Valakom, Kottarakara

Valakom
Valakom
Town
	Coordinates: 8°57′16″N 76°50′34″E / 8.9545629°N 76.8427834°E
Country	India
State	Kerala
District	Kollam
Named for	Fastest developing town by Education and trade
Government
• Body	Gram panchayat
Population (2011)
• Total	17,928
Languages
• Official	Malayalam, English
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
Postal code	691532

Valakom is a fast growing town located on Kerala State highway One, in the Kollam district of Kerala, India, with a population of 17928. It lies within Kottarakkara municipal town, Ummannoor and edamulackal Panchayat. Valkom is famous for menkari and kapa puzhikiyathu. In the Valakom market, anyone can buy and sell vegetables, fish and meat. The government library is located around 2 km from the place. Valakom consists of many schools, churches and temples.

One of the famous eco tourism malamel para is near Valakom.

Location and access

Valakom is 10 km south of Kottarakkara and 8 km north of Ayoor on M C Road/SH-1 (Angamali-Thiruvananthapuram). Valakom is well connected with Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital and to other major towns of Kerala by road. There is no railway line passing through Valakom. Kottarakkara railway station on the Punalur-Kollam line is the nearest railway station.

Distance from major cities of Kerala from Valakom by road are as follows.

Thiruvananthapuram- 063 km, Kollam - 038 km, Kottayam - 090 km, Kochi - 153 km; Thissur - 223 km; Kozhikode - 354 km; Pathanamthitta - 45 km

The famous pilgrim centre Sabarimala is easily accessible from Valakom and the distance is 108 km. Kottarakara Ganapathi Temple, Kottukal Rock Cut Cave Temple and Chadayamangalam Jatayu Para are the nearest pilgrim

Political representation

Valakom comes under the Kottarakkara legislative assembly constituency currently represented by Adv. Aisha Potty of CPI(M), and under the Mavelikkara parliament constituency currently represented by Mr. Kodikkunnil Suresh of INC.

Institutions and businesses

Many churches and religious institutions are situated here. Major banks operating in Valakom include Federal Bank, State Bank of Travancore, Service co-operative Bank Ummannoor, Corporation Bank Ummannoor, District Co-Operative Bank Valakom, Muthoot Fincorp, Kosammattam Finance, and Panamkunnil Bankers. Y.M.A. Library and Sree Gosalakrishna temple are situated at Marangattukonam, 1 km from Valakom. A police aid post is located near the Mercy Hospital Junction (Old Kalachantha/cattle market) which is one km north of the town in SH-1.

Education

The major educational institutions in the village are the Marthoma Higher Secondary School(started in 1924, which is the oldest one in this locality), R. V. Training College & school and C.S.I. Training centre, college & school for the Hearing Impaired.