Cherupuzha (Kannur)


Cherupuzha is one of the main towns in Kannur district, Kerala, India. Cherupuzha town, which is the headquarters of the Cherupuzha Panchayat which is a special grade panchayat.

Location

It is located about 31 kilometers east of Payyannur and 44 kilometers north east of Taliparamba and 66 kilometres north east of Kannur town.

History

Cherupuzha and its surrounding areas was ruled by many royal dynasties in the past, including the Mooshika dynasty of Ezhimala, Chirakkal dynasty of Kolathunadu, Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore, before it became a part of the British Raj. The original inhabitants of the area were primarily Hindus. Later on this region gained a sizable Christian and Muslim population. Now the place has Christians as majority. The arrival of Christians from middle Kerala helped in the development of this place, this led to the construction of schools, colleges, hospitals etc. in the area. The economy was agrarian with strong feudal system - Janmi-Kudiyan system - permeating everyday life in past and in the present mainly small and medium farmers.

Geography

Cherupuzha is a hilly town on the eastern side of Kannur district. The terrain is undulating in nature and the extreme eastern side has forests bordering Karnataka state.

Localities

Satellite towns that are nearby and places at a longer distance which has direct bus route from Cherupuzha includes Pulingome, Palavayal, Kozhichal, Thirumeni, Padiyotchal, Peringome, Chittarikkal, Vellarikundu, Panathur, Alakkode, Chemperi, Payyavoor, Iritty, Payyanur, Kanhangad, Taliparamba, Kannur, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Bangalore, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Thodupuzha, Pala, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta. These population centres are well connected to Cherupuzha by road.

Water bodies

, also called "kariankode puzha" in Malayalam, which is comparatively small among 44 rivers of Kerala, flows beside this town. It originates from Brahmagiri hills of Coorg forest in Karnataka, enters Kerala near Pulingome, flows through the districts of Kannur and Kasaragod and meets the Arabian Ocean, near Nileshwaram as a part of Valiyaparamba Backwaters. Tejaswini, which is 64 km long, do have a rafting stretch of 20 km with plenty of rapids extending up to class-3.

Places of worship

Air

The nearest airport is Mattanur, Mangalore and Calicut. All of them are international airports but direct flights are available only to Middle Eastern countries.

Rail

The nearest railway station is Payyanur on Mangalore-Palakkad line.
Direct Buses are available to Bangalore, Mangalore, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Kottayam, Thrissur and other places of Kerala and Karanataka.
Cherupuzha is 71 km from Kannur, 31 km from Payyanur, 44 km from Kanhangad and Taliparamba and 66 km from Iritty. Bus route between Payyanur and Cherupuzha operates frequently.

Roads

The national highway passes through Perumba junction through proposed Ezhimala - Bagamandalam Highway. Goa and Mumbai can be accessed on the northern side and Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram can be accessed on the southern side. The road to the east of Iritty connects to Mysore and Bangalore.
Two main roads are Cherupuzha-Payyanur and Cherupuzha - Alakode. All the other roads in this area were built by the people themselves. The roads, Cherupuzha-Pulingome – Kottathalachi, Edavaramba – Koombankunnu, Kariyakkara – Koombankunnu, Cherupuzha-Pulingome-Rajagiri, Rajagiri-Josegiri, Vazhakkundam – Churappadavu, Chunda – Vilakkuvettam and Umayanchal – Kottathalachi are examples of the collective effort of people of Cherupuzha and Pulingome.
Another important road in the area is Cherupuzha-Thirumeni- Muthuvom road which is of a length of 9 kilometers. From Thirumeni, one can reach to its outskirts like Chathamangalam, Thabore, Muthuvom and Korali.
Both private and public transport buses are available from Cherupuzha to Kannur, Kozhikode, Cochin and Bangalore.

Ezhimala-Bengaluru road

A new bridge, for ezhimla-Payyannur-Cherupuzha-Pulingome - Thalakkaveri-Bhagamandala-Bengaluru road, has already been constructed over Pulingome river near Cherupuzha, connecting Kerala and Karnataka. Talks are on between Karnataka, Kerala and central Governments on this project. If this road became a reality, the distance to Bangalore and Mysore would be reduced by more than 60 kilometers also 120 kilometers between Kannur and Bangalore.

Cherupuzha-Chittarikkal

This road stretching across Kerala, connecting Kannur and Kasaragod districts.
The development for bypass route from Cherupuzha traverses through Prapoyil, Thirumeni, Chathamangalam, Parappa, Karthikapuram Road is still underway, but very significant because it connects Cherupuzha to places like Karthikapuram, Parappa, Neduvode and Rayarome at the shortest distance. This is the only road that goes through the common meeting place of Cherupuzha, Alakode and Udayagiri panchayaths. Efforts are on to renovate the road completely and make it the bypass of Alakode-Therthaly-Cherupuzha Road. The advantage is in case of any complication on the major road, the bypass can be used.

Hanging Bridge

The major attraction in Cherupuzha is a hanging bridge in Tejaswini river which connects both Kasaragod and Kannur districts.

Hospitals