The town was formerly known as Bhavapattana, Bhavapuri, Bhavapattu and Bhavapatta. The names were derived from the Bhavanarayana Temple located in the town. Later, these names were transformed to the present name of Bapatla. The temple was constructed in 1465 by a chola king named Krimikantha Chola, and was later restored.
Geography
The coordinates of the town are and is located at an altitude of 8 mts from the coast of Bay of Bengal.
Climate
The town experiences tropical climate with the average annual temperatures 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. It is most affected by the cyclonic storms that occur on the east coast.
Demographics
, the town had a population of 70,777 with 18,216 households. The total population constituted 34,385 males and 36,392 females —a sex ratio of 1058 females per 1000 males, higher than the national average of 940 per 1000. 6,182 children were in the age group of 0–6 years, of which 3,156 were boys and 3,026 were girls—a ratio of 959 per 1000. The average literacy rate stood at 80.67% with 52,106 literates, significantly higher than the national average of 73.00%.
Governance
Civic administration Bapatla Municipality was established in 1951. It oversees the civic needs of the town like, water supply, sewage, and garbage collection. It is a Grade–I municipality which has an extent of with 34 wards. Utility services Kommamuru and Poondla channels of the Krishna Western Delta system provide irrigation water to Bapatla and the surrounding areas. Politics Bapatla, being a part of Bapatla mandal, falls under Bapatla assembly constituency of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Kona Raghupathi of YSR Congress Party is the present MLA of the constituency. The assembly segment is in turn a part of Bapatla lok sabha constituency and the present Member of Parliament is Nandhigam Suresh of the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party.
The Clock Tower, built in 1948, was demolished for road extension and started to be rebuilt in December 2017. The Edward Coronation Memorial Town Hall was built in 1905 in coronation of the then Emperor of India, Edward VII. The town has various religious structures depicting the presence of different worshipers, such as Bhavanarayana Temple and Centenary Baptist Zion Church The Suryalanka Beach connected by the Beach Road of the town hosts the Bhavapuri Beach Festival.
Transport
The town has a total road length of. Until 1993, Vijaya Krishna Bus Service was the sole operator in Bapatla. APSRTC started operations in 1994 with its bus services to various parts of the state from Bapatla bus station. The town has frequent buses to Tenali, Guntur, Ponnur, and Chirala. The National Highway 214A passes through the town, which connects Digamarru and Ongole. State Highway 48 also known as Guntur-Bapatla-Chirala Road passes through Ponnur and connects the town with the district headquarters, Guntur. Bapatla railway station is located on the Howrah-Chennai main line of Indian Railways. It is a B–category station and was recognised as an Adarsh station in the Vijayawada railway division of South Central Railway zone.
Education and research
The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the School Education Department of the state. The mediums of instruction followed by different schools are English and Telugu. The town has many schools, colleges and universities. The Agricultural College was established on 11 July 1945 by Government of Composite Madras State. It is the oldest of all the colleges under Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University. Bapatla Engineering College, College of Agricultural Engineering under Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University, College of Food Science and Technology, Bapatla Polytechnic College, and Bapatla College of Arts & Sciences are other prominent ones. Research and defense establishments An automatic weather station of India Meteorological Department is located in the town which records the temperatures. BPT 5204, BPT 2270 and BPT 2231 were developed at this rice research unit. There are also a number of research institutes of this agricultural university, such as the AICRP on Betelvine, and a cashew research station. Air Force base Suryalanka Indian Air Force base on the shore of the Bay of Bengal is located near Bapatla. The base carries out activities such as testing missiles and guided weapon firing range.
