At a Glance
On the bank of river Mahanadi, enriched with natural surroundings lies a beautiful prime city Sambalpur in the state of Odisha. Established in the year 1528 by Raja Balaram Dev, the Sambalpur City is the heartthrob of Western part of Odisha for its vivid social, cultural, political and economