About District

Goa attained statehood on May 30, 1987. Goa was included as twenty-fifth state of India. Goa state has two districts namely North Goa, which is headquartered at Panaji and South Goa, which is headquartered at Margao.

Location

South Goa District covers the entire southern part of Goa state. Arabian sea is to the west of district, North Goa district to the North and Uttar Kannada district of Karnataka in the East and South. South Goa is situated between the latitudinal parallels of 15 degree 29′ 32″ N and 14 degree 53′ 57″ N and longitudinal parallels of 73 degree 46′ 21″ E and 74 degree 20′ 11″ E. From north to south and from east to west the district spans a distance of 86 kms and 40 kms respectively. The total geographical area of the district is 1966 sq kms..

Geography

Goa is a part of Konkan area. Goa has hills, low and highland areas. Geographically Goa has mainly three natural divisions namely the Low lands, the Plateaus and the Mountain region.

Low Lands : Low land area is mainly coastal lines. It is about 110 km long. Many beaches are along the coast in this area. Many rivers flow east to east in this area therefore this area land is fertile. This area is thickly populated.

Plateau Lands: The plateau region is found between the mountain region in the east and the lowlands in the west. Plateau land height ranges from 30 meters to 100 meters. In this region mainly plenty of laterite stone is found. It is used for building the houses. Some of the part of plateau land is called headland of Goa. Light houses are built on these headlands. Land in the plateau region is not fertile, few crops are taken in this region.

Mountainous region: Sahyadri mountains are to the east of South Goa. This part is covered with dense forest. In this area, some of the mountains are very steep. In South Goa, the peaks are Chandranath at Paroda, Dudhsagar in Sanguem taluka and Cormolghant in Canacona taluka. Many streams and rivers flow from this region to lowands. In South Goa, the rivers are Zuari, Talpona, Sal and Galgibag. Rivers are used for transporation. Inland waterways play an important role in transport of mineral ores from the mining sites in Sanguem taluka such as Costi, Kirpal, Netravalim, Rivona, Ducorcond and Kuddegal to the Mormugao harbour for export South Goa is rich in natural resources like iron, bauxite and manganese ore. These ores are exported mainly to China, Japan, South Korea and some European countries.

Access

Goa is well connected by road, rail, water and air ways. In Goa there are three main national highways N.H.4A, N.H.17, N.H.17A. Panaji, the capital city of Goa is connected by N.H.4A from Belgaum in Karnataka. The N.H.17 starts in Mahad in Maharastra state and enters in Goa through Patradevi and passes through talukas Pernem, Bardez, Tiswadi, Salcete and Canacona talukas. Third highway, N.H.17A is from Cortalim to Mormugao harbour. Cities Panaji and Margao are well connected by road from Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Miraj cities in Maharashtra and Banglore, Belgaum, Hubali cities in Karnataka.

Goa is connected by rail route through Konkan Railway and Southern Railway from Delhi. Also, it is well connected by air routes from Bombay and Delhi. Goa has an international airport at Dabolim. The distance from Margao to Dabolim airport is 29 kms.

Most of the rivers in Goa are used for waterways. Ferry boats were means of crossing rivers in Goa. Rivers Mandovi and Zuari are being used for carrying ore to Mormugao harbor. Goa is also connected by waterway from Bombay.

Climate

Goa has hot climate as it lies within the tropics. There is no much change in climate through out the year. Daily temperature range is not very high. Goa gets rains in the months June, July, August and September. June-September is the monsoon season here. The rainfall is more in the mountain region than the coastal region. Goa gets heavy rain from South-West monsoon winds. Goa has cool climate during then months October-January. It starts getting warmer from February and it remains till May.

Rice is the most important crop in Goa. Due to warm humid climate rice is mainly grown here and it grown in the coastal region. After rainy season, rice, chilies, onions crops are grown in Goa. Cash crops are also grown in Goa. Mainly plantation of Cashew, Coconut, Mangoes, Areca palm, Kokum and Jack fruit is done in Goa.