10 Years of Vellore Corporation

Vellore Corporation:

Vellore Corporation has attained its corporation status on August 1, 2008. Mr.M.K.Karunanidhi, the former chief minister (during that period) had visited the place and felicitated the function. Vellore’s first Mayor is Mr.Karthikeyan who is now the present M.L.A of Vellore Constituency (2016-2021).

Picture taken during July 31, 2008.

Vellore City Limits:

Vellore City limits are Sathuvachari, Vallalar, Dharapadavedu, Shenbakkam, Allapuram, Fort, Kaspa, Vasanthapuram, Thiyagarajapuram, Thotapallayam, Saidapet, Thorapadi, Hazrath makkan, Otteri, Velapadi, Salavanpet, Rangapuram, Bagayam, Kazhinjur, GandhiNagar, Katpadi, Palavansaathu, Virupakshipuram, Konavattam, Virunthampet, Kangeyanallur, Idaynsaathu, Sripuram, Alamelumangapuram and Chitheri.

These are the proposed initial city limits. In a consequent GO during 2011, plans of city limit extensions to 2x was proposed for implementation after local elections. Since the local elections dint happen in the year 2016, the city limits still stays the same.

Administration:

Vellore City Municipal Corporation (VCMC) has been divided into four zones. They are Vellore Fort, Sathuvachari, Katpadi, Shenbakkam. All these 4 zones altogether constitute 60 wards. A ward representative (Councillor) needs to be elected for each of these wards. Mayor and Deputy Mayor will be elected among these councillors.

Vellore City has two state assembly constituencies which are Vellore and Katpadi Constituency. The current MLAs of Vellore and Katpadi are Mr.Karthikeyan and Mr.Duraimurugan. They were elected in the 2016 State assembly elections.

Development of Vellore:

The main icon brands of Vellore are

1. Vellore Fort – which depicts the cultural heritage of the city where kings have ruled. Also it is where the Vellore Sepoy Mutiny broke out at 1806 which is the first revolt against British in India.
2. Christian Medical College and Hospital – CMCH was founded by Dr.Ida Scudder. CMCH is regarded as the second largest hospital in Asia which has best treatment facilities and has patients coming over from all over the world. Reports says that atleast 1 lakh visitors pay visit to CMCH every year.
3. Vellore Institute of Technology University – VIT University is the number one ranked private institutions in India ranked by MHRD. It houses more than 75% of students from other states and has students from more than 50 countries.
4. Vellore Sripuram Golden Temple – Vellore Sripuram Golden Temple is the only Hindu Golden temple in India where the other Golden temple is at Amristar. It houses more pilgrims visiting it from all over the world in large numbers.

These are the main icon brands of Vellore. Apart from these there are many other places that depicts Vellore on a good upfront. You can check the same under the Tourism section on our site.

Commercial Development:

Vellore City has seen a vast commercial development since it became a city corporation. It includes lot of international franchise brands that were setup at Officers Lane (Anna Salai) and Katpadi Road. Few of them includes Peter England, Ibaco, Dominos, Nike, Basics and much more. Apart from these we had 3 star brand hotels like GRT, Benzz Park and ITC Fortune.

There were more food joints and restaurants spread across the city due to the increase in the demand. Major multi storey brands like The Chennai Silks, Pachaiyappas made it to the city. Apart from these we had major jewellery shops ranging from Kalyan Jewellers, Joy Allukas and others lined up in the Officers Lane. It also saw theatres emerging into multiplex screens like other cities.

On the top of these, Vellore finally witnessed its first ever mall, Velocity mall which had been planned for a long time. It housed the major multiplex PVR Cinemas. Apart from that it has a food court and a fun house for kids. Also it witnessed a couple of commercial FM radio station at Vellore very recently which is a great addition to the city.

All these commercial developments happened in the past decade after Vellore became a city. All these have been received and supported by the local residents and have been running successfully. Vellore receives a greater amount of floating population due to CMC and VIT University.

