, which was higher than the state average of 982 in 2001. There were a total of 94,407 households. A total of 50,564 people constituting 13.77% of the total population belonged to Scheduled Castes (SC) and 1,696 people constituting 0.46% of the population belong to Scheduled tribes (ST). Tirunelveli had an average literacy rate of 86.18%: male literacy is 82.27%, and female literacy is 71.58%. A total of 12.12% of the population of the city was under 6 years of age. There were a total of 153,841 workers, comprising 1,281 cultivators, 6,143 agricultural labourers, 28,212 in house hold industries, 109,847 other workers, 8,358 marginal workers, 55 marginal cultivators, 1,209 marginal agricultural labourers, 2,209 in marginal workers in household industries and 4,885 other marginal workers.^[25]

Traditionally the city was a Hindu centre, but mass conversion was effected by missionaries in the regions of Tirunelveli, Nagercoil, Kanyakumari and Travancore. A set of villages in the commuunity of Shanars (now elevated to nadars) were converted to Christianity and the goddess temples were turned to prayer schools.^[26] The first conversion was effected in 1784 CE.^[27] In spite of stiff resistance from the landlords in the region for these conversion, the mass conversion activities continued through to the 19th century.^[26] While the upper caste converts were oriented towards spiritual needs, the lower caste conversion was motivated by access to education and equality with upper castes.^[28] The proportion of converts to Christianity effected by the missionaries in Tirunelveli is the largest than any other province in India.^[29]

The city covers an area of 108.65 km² (41.95 sq mi). The population density of the city as of 2001 was 3781 persons per km² compared to 2218 persons per km² in 1971. Hindus form the majority of the urban population, followed by Muslims and Christians. Tamil is the main language spoken in the city and the usage of English is relatively common. English is the medium of instruction in most educational institutions and offices in service segments. The Tamil dialect spoken in this region is distinct and is popular throughout Tamil Nadu.^[30]

Economy

Inscriptions from the 8th to 14th century during the rule of Pandyas, Cholas and later Tenkasi Pandyas indicate the growth of Tirunelveli as a dynamic centre of economic growth and the city developed around the Nellaiappar temple. The drier parts of the province also came to prominence during the rule of Vijayanagara kings. After 1550 and during the early parts of the modern times, migration to the city from other part of the state was very common as with the case of other modern cities. The urban regions thus became nodes of manufacturing, commerce and other productive enterprises. The city formed the strategic point connecting the eastern and western part of the peninsula and was also a trading centre. The records of sea trade and over land trade between 1700 and 1850 indicate close trading connections with Sri Lanka and Kerala.^[31] During the 1840s, cotton produced in the region was in demand to British mills.^[32] The chief export during the British times were cotton, jaggery, chillies, tobacco, palmyra fibre, salt, dried salt fish and cattle.^[33]

The main occupation of Tirunelveli include service sector activities like administrative services, agricultural trading, tourism, banking, agro machinery and educational services.^[4] As of 1991, the female work participation was the second highest in the Tirunelveli region.^[34] The service sectors like tourism have increased scope due to religious tourism. Tirunelveli has a set of beedi factories, cement factories, tobacco companies, steel products, and mills for cotton textiles, spinning and weaving. There are also many small scale industries, such as tanneries and brick kilns. The vast agricultural hinterlands, hand loom clothes and house hold industries contribute to the economic growth of the city.^[35] Food processing industries have been started during the late 90s and at the district level, it is the major industrial segment.^[36] Rice making, blue jelly metal making and jem power making industries are located on the outskirts of the city.^[37] The major agricultural produce in the region is paddy and cotton.^[38] Beedi production during 90s earned an annual revenue of 19,000 crore₹ and a foreign exchange of 806 crore₹ across the three districts of Tirunelveli, Tiruchirapalli and Vellore.^[39]

Tirunelveli is the one of major areas for wind power generation. Most of the wind power generation units of Tamil Nadu are located in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts, contributing to the state power generation capacity of 2036.9 MW as of 2005.^[40] Lot of private multi-national wind companies in the outskirts of the city.^[41] In June 2007, the Tata Group signed an MOU with the State Government for the opening of a titanium dioxide plant estimated at ₹ 2500 crore in Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts. However, the State Government put the project on hold after growing protests against the project.^[42]

