The City was also known as Kshirapuri, which translates as the town of milk. The name got transformed to Chirala, where Chira means Sari. The town and the surroundings were known of high-quality hand-loom industry.
Geography
The coordinates of the City are and is located at an altitude of from the coast of Bay of Bengal. Climate The City experiences tropical climate with the average annual temperature records at. Hot summers and cool winters are observed due to its proximity to the coast of Bay of Bengal. It receives both South west monsoon and North-east monsoon as well. The precipitation is very high with an annual rainfall of about and the month of October receives a maximum rainfall of.
Governance
Chirala Municipality is the civic governing body of the Town. It is a first grade municipality, constituted on 1 April 1948 and has a jurisdictional area of with 33 election wards. The present municipal commissioner of the City is P.Sreenivasa Rao. The constituents of Chirala urban agglomeration include, Chirala Municipality, census City of Chirala, Vetapalem; out growths of Ipurupalem, and Kothapeta.
Economy
is one of the main occupation the City. Several Cloth Market Complexes are situated in Chirala. Textile factories from Surat, Bombay, Gwalior supplying the goods directly to these markets. Cloths are cheap in Chirala Textile shops. Chirala is known as Small Bombay. Chirala is famous tourist place for several beaches are at its coastal sea shores like Vadarevu Beach and Ramapuram Beach are famous here. Every week ends several tourists are coming here from Hyderabad because Vadarevu Beach is nearest beach to Hyderabad and Telangana via Macherla and Nagarjuna Sagar Route than to Surya Lanka Beach. Chirala has ITC Factory where Cigeragte raw materials processed and Cigerates are manufactured
Demographics
, the City had a population of 172,826 with 23,070 households. It shows 2.04% growth in population, compared to 2001 Census of India which was recorded as 100,455. The total population constitute, 52,927 males and 47,528 females —a sex ratio of 1031 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 940 per 1000. 8,389 children are in the age group of 0–6 years, of which 4,253 are boys and 4,136 are girls —a ratio of 973 girls per 1000 boys. The average literacy rate stands at 78.80% with 62,099 literates, higher than the national average of 73.00%. The urban agglomeration population of Chirala is 162,471.
The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the School Education Department of the state. The medium of instruction followed by different schools are English, Telugu. VRS &YRN College is a famous college in Chirala. It has provided education requirements for decades now. Chirala is and educational hub in Prakasam District, its Engineering colleges include St. Ann's College of Engineering and Technology, Chirala Engineering College and VRS & YRN College of Engineering. St Ann's Pharmacy College and Polytechnic College.
