Colachel (குளச்சல்)

Colachel is a minor Town situated on the west coast of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state. The lands end, Kanyakumari is only 40 Kms. Along the cost in the south – easterly direction, where the three major seas, viz. Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal meet. Kanyakumari has the distinction of being the most southerly situated District of Tamil Nadu, and is the land’s end of the Indian Peninsula. The Nearest town is Nagercoil, which happens to be the District Headquarters and commercial center. Colachel is historical place. Vasco-da-gama called it “Colachi” . Before the state reorganization in 1956 it was part of the erstwhile Tranvancore state. It was the southern most port in the state and a port of call for coasting steamers. Ocean going steamers also called sometimes to load monazite, (a rare earth) palmyrah fibre and other articles. Large quantities of paddy and rice were imported through this port. Today there is no existence of port. Bartolameo speaks of this place as ‘Colachey’ – a business place well known to the ancients. It was a Dutch colony, which came under Travancore after the defeat of the Dutch by King Marthandavarma in 1751 for which a victory pillar was commemorated near the beach.

Recently this town was affected by the seismic waves called “Tsunami” on 26.12.2004 and caused heavy damages to lives and properties. The natural Disaster that has struck the major area of the town taken such a heavy toll in human life. The Tsunami disaster has resulted in loss of hundreds of innocent lives. (515 lost their lives). The damage to property and infrastructure cannot be estimated. It will take months to come back to normalcy. The government, State agency and NGOs are doing their best to deal with the immediate crisis.

Transportation Linkages

The National Highway N.H.47 between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari passes within 14Kms. of Colachel. It is about 65Kms. to the south east of Thiruvananthapuram along the coast. Nagercoil the Headquarters of Kanyakumari lies 20 kms away from here in the north east direction. Frequency of bus services from Nagercoil is available to the various places of the state. The broad gauge rail link between Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari passes within 8 Kms. of Colachel, the nearest railway station being Eraniel (Monday Market). The nearest international airport is Thiruvananthapuram.

Temperature

The maximum temperature during summer is 30.c and during winter it is 15.c. The minimum temperature varies from 12.c to 15.c.

Nature of Soil

The major group soils that found in the town are red soil, clay soil and sand varieties. The clay and sand soil constituting more percentage and where as red-soil constituting only 15 percent. The southern part is fully sand. Plains of other areas are paddy field plantain cultivation and coconut groves.

REGIONAL SETTING

Colachel is situated on the west coast of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state at 8o 15’ 45” Latitude North and 77o 13’ 30” Longitude East. It is about 4 miles to the South East of Eraniel.

PHYSICAL & GEOGRAPHICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Kanyakumari district is divided in to two district regions. The eastern side is Nagercoil and Western side is Padmanabhapuram. . The foothills have rich loanly soil with good vegetation cover. Soil condition in the plains is primarily paddy, plantain, coconut. Colachel town is mostly characterized by relatively flat terrain with only a few areas in the northwest region having district elevation difference. Overall, the town area is sloped gently from north to south and almost sloping in radial direction towards centre portion of the town from east and west side.

CLIMATE AND RAINFALL

The mean maximum temperature is 32oC which is the average for the three costal towns of Thiruvananthapuram, kochi and Mangalor. Colachel also lies more are less on the same latitude and in the zone of similar weather conditions. The mean maximum temperature at Colachel can be taken as 34oC. The annual variation of the temperature is small in the individual range and varies between 10oC and 15oC. As is common with tropical regions the humidity is fairly high throughout the air reaching the maximum of 90% during monsoon season. The south west monsoon months is the predominant rainy seasons. It starts by the end of May or beginning of June and continues till September. The North East monsoon is felt to a small extern in this area. October and November are the North East monsoon month. the coolest months in a year are January and February. March, April and May are the hottest months. The average rainfall of this town is safe to assume to be 100cm.,


GEOLOGY AND SOIL CONDITIONS

The area under cultivation in Kanyakumari District is approximately two-third of the total geographic area. Agriculture occupies more than half of the working population. About 56 fisher man villages depending upon their lively hood by fishing. Productivity of agriculture is influenced by numerous factors such as Soil, climate, irrigation ,marketing and credit facilities and agricultural practices and techniques. Paddy and plantain are grown in areas where tank or well irrigation is available .

LOCATION :

Colachel is a minor town situated on the west coast of Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu state. The land’s end Kanyakumari is only 40 km along the coast south easterly direction where the three major seas viz., Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal meet. Kanyakumari has the distinction of being the most southerly situated District of Tamil Nadu and is the land’s end of the Indian Peninsula. The nearest town is Nagercoil, which happens to be the District headquarters of Kanyakumari District and the commercial centre also.