Rajahmundry (officially: Rajamahendravaram) is one of the major cities in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is located on the banks of the Godavari River, in East Godavari district of the state. The city is the mandal headquarters to both Rajahmundry (rural) and Rajahmundry (urban) mandals. It is also the divisional headquarters of Rajahmundry revenue division and one of the two municipal corporations in the district, alongside Kakinada. As of 2011 census, it is the sixth most populous city in Andhra Pradesh, with a population of 343,903 and 419,818 post merger of 21 gram panchayats, the fifth most populous urban agglomeration settlement, with a population of 478,199. Rajahmundry got back its original name, Rajamahendravaram. On 10 October 2015, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s cabinet made the official announcement after a meeting. The city is most notable for its historic agricultural, economic and cultural backgrounds. Hence, the city is also known as the Cultural Capital of Andhra Pradesh. One of the largest road cum rail bridges is on the Godavari River, connecting Kovvur and Rajahmundry.
Rajahmundry’s Kadiyam is very famous for nurseries. Moving plants and flower to somany countries everyday like singapore, malaysia etc.,
The Godavari River is the second longest river in India after the river Ganges having its source at Tryambakeshwar, Maharashtra. It starts in Maharashtra and flows east for 1,465 kilometres (910 mi) emptying into Bay of Bengal draining the Indian states Maharashtra (48.6%), Telangana( 18.8%), Andhra Pradesh (4.5%), Chhattisgarh (10.9%), Madhya Pradesh (10.0%), Odisha (5.7%) and Karnataka (1.4%) through its extensive network of tributaries. Measuring up to a staggering 3,12,812 km2, it forms one of the largest river basins in India, only the Ganges and Indus (within Indian borders) rivers have a drainage basin larger than it. In terms of length, catchment area and discharge, the Godavari river is the largest in peninsular India and had been dubbed as the ‘Dakshina Ganga’ – the South Ganges river
The river has been mentioned in Hindu scriptures since many millennia and continues to harbour and nourish rich cultural heritages. In the past few decades, the river has been abused with relentless construction of barrages and dams. The river delta, supporting 729 persons/ km2 – nearly twice the density average for the nation, has been categorised as having substantial risk to greater risk of flooding with rising sea levels.
The study found that the delta is at a greater risk as the rate of sediment aggradation (raising the level of the delta through sediment deposition) no longer exceeds relative sea-level rise. It further states that the suspended sediment load at the delta has reduced from 150·2 million tons during 1970–1979 to 57·2 million tons by 2000–2006, which translates into a three-fold decline in the past 4 decades. Impacts of this can be seen in destroyed villages like Uppada in Godavari delta, destruction of Mangrove forests and fragmentation of shoreline – possibly a fallout of dam construction.
Said to further epitomise the insensitivity towards Godavari, is the Polavaram Project which is touted to be gigantic – both in terms of size and violations. Deemed as being pointless and politically driven, the project raises questions about environmental clearance, displacement of upstream human habitations, loss of forest cover, technicalities in the dam design which are said to play down flood threats and unsafe embankments.
