1.2 Town Profile
Eluru, previously known as Helapuri and has a rich cultural and political history. It was a
part of Buddhist Kingdom called Vengi. During the Chalukyas (700 AD – 1200 AD), Eluru
was a province. Later on Eluru remained a part of Kalinga Empire. During division of Northern cirkaras into district, Eluru made a part of Machilipatnam district. Later it was
included in the Godavari district in 1859. Subsequently, Eluru made part of Krishna district.
Finally in the year 1925, West Godavari District was formed with Eluru as its headquarters.
Eluru town is situated at 16.7 0 N latitude and 81.1 0 E longitude on the Kolkata – Chennai
National Highway (NH5). The Visakhapatnam – Chennai railway line passes through the
town. .Eluru was a selection grade municipality of Andhra Pradesh. It has been upgraded to
Municipal Corporation on 09.04.2005. The area of Eluru Municipal Corporation is 14.55
Sq.km with a population of 1,90,062 as per 2001 Census. It would be seen that during the
last decade Eluru experienced a negative population growth [4].