METTUPALAYAM -
INDIA.
A small Agricultural town in Southern India
situated 996 ft above MSL at the foot of the
Western Ghats, generally known as the Nilgiri
hills or the Blue Mountains. The Municipal area
is around 4 square Km and the population just
around 80,000 and is multilingual. The
temperature ranges from 96’F maximum to 64’F
minimum and the yearly rainfall is about 30
inches. The town is a major wholesale market for
the produces grown in the hills namely
vegetables and Tea. Major crops grown in and
around Mettupalayam are Areca nut, Cocanut,
Sugarcane and Banana.
On the industrial front
the surrounding areas have numerous Foundries,
Textile Spinning mills, Handloom weaving
products and cold storage units and in the
Agricultural sector the major trade is Areca nut
Curing, potato sorting, coffee curing and
fertilizer mixing. A perennial river Bhavani
flows through the town meeting the drinking
water and agricultural needs of two major towns
and numerous villages. Places of interest are ,a
Tropical fruit research station at kallar
9km, Bhavani sagar dam 35 kms(the only earthen
dam in India) Coonor hill station 35km ,
Ootacamund The Queen of Hill Stations 52
km,Kotagiri hill station 35 kms.
The town also
boasts of the first major water theme park in
Southern India “Black Thunder”. South Indian
Railways has its broad gauge ending terminus
here and starting of the century old Nilgiri
Mountain rail which has been accorded the world
heritage status recently.
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