Athani, Belgavi

Transportation

Athani is connected to various places like Shedbal, Vijayapura, Miraj, Sangli, Chikkodi, Ugar, and Jamkhandi and the town has NWKRTC bus service. The nearest railway station is Ugar railway station which is 25 km from the city and Miraj junction 55 km from Athani. Belagavi and Kolhapur are the nearest airports. There are 24×7 buses for the cities Vijayapura and Belagavi.

There is a proposal for a new railway line between Vijayapura – Shedbal- Athani to connect Vijayapura with Belagavi. A survey of this 112.3-km new railway line is completed and submitted to South Western Railway Hubballi.

The city is well connected by roads. The three state highways pass through the city: SH-12(Jewargi-Sankeshwar), SH-31(Jath-Jambothi), and SH-72 (Nippani-muhanddi). Four major roads pass through the city. the national highway (vijapur-sankeshwar) is sanctioned.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census, Athani had a population of 63,625 acc to the area 15 km² including adjacent two villages in it . Males constitute 61% of the population and females 59%. Athani has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average, with 69% of the males and 79% of females literate. 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Climate

Being situated in upper region of Belagavi district which lies in the elevated terrain of north-western Karnataka,Athani has a tropical climate. It is known for its moderately climate throughout the year. Athani receives rainfall from both the northeast and the southwest monsoons and the wettest months are June–September. It has a distinct normal climate in every season. extreme climate should not found here. June and August have a good deal of rainfall, while the winters have very little. The coldest month is December with an average low temperature of 25.3 °C and the hottest month is may with an average high temperature of 40 °C. Winter temperatures rarely drop up to 18 °C (54 °F), and summer temperatures seldom exceed 30–40 °C.The driest month is January, with 10 mm of rainfall.

Culture

Athani has typical North Karnataka culture. Janapada (folk) songs and dances are found in villages surrounding Athani. The god of the town is the Siddheshwara. The Siddheshwara Temple and is prayed by the locals on Mondays every year in Athani Devotional Siddeswara fair takes place. Sri MurughSendra Shivoygi's birthplace, Nadi Ingalgav falls in the Athani Taluk. Sri Shivyogi MurughSendra Swamiji is a great saint lived in Gachhinamath in Athani. He is shivasharna. He makes many pavadas to bless people he is one of great saint in Karnataka in his name there is mathas in Dharwad and Chitradurga. And he make pavada on a child and thant child get cured from disease he is called Marulashankar Devaru he had power of detecting underground water he is a great saint who lived in Gachhinamath in Athani. The Raghavendra swamji Rathotsava takes place in Athani. In this city there are five mathas:

And in this city an ancient of 500 years old temple Amruthalingeshwar temple is the Kokatnoor Yallama, Katageri Lakkavva, Avarkhod Hanumappa are other holy places that draw devotees from as far afield as Maharashtra.

Aigali husbandry fair is the biggest husbandry fair in India. Many fairs take place in the villages surrounding Athani. Athani has produced many well-known Kannada poets and writers. Its contribution to Kannada literature is considerable. Kannada is the main and spoken language.

Athani Taluk

Athani Taluk is the largest taluk in a Belagavi district; it has a total area of 2070.54 km², 74% is cultivated. This includes 115 inhabited villages and hamlets with a rural population of 4,07,485 as per the 2011 census. The total population of taluk is 5,25,832 . The taluk is bounded by Sangli district of Maharashtra in the north, Vijayapura district in the east, and Krishna river in the south.it flows 110 km in the taluk.Geologically the area is covered by Deccan Trap formation. The average annual rainfall is 582 mm. The two rivers that flow here are Krishna and Agrani river. Agrani is beside the pandegao, shirur, ajur, sambargi, nagnur (p.a.), tawanshi, and kalloti.

The five largest towns of Athani Taluk (sorted in order of decreasing population) are Athani, Ugar, Ainapur, Kagawad, Shedbal. The river Krishna flows around the Athani taluk. Five sugar industries are in this taluk. They are located in Athani,Shinal,Kagawad, Kokatnur, Ugar and Kempwad . There are four hobalis in this taluk: Athani, Kagawad, Telsang and Anatapur. Most of the land is fully fertile; some of the land is dry and hilly.

Educational institutions

Athani also has government primary schools for boys and girls in Kannada, Urdu and Marathi Mediums.

Tourist attractions

Nandgao: old temple is located near school. Old monuments founded. vdydr.

Agriculture

In Athani agriculture is the main occupation.About 60% of the total population is engaged in agriculture.The main crops are: jawar, wheat, sunflower, toordal, and kushbi. The commercial crops are sugarcane, grapes, wheat and ground nut. Few varietiesof vegetables like tomatoes, brinjals, ladies fingers, green leaves and redchillies are also grown With the limited rainfall, diesel power pumpsets are in vogue for the available water supply. And the main commercial crop is sugarcane. Athani is one of the largest sugarcane cultivation taluks in Karnataka. 70% of the land is fertile. Sugarcane is cultivated near river Krishna and river Agrani. It is cultivated more than 1,50,000 acres in taluk. Irrigation facilities of Hipparagi barrage of Upper Krishna Projectis in athani. By this project canals were constructed. It is very helpful for cultivation of sugarcane and grapes. The Hipparagi project is useful to farmers. Most of farmers cultivate sugarcane and jawar.

Industries

There are many industries located in Athani taluk like sugar industry, chappal factories, glucose and mills.

Chappal factory

The Athani is famous for leather chappals scheduled caste families forming considerable chunk of the local population. This serves a special mention because of the valid contribution of few sub groups to the now famous leather products of Athani. The sub-groups are Dhors and Samagars who are mostly engaged in this leather trade and are traditional leather workers. Dhors are specialized in tanning of hides and skins, while Samagars have proved as intricate craftsmen to produce leather foot wears .Recognizing this, the Khadi and village industries commission established a footwear manufacturing centre under the name “Charmalaya”. The success of this paved the way towards another milestone, where ‘Lidkar’ backed by the State Government, saw the light of the day, boosting the activity of footwear manufacturing further. The foot-wears are marketed throughout India by the respective outlets. The traders from other part of the country also procure leather goods from Athani, to market them in their areas. Through the State Trading Corporation, these leather goods are also exported to many countries where they have found a sizeable market.The category which has established itself by way of its design and quality is known as ‘Kolhapuri Chappals’ which has a great demand in local as well as the export markets. These goods were exported to foreign countries like Scotland, Netherlands, England and others.

Sugar Industry

Previously there is no sugar industry was there in this taluk. But farmers transported the sugarcane to Maharashtra. Then farmers requested to establish the sugar industry in Athani Taluk. And then so many sugar industries were started in this taluk.

In Athani Taluk the first sugar industry was established by Ugar sugars pvt ltd in Ugar,it is the no 1 sugar industry Karnataka it produce smore than 12,000 tonnes. and next by Krishna co-operative sugars is established in Athani and then established by Renuka sugars pvt limited in Kokatnoor. In Athani taluk there are five sugar industries out of 20 sugar industries of Belagavi district. This means ¼ of sugar industries are in Athani taluk; they are:

Athani is one of the largest sugar production taluks in Karnataka.