Tezu is a

census town In India and some other countries, a census town is designated as a town that satisfies certain characteristics. India In India, a census town is one which is not statutorily notified and administered as a town, but nevertheless whose population ...

and the headquarters of

Lohit district Lohit () is an administrative district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India. The district headquarters is located at Tezu. As of 2011 it is the third most populous district of Arunachal Pradesh, after Papum Pare and Changlang. Etymol ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

. It is the fifth largest town in Arunachal Pradesh and one of its most developed. Tezu is one of the 60 constituencies of Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh. The current MLA (2024) of Tezu constituency is Dr . Mahesh Chai, who defeated NPEP'S Karikho Kri with 2805 votes in the 2024 general election . The town is known for its plain lands, dense forested areas, riverine and grorging rivers. Due to its close proximity to the hilly areas of

Mishmi hills The Mishmi Hills are located at the northeastern tip of India, in northeastern Arunachal Pradesh. On the Chinese side, they form the southern parts of Nyingchi Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region. These hills occur at the junction of Nor ...

, The town also serves as the main logistical hub for the transportation of goods and commuter to Anjaw district

Geography

It has an average elevation of 185 metres (606 feet). It is situated on the bank of River Lohit.

Agriculture

The major agricultural products are mustard, ginger and oranges.

Climate

Transport

The recently constructed airport at Tezu will be the first civilian airport of

. On Sep 22, 2017 the first successful test flight was conducted. Other nearest airports are at Mohanbari (154 km) and

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

(

Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport , or Guwahati Airport, is an international airport serving the List of cities in Assam, largest city of Assam and the capital of the state within it, Guwahati and Dispur, in India. It is the pri ...

). Tezu is linked with the adjacent state

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

by road. Arunachal Pradesh State Transport Services (APSTS) and other privately owned vehicles provide seamless connectivity to Assam. Most of the vehicles provide connectivity to

Tinsukia Tinsukia (Pron: ˌtɪnˈsʊkiə) is an industrial city. It is situated north-east of Guwahati and away from the border with Arunachal Pradesh. Tinsukia serves as the headquarters of the Moran Autonomous Council, which is the governing counci ...

, Assam. The nearest railway station is at

(NTSK) which is linked to major parts of country like Guwahati, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, etc. 227 km Murkongselek-Pasighat-Tezu-Rupai line is being undertake as a strategic project.India to construct strategic railway lines along border with China
Hindustan Times, 30 Nov 2016.2019 target to survey 3 strategic rail lines along China border
Arunachal Observer, January 5, 2019. As part of this project, a proposal to connect Tezu through broadgauge line from Murkongselek via Pasighat and extending up to Parshuram Kund was made. A preliminary engineering-traffic survey for this track has been completed, and land is being acquired as of 2020. The newly constructed ''Lohit Bridge (2.9 KM)'' over the

Lohit River The Lohit River, whose name came from the Assamese word ''Lohit'' meaning 'blood', also known as the Zayul Chu by the Tibetans, Tilao by the Ahoms and Tellu by the Mishmis, is a river in China and India, which joins the Brahmaputra River in ...

at Alobarighat has also eased the connectivity of Tezu and other nearby towns with

. This bridge has helped Tezu in getting directly connected to

through bus service. The strategic 2 lane '' Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Setu or Dhola-Sadiya bridge (9.15 KM)'' on Brahmaputra, which has reduced travel time between

and

by four hours, has been operational since May 26, 2017.It is very crucial for defence purposes and is the longest river bridge in India.

Demographics

As per 2011 Indian

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Tezu had a population of 49.776 of which 26.365 are males while 23.441 are females . Tezu has an average literacy rate of 83.98%, higher than the state average of 65.38% and national average of 74.04%. Male literacy rate is around 88.29%, and female literacy rate is 78.94%. The female sex ratio is 866 against state average of 938. Moreover, child sex ratio in Tezu is around 968 compared to the state average of 972.

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

s consists around 75.57% of the total population while

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

and

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

consists 7.43%, 8.24% and 0.29% respectively.

