50 years of Kochi Municipal Corporation
Kochi or Cochin, originally known as Perumpadappu Swaroopam, is the beautiful cosmopolitan city of Malayalees. Rightly known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, it has attracted many voyagers and traders over the centuries. Cochin City is in the Ernakulam District of Kerala, the state formed by the merger of the former kingdoms of Travancore , Cochin and Malabar (which was a part of the Madras Presidency under the British). This is the second most important port city in the western coast of India and is the commercial capital of the State. The city is located in Ernakulam District, between 76 ° 14′ and 76° 21′ East longitude and 9° 52′ and 10° 1′ North Latitude.
The History of the Corporation dates back to the second half of the 19th century. Fort Cochin, Mattancherry and Ernakulam were the three Municipalities, which were in existence then in Cochin area. Fort Cochin became a Municipality on the 1st of November 1866.
In 1896 the Maharaja of Cochin formed sanitary boards separately for Mattancherry and Ernakulam and thus local administration came into existence in these places for the first time. The Government provided funds for the functioning of the boards. The town councils of Mattancherry and Ernakulam were formed as per the above regulation. In 1956 the Elamkulam panchayat and a portion of Cheranellur panchayat (Pachalam – Vaduthala) were amalgamated to the Ernakulam Municipality. In 1962 a portion of Palluruthy panchayat (Mundamveli area) was amalgamated to the then Mattancherry municipality.
Edappally panchyat was formed in 1946 and Palluruthy and Vyttila in 1953. In 1952 the then Edappally panchayat was bifurcated and a new panchayat, Vennala was formed.
On the 1st July 1967, the Kerala Assembly approved the formation of Cochin Corporation. Subsequently, Govt. of Kerala notified the formation of the Corporation of Cochin by amalgamating the three ancient Municipalities of the state, viz. Ernakulam, Mattancherry and Fort Cochin, the Willingdon Island and four panchayats viz. Palluruthy, Vennala , Vytiila and Edappally and the small islands of Gundu deepu and Ramanthuruth. The new entity was to have an area of 83.524 sq.km. Newborn Corporation came into existence on 1.11.1967.
According to the 2011 census, Cochin Corporation has 677 ,381 residents. The city’s estimated density in 1996 was 6250 persons per square kilometer. The total area of the main part of the city is 94.88 sq.km.
The Corporation has a harbour, railway junction, international airport, the Naval Base and various industries in its command area and its peripheries.
