Ponnur is a town in Guntur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the mandal headquarter of Ponnur mandal under Tenali revenue division.As of 2011 Census of India, the town had a population of 59,913 with 16,138 households. The total population constitute, 29,486 males and 30,427 a sex ratio of 1032 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 940 per 1000.[5] 5,507 children are in the age group of 06 years. The average literacy rate stands at 78.33% with 42,617 literates, higher than the national average of 73.00%.Ponnur Municipality oversees the civic needs of the town like, water supply, roads, sewage, garbage collection etc. It is classified as a GradeII municipality which was established in 1964 as a IIIGrade municipality.[7] It has an extent of 25.64 km2 (9.90 sq mi) with 31 wards.[8] The town gets water from the Krishna river, which is supplied through taps, bores etc. The town has both government and private hospitals which include, clinics, nursing homes and a Government hospital for public healthcare. It also maintains parks and play grounds for recreational purpose.Ponnur being a part of Ponnur mandal, falls under Ponnuru assembly constituency of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.[10] Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar is the present MLA of the constituency from Telugu Desam Party.[11] The assembly segment is in turn a part of Guntur lok sabha constituency and the present Member of parliament is Galla Jayadev of Telugu Desam Party.Ponnur is an important town for the nearby villages. The rural areas surrounding the town are mostly dependent on agriculture. The farming is dominant with Paddy cultivation and others crops include ground nuts, cotton, betel etc.[4] There exists several other economic industries and occupations in the town such as, Brickworks, furniture making, handloom weaving, spinning khadi yarn, rice mills, timber etc.[14] The town is also a part of TenaliPonnur growth corridor.There are a few notable people from the town with their contributions to various fields such as, N. G. Ranga, Pragada Kotaiah. The town has an auditorium and a function hall for cultural events of the town. There are many religious worship centers in the town like, temples, mosques and churches.[9] Most notable religious structures are, the temples of Sakshi Bhavanarayana and Sahastra Lingeswara, a single stone carved statues of 24 ft (7.3 m) Anjaneya and 29 ft (8.8 m) Garuthmantha.State Highway 48, also known as Guntur-Bapatla-Chirala Road passes through Ponnur, which connects it with the district headquarter, Guntur. The PonnurRepalle Road connects National Highway 214A at Chandole.[17][18] The state government operates APSRTC nus services to the nearby towns and villages. Nearest railway station is at Nidubrolu,[19] a Dcategory station in the Vijayawada railway division of South Central Railway zone.