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

is around 5.41% and other religions are 2.91% of the total population.

Languages

According to Census 2011, Bengali is Spoken by 3,373 people, Nepali at 3,371 people,

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

by 2,197 people,

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

at 1,884, Mismi by 1,790 people and Assamese at 1,561.

Tibetan diaspora

Tezu also has a sizeable population of Tibetan community of about 1500 mostly residing in a settlement called by local name as Lama Camp, Tibetans settled here since the 1960s after fleeing Chinese persecution in their homeland

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, till date they have maintained their own custom and tradition, they have built monasteries, health centres, nursing homes, schools etc. with funds from the government and other sources. Lama Camp is located in Tindolong about from Tezu Bazaar and has 5 camps each camp represent different regions of Tibet mainly

Kham Kham (; ) is one of the three traditional Tibet, Tibetan regions, the others being Domey also known as Amdo in the northeast, and Ü-Tsang in central Tibet. The official name of this Tibetan region/province is Dotoe (). The original residents of ...

Kongpo Kongpo () is a region of central-eastern Tibet, centered in modern Gongbo'gyamda County, Nyingchi Prefecture. It is situated on the Nyang River, a northern tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Kongpo Drula Gonpa is the oldest and largest mon ...

, Tsari and Pemako.

Media and communications

State-owned

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

has a local station in Tezu which transmits various programs of mass interest. Also, the local TV channel - Matai Communication broadcasts local news, shows and programs.

Local cultural festivals

The major Mishmi God is Ringyajabmalu and the major Mishmi festival is known as Tamladu puja. It is celebrated each year on 15 February. People from all communities and all walks of life are invited to join in the celebrations. The Holy Parshuram Kund is also nearby and thousands of Hindu pilgrims from all over India, and also from neighbouring countries, come to take a holy dip and wash away the sins of millions of births. This is accompanied with a fair at Tezu and takes place every year during the month of January. Tamladu, the main festival of the Digaru and Miju Mishmi community is celebrated with much gaiety at Tezu and all over the

. Other festivals such as

Mopin The 'Mopin' or 'Moopin' Festival is an agricultural festival celebrated by the Galo tribe of Arunachal Pradesh, India in particular of the Galo group of tribes which resides in East Siang and West Siang districts. It is a celebration of the ha ...

(Adi festival), Sangken (Khamti & Singhpo tribe), Reh (Idu Mishmi festival), and

Losar Losar (; "new year"William D. Crump, "Losar" in ''Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide'' (McFarland & Co.: 2008), pp. 237-38.) also known as Tibetan New Year, is a festival in Tibetan Buddhism. The holiday is celebrated on various da ...

(Monpa festival) are also celebrated. Other than this,

Durga Puja Durga Puja (ISO 15919, ISO: , ), also known as Durgotsava or Shaaradotsava, is an annual festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which pays homage to the Hinduism, Hindu goddess Durga, and is also celebrated because of Durga's victo ...

(Dusshera),

Kali Puja Kali Puja (ISO: ), also known as Shyama Puja or Mahanisha Puja, is a festival originating from the Indian subcontinent, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. It is celebrated on the new moon day (Dipannita Amavasya) of the Hindu calendar month o ...

Ganesh Chaturthi Ganesh Chaturthi (ISO: ), also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi () or Vinayaka Chavithi () or Vinayagar Chaturthi (), is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Ganesh. The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's ''m ...

, etc. are also celebrated with much gaiety.

Educational institutions

* Government Higher School, Tezu * Government Secondary School, Tezu * Kendriya Vidyalaya, Tezu * Krick & Boury Memorial School * Indira Gandhi Government College * Teacher's Training Institute ''(B.Ed College)'' * Vivekananda Kendriya Vidyalaya, Tezu * VKV Tafragam, Tezu * Arun Jyoti school * Lohit Valley School * Government secondary school Telluliang

References

{{reflist

External links

zimin ziro
Cities and towns in Lohit district