Punalur

Punalur is presently a Revenue division . Punalur ) is a City and Municipality situated near the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border in the Kollam district of the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is situated on the banks of the Kallada River and derives its name from the Tamil words; punal, meaning "water" and ooru, meaning "place", literally, "place of water". It is about north-east of Kollam and north of Thiruvananthapuram. It is also known as the "Hot City of Kerala".The second-largest City in Kollam and the fifth largest in south Kerala, it is home to a paper industry with the Punalur Paper Mills, established in the 1850s, one of the first industries in Kerala and a pioneer in the industrial development of the state. Punalur become an important trading and transport centre between Kollam and Sengottai under the rule of the Travancore Kingdom. Steady progress by the Punalur Panchayat administration saw an upgrade to municipality status in 1972.Punalur Suspension BridgeThe Punalur Suspension Bridge is the first motorable bridge in South India. The suspension bridge crossing the river is the only suspended-deck type in south India. Built in 1877 by Albert Henry across the Kallada River, this huge bridge was suspended by two spans and was used for vehicular movement. Construction took more than six years. It is said that after completion of the bridge people hesitated to walk over the bridge. In order to prove the strength of the bridge the engineer and his family passed under the bridge in a country boat while six elephants were walking over it. Now the bridge is of historical interest and is a major tourist attraction.