Education Development:

Education Development in Vellore has been neutral in Vellore over the years. A lot of schools were established over the last decade that have turned out to be successful. But we still stand at the bottom of the table in the district wise ranking all over Tamil Nadu public exams. But reportedly there were lot of government schools which have improved recently. Improved in infra and introduced smart classes like private schools to attract more children.

Colleges like VIT, TPGIT, Abdul Hakeem, Muthurangam Arts and Science, Voorhees, GTech are the notable ones in Vellore. New additions to the list is Kingston Engineering College and Annai Mira College. These were established over the last decade which falls a bit away from the Corporation limits. VIT University has been ranked as the first private institution in India that was declared by MHRD which happened over the past decade. We still need a great development in terms of higher education and colleges and universities.

Entrepreneurial Development:

Entrepreneurial Development in Vellore is more of self employed small scale businesses. There have been a great increase in large scale businesses that have started operating in the Vellore Corporation since the last decade. Commercial development has paved way for entrepreneurs to establish franchises and chain businesses. Such franchises have seen bigger growth in the past decade. Such franchises have also created more employment opportunities for the locals. At one end there is a good increase in the employment for locals. But at other end, such employments are often for high school graduates.

There isn’t much or any employment opportunity available for engineering graduates or other post graduates. Most of the employment options are available for high school graduates or arts / diplomo graduates who settled down for these jobs. We have a long way to go to bring changes and establish bigger companies that can house employments for other graduates as well. In other words, startup ecosystem is missing here that’s adapted in most of the cities these days. We need more entrepreneurs enthusiasts to establish more businesses that houses other graduates. Doing that will increase the per capita income of the city.

Apart from these, there were small infrastructure developments here and there, including some infra developments in Vellore New Bus Stand and few other places. Also witnessed few apartments, gated communities and villas being established over the last decade that paved way to the apartment culture like other cities.

Vellore Smart City:

Vellore Smart City project is one of the greatest additions. Also, it is one among the 100 other cities chosen all over India. Also it is one among 4 cities from Tamil Nadu. In the recent rankings, Vellore was ranked 32nd out of 100 Smart cities for the innovation in planning and executing the projects. There are close to 100 projects covering infrastructure, medical, IT, security, waste management, smart roads, smart parks and more. But the implementation is being dragged for a long while; this is due to the absence of Corporation Commissioner and IAS officers who has the authorisation to set these projects and keep going.

The drafted projects would definitely take Vellore to a different status and develop the city in all aspects and the residents hope for the same. At the initial level, waste management compost centres were established all over the city which the city found it difficult to deal with for past 100 years.

Upcoming Top Projects in Vellore:

1. Vellore Airport – One of the most expected projects since the past decade or even more than that. Vellore Abdullapuram already had a small landing lane for small airplanes. Last year UDAN announced that the same space will be expanded for domestic airport services between Vellore to Chennai and Vellore to Bangalore. Though the works for the same are going in a slow pace, authorities have assured the work to be over by this year end. This is one of the top most anticipated projects in Vellore.
2. CMC Multi Speciality Hospital, Rathnagiri – Christian Medical College and Hospital is building its another multi speciality hospital at Rathnagiri. Works for the same are going on for more than two years. It has almost reached its completion stage and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Notably CMCH Vellore has been regarded as the second largest multi speciality hospital in Asia. The addition of this would welcome more medical tourists from all over the world.
3. Naruvi Hospitals, Vellore – Naruvi Hospitals Vellore is under construction that is expected to be operational by December 2019. Naruvi will be a multi speciality hospital and more news is yet to be announced.

These are two major things anticipated in Vellore by the end of this year.

Apart from these there are lot of smart city projects like multi storey car and bike parking, Water connection metres; Wifi zones, CCTVs, Integrated Control Centres; Data Centres and more.

Growth of Vellore:

On a whole, compiling all these that Vellore Corporation saw over the past 10 years, its a quite positive growth. Considering the geography and potential, Vellore can do even more than this; all it requires is support from the local residents to bring more changes.