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Porur is a town in Thiruvallur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a vibrant suburb of Chennai. It is located at 13.03° N and 80.16° E and 52 feet (15 metres) above sea level. It is located 18 km south-west of Chennai city limits on the Guindy-Poonamalee road which eventually merges into the Chennai-Bangalore highway. For administrative purposes, Porur has been included in Tiruvallur district.

• Taluk  : Poonamallee
• District  : Thiruvallur district
• State  : Tamil Nadu
• MLA Constituency  : Villivakkam
• MP Constituency  : North Madras
• STD Code  : 044
• PIN Code  : 600116
• Neighbouring Towns : Poonamallee, Valasaravakkam, St Thomas Mount, Kundrathur, Alwarthirunagar

History

Porur is believed to have a very long history, its existence going back to Pallava times. A decisive battle is believed to have been fought here during the Pallava period and hence the name 'Porur' which in Tamil roughly translates as 'Battlefield'.Besides,there is an ancient Shiva temple which is claimed to have been in existence for centuries.

The antiquity of this township is further vouched for by the presence of a nearby township by name Mugalivakkam which may be an indicator of the inclusion of this region within the Mughal viceroyalty of Poonamallee during the 17th and 18th centuries AD.

The history of Porur as a suburb of Chennai however dates from the post-independence era. During British rule, Madras ended with Guindy Cantonment. The modern residential localities of Porur date from the 1970s onwards.

Some important localities of old Porur are Sakthi Nagar, Karambakkam, Sheikmaniam and Chinna Porur,R.E Nagar, Porur Gardens, Lakshmi nagar, Ambal nagar and Mangala nagar,Ramakrishna nagar, Renganathan nagar.

Geography

Porur is located at 13°02′N 80°10′E / 13.03°N 80.16°E / 13.03; 80.16. It has an average elevation of 16 metres (52 feet). It is situated on the Mount Poonamalee Road at the point where Mount Poonamalee road and Arcot Road meet. It is situated 4 km west of Guindy and 9 km east of Poonamallee on the Guindy-Poonamalee road.It is 5 km from Virugambakkam on the Arcot Road. Suburbs which surround Porur are Valasaravakkam,Mugalivakkam,Iyyapanthangal, Kerugambakkam,Thandalam and Kattupakkam.

Local facilities

Hotels

Hotel Grand Residency Hotel Ashok Residency

Hospitals

• Kedar Hospital, Mugalivakkam
• Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Hospital

Places of Worship

• W.S Temple, Mt.Poonamallee High Road
• Porur Periya Palli Mosque
• Sree Yoga Vinayagar Alayam B.T.Nagar Kolapakkam
• Porur Evangelical Church www.porurchurch.org
• St.Matthew's Church (Nearby Porur Roundtana)
• Balamurugan Koil (Modern Murugar temple with a history of less than 30 years)
• St.Joseph's Church (Roman Catholic - Built in 1986 in the new location originally from 1980)
• Evangelical Church of India (ECI)
• Kamakshi Amman Koil
• Eswaran Koil (400 plus years of history)
• Nagathamman Koil
• Sethu Kshetram Temple
• Pillaiyar temple (In Sakthi nagar. Had the kumbabishekam recently)
• sri durga lakshmisaraswathi temple {madhanandhapuram)
• Ponni Amman Temple
• Sri Akilandeshwari Samedha Sri Aadhi Kubbera Jalagandeshwarar Temple

Localities

Prominent divisions of Porur include

• Mugalivakkam
• Alapakkam
• Ambal Nagar
• Chinnaporur
• Lakshmi Nagar
• R.E Nagar
• Madanandapuram
• Mangala Nagar
• Moulivakkam
• Sakthi Nagar
• Ponni Nagar
• Samayapuram
• Ramakrishna Nagar
• Ranganathan Nagar

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Porur had a population of 28,782. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Porur has an average literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 83%, and female literacy is 76%. In Porur, 9% of the population is under 6 years of age. The sex ratio was 938 females for every 1000 males. The township is administered by a Town Panchayat.

Transport

Porur is situated at the junction of three major roads :

• 1) The Arcot road which is 8-kilometre long and runs from Porur via Alwarthiru Nagar,Valasaravakkam,Virugambakkam and Vadapalani to Kodambakkam from where it extends further eastward as the Kodambakkam High Road.
• 2) Mount-Poonamalle Trunk road which is around 13 kilometre long and connects Guindy and St.Thomas Mount with Poonamallee township.
• 3) Kundrathur road which connects Porur with Kundrathur and Mangadu.