Municipal administration and politics

The Tirunelveli Corporation was established in 1866 during British times.^[13] It was promoted to a municipal corporation in 1994, bringing Palayamkottai municipality, Melapalayam municipality, Thatchanallur town panchayat and eleven other village panchayats within the city limits. The municipal corporation has four zones namely Tirunelveli, Thatchanallur, Palayamkottai and Melapalayam. The corporation has 55 wards and there is an elected councillor for each of those wards.^[35][48] The functions of the corporation are devolved into six departments: general administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information Technology (IT).^[49] All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the executive head.^[49] The legislative powers are vested in a body of 55 members, one each from the 55 wards.^[50] The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a Deputy Chairperson.^[51] Tirunelveli city is the district head quarters for the Tirunelveli district.

Tirunelveli comes under the Tirunelveli assembly constituency and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years.^[52] From the 1977 elections, the assembly seat was won by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for three times during 1989, 1996 and 2006 elections and All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) for six times during 1977, 1980, 1984, 1991, 2001 and 2011 elections.^[53] The current MLA of the constituency is Nainar Nagendran, ex-minister and the one of the prominent leaders of AIADMK.^[46]

Tirunelveli is a part of the Tirunelveli (Lok Sabha constituency) – it has the following ten assembly constituencies – Tirunelveli, Vasudevanallur (SC), Sankarankoil (SC), Kalayanallur, Nanguneri, Ambasamudram, Tenkasi, Alangulam, Radhapuram and Palayamkottai.^[54] The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is Ramasubbu from the INC.^[47] From 1957, the Tirunelveli parliament seat was held by the Indian National Congress for four times during 1957–1961,^[55] 1962–67,^[56], 2004–09^[57] and 2009 elections. Swantantra party and CPI won once each during the 1967–71 elections^[58] and 1971–77 elections respectively.^[59] DMK won the seat twice during the 1980–84,^[60] and 1996–98 elections.^[61] ADMK won the seat six times during 1977–80,^[62], 1984–89 elections,^[63] 1989–91,^[64] 1991–96 elections,^[65], 1998^[66] and 1999–2004 elections.^[67]

Law and order in the city in maintained by the Tirunelveli sub division of the Tamil Nadu Police headed by a Police Commissioner.^[68] There are special units like prohibition enforcement, district crime, social justice and human rights, district crime records and special branch that operate at the district level police division headed each by a Deputy Superindent of Police.^[68]

Transport

Tirunelveli has an extensive transport network and is well-connected to other major cities by road, rail and air. The corporation maintains a total length of 763.3 km (474.3 mi). The city has 134.88 km (83.81 mi) concrete roads, 375.51 km (233.33 mi) BT roads, 94.291 km (58.590 mi) water bound macadam roads, 76.31 km (47.42 mi) earthern roads and 82.3 km (51.1 mi) highways. 22 km (14 mi) of the highways is maintained by the State Highways Department and 30 km (19 mi) of the highways by the National Highways Department.^[69] During 1844, a bridge was built by Colonel Horsley across the Tamirabarani river connecting Tirunelveli to Palayamkottai.^[70] The city is located on NH 7, 150 km (93 mi) to the south of Madurai and 91 km (57 mi) to the north of Kanyakumari. NH 7A, an extension of NH 7, connects Palayamkottai with Tuticorin Port. Tirunelveli is also connected by major highways to Kollam, Tiruchendur, Rajapalayam, Sankarankovil, Ambasamudram and Nazareth.^[30]

The main bus stand, popularly known as New Bus Stand, opened in 2003, is located in Veinthaankulam. There are regular bus services from and to the city. The other bus stands for local services within the city are the Junction Bus Stand and the Palay Bus stand.^[30] The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates daily services connecting various cities to Tirunelveli. The corporation operates a computerised reservation centre in the bus stand of the city.^[71] It also operates city buses satisfying the local transport needs of the city and the neighbouring villages. The State Express Transport Corporation operates long distance buses connecting the city to important cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Kanyakumari.^[30]

Tirunelveli railway junction is one of the oldest and popular railway stations in India. The railway line between Tirunelveli and Sengottai was opened during 1903 and the connection to Quilon, which was completed later acted as the most important trading route to Travancore province in British India.^[72] It is connected to major cities in all four directions, Madurai and Sankarankovil to the north, Nagercoil to the south, Sengottai and Kollam to the west and Tiruchendur to the east. Tirunelveli is connected directly to some of the major cities of India, with daily trains operated to Chennai, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Kanyakumari, Mumbai, Guruvayur, Howrah, Delhi, Kollam and Trivandrum. There are passenger trains connecting the city to Madurai, Tiruchendur, Tiruchirpalli and Kollam.^[73]

The city does not have an airport and the nearest airport which is the Tuticorin Airport (TCR), located at Vaagaikulam in Thoothukkudi District, 22 km (14 mi) east of Tirunelveli city, from where there are daily flights to Chennai. The nearest international airports are the Madurai Airport, located at a distance of 150 km (93 mi) and the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport(TRV) is about 130 km (81 mi) away.^[30]}

Culture

Nellaiappar Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Shiva in the form of Nellaiappar. The deity is reverred in the verses of Tevaram, the 7th century Saiva canonical work by Sambandar. The temple was largely expanded during the Nayak period of the 16th century and has several architectural pieces including musical pillars.^[74] The temple has several festivals, the prominent one being the annual festival when the temple chariot is taken around the streets of the temple. The temple is one of the "Pancha Sabhai" temples, the five royal courts of Nataraja(dancing form of Shiva)^[75] where he performed cosmic dance.^[76] The Nataraja shrine in the temple represents the element copper and there are many sculptural representations in it.^[3]

Tirunelveli is known for Halwa, a sweet made of wheat, sugar and ghee. The origins of the sweet date back to the mid 1800s from Lakshmi Vilas Stores, which is functional in modern times. The art of sweet making dispersed to other parts of Tamil Nadu like Nagercoil, Srivilliputhur and Thoothukudi.^[77] The sale of the Tirunelveli Halwa was popularized by Irutukadai Halwa, a shop opened in 1900 and sells the sweets only during twilight.^[78]

Tirunelveli has numerous cinema theatres that play predominantly play Tamil movies. Tirunelveli is among the 40 cities in India to have an FM station. The city is served on the FM by Tirunelveli Vanoli Nilayam (All India Radio), by the Government of India, Suryan FM, run by Sun Network (frequency 93.5 MHz) and Hello FM, run by the Malai Malar Group (frequency 106.4 MHz).^[79] IGNOU has planned to air its distant education lecture named Gyan Vani via FM Tirunelveli.^[80]

Many State level and National level sports events are held in Tirunelveli every year by various sponsors. The VOC ground in central Palayamkottai and the Anna Stadium in St. Thomas Road are the main hotspots for such events in the city, although some of the events are hosted in the huge playgrounds belonging to many prestigious educational institutions present in the City.^[81] Like the rest of India, the most favorite sport among the locals is Cricket. But there is also a huge numbers of Sportsmen in the city who specialize in foot ball, volley ball, swimming and hockey owing to the facilities provided by the Tirunelveli Division of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu.^[82]

The Government Exhibition is an annual event held at Exhibition Grounds attracts thousands of visitors from in and around Tirunelveli.^[83] Tirunelveli is base to some of the tourist attractions in the region like Manimuthar Dam, Papanasam Dam, Ariakulam Bird Sanctuary, Koonthakulam bird sanctuary, Manjolai and Upper Kodaiyar.^[84]

Education

During the 1790s, Tamil Christians established lot of schools in Tirunelveli.^[85] The number of converted Christians increased in the region during the 19th century and the number of schools also increased simultaneously.^[26][86] The educational system of the missionary groups included primary schools, boarding schools, seminaries, industrial schools, orphanages and colleges. The schools, in general, were imparting Christian education to the converts to utilize them as future mission agents.^[87] The first boarding school for girls was opened in 1821, but the efforts were marred by the thrust on Christian education.^[88][89] Thomas Munro (1761 – 1827 CE) of the British East India Company established a two-tiered school system of district schools teaching law and sub-district schools teaching vernacular languages in the Madras Presidency. Tirunelveli had four sub-district schools, two teaching Tamil, one each teach Telugu and Persian language.^[90]

The city in modern times has 80 schools; 29 higher secondary schools, 12 high schools, 22 middle schools and 17 primary schools. The city corporation operates 33 of these schools. The city has eight arts & science colleges and six professional colleges. The Manonmaniam Sundaranar University is named after the poet Manonmaniam Sundaranar who penned the "Tamil Thai Vazhthu", the official song of the state.^[91][92] Most of the Christian schools and colleges in the city are located in the Palayamkottai area.^[38]

Anna University of Technology Tirunelveli was established in 2007 and it offers a variety of engineering and technology courses in both undergraduate and postgraduate streams. Tirunelveli Medical College^[93], Veterinary College and Research Institution^[94] and the Government College of Engineering, Tirunelveli^[95] are professional colleges run by the government of Tamil Nadu. St.Xavier's College run by Jesuits, and St. John's College run by CSI Diocese, MDT Hindu College,Sadakathulla Appa College and Sarah Tucker College are well-known arts colleges.

The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) operates a regional unit called the Equatorial Geophysical Research Laboratory that conducts research in the fields of geomagnetism and atmospheric and space sciences.^[96] The city has a District Science Centre, a satellite unit of Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore that has Permanent exhibitions, science shows, interactive guide tours, a mini-planetarium and sky observation.^[97][98]

Tirunelveli along with the district has a high level of child labour.^[99] The fall in female attendance in the schools in the ages between 15 and 19 is almost four times less than rest of districts in Tamil Nadu.^[100]

Utility services

Electricity supply to the city is regulated and distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB).^[101] Tirunelveli is the headquarters of the Tirunelveli region of TNEB that has four divisions. The city along with its suburbs forms the Tirunelveli Electricity Distribution Circle.^[101] A Chief Distribution engineer is stationed at the regional headquarters.^[101] Water supply is provided by the Tirunelveli City Corporation from the Tamirabarani with 48 overhead tanks and 8 headworks located in various part of the city.^[102][103] In the period 2010–2011, a total of 42.6 million litres of water was supplied everyday for households in the city.^[103]

About 100 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the city every day by door-to-door collection and subsequently the source segregation and dumping is carried out by the sanitary department of the Tirunelveli Municipal corporation.^[104] The coverage of solid waste management had efficiency of 72% as of 2007.^[105] The underground drainage system was constituted in 1998 and covers 22% of the corporation area. The remaining sewerage system for disposal of sullage is through septic tanks and public conveniences.^[106][107] The corporation maintains a total of 184.8 kilometres (114.8 mi) of storm water drains, which is 27.13% of the total road length. The corporation operates 17 hospitals, dispensaries and health posts throughout the city.^[69] The eight health posts operated by the corporation provides primary health care to urbna poor through family welfare and immunisation programs.^[91] Apart from these, there are various private hospitals and clinics that take care of the health care needs of the citizens.^[108] There are a total of 16,548 street lamps comprising 5,142 sodium lamps, 88 mercury vapour lamps, 11,312 tube lights and six high mast lamps.^[91]

Tirunelveli comes under the Tirunelveli Telecom District of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom and internet services provider. Both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile services are available. Apart from telecom, BSNL also provides broadband internet service.^[109] Tirunelveli is one of the few cities in India where BSNL's Caller Line Identification (CLI) based internet service Netone is available.^[110]

The city has a Passport Seva Kendra, a public private collabration, that accepts passport applications from the Tirunelveli region for the passport office in Madurai.^[111]

Notes

References

External links

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• Tirunelveli City-Municipal Corporation