Of these,the Poonamallee trunk road extends all the way to the taluk headquarters of Poonamallee beyond which it becomes the Chennai-Bangalore Highway.The Poonamallee trunk road also connectes Porur with the Chennai-Kanyakumari National Highway at Guindy.

Its strategic location at the junction of three major roads and its position as a highway town on the Chennai-Bangalore highway indicates that Porur is well-connected with the rest of Chennai. However, this is not the case.The obscureness of Porur and the distance from the heart of the city has limited transport facilities.

However, Porur is fairly well connected with buses to Broadway, Highcourt, T. Nagar, Thiruvanmiyur, Mylapore, Vadapalani, Nungambakkam, Kundrathur, Tambaram, Mangadu and Poonamallee.

The nearest railway station is 5-kilometres away at Guindy which had, for a long time, before the arrival of new residential areas, been Porur's main means of contact with Chennai city. The nearest airport is Chennai International Airport at Meenambakkam, 8-kilometres away.

The main mode of transport and conveyance are buses and share-autos. Autos and call taxis are rarely used.

Places of Worship

• PorurPeriyaPalliMosque
• Sree Yoga Vinayagar Alayam B.T.Nagar Kolapakkam
• Porur Evangelical Church www.porurchurch.org
• St.Matthew's Church (Nearby Porur Roundtana)
• Balamurugan Koil (Modern Murugar temple with a history of less than 30 years)
• St.Joseph's Church (Roman Catholic - Built in 1986 in the new location originally from 1980)
• Evangelical Church of India (ECI)
• Kamakshi Amman Koil
• Eswaran Koil (400 plus years of history)
• Nagathamman Koil
• Sethu Kshetram Temple
• Pillaiyar temple (In Sakthi nagar. Had the kumbabishekam recently)
• sri durga lakshmisaraswathi temple {madhanandhapuram)
• Ponni Amman Temple
• Sri Akilandeshwari Samedha Sri Aadhi Kubbera Jalagandeshwarar Temple

Education

• Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute.
• PSBB Millenium CBSE School
• Pon Vidhyashram CBSE School
• OMEGA International Residential School
• Alpha College of Arts and Science.
• Little Flower Polytechnic.
• Grace Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
• Holy Angels Matriculation School.
• St Mary's Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
• Govt Higher Secondary School.
• Swamy's Matriculation School.
• St Johns Matriculation School.
• St Anne's Higher Secondary School.
• Assisi Matriculation Higher Secondary School.

Conveniences: Being mostly a residential area, there are ample shops and quite a few banks. Indian Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad, Corporation Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Syndicate Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Andhra Bank, Karnataka bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce are the banks that have their branches in Porur.

IT Hub

With three IT SEZs(Special Economic Zones) coming up in Porur it is becoming a major IT hub of Chennai next to the OMR. Two of the IT SEZs have already started operations (however only 3 out of the 11 proposed blocks at DLF IT Park are fully operational as of now). The DLF IT Park currently has prestigious companies like IBM,Logica,EDS(Mphasis),Syntel,CognigentComputer Sciences Corporation as tenants with more to follow in the future. The 3rd SEZ is expected to start operations by end of 2008. There would be a total of 1,00,000 employees working in the three IT SEZs. TCG IT park coming up at porur has been taken up by HP. It would employ around 2000 people by end of 2008.

Miscellaneous

The Control tower popularly known as Radar Station for Madras Airport Authority with a control radius of 173 KM was once operational(till 1996) in the south-east Porur which was statergically replaced elsewhere due to population outburst.

Porur Lake

Porur Twin Lake also called Retteri in local language is one of the primary water resource for people residing in Chennai. It is actually a temporary catchment area connected with Chembarambakkam Lake. There are four filters working 24x7 to pump water to K.K.Nagar double tank distribution point. Bathing, Washing and/or Swimming is currently prohibitted in this lake from 1995. A better view of the lake can be appreciated from the Chennai bypass

References

1. Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Porur
2. Template:GR

[[vi:Poru Porur is famous for its traffic as well. Its takes around 20 mins to cross porur junction during peak hours. its the long time wish for the commuters that porur junction should have an over bridge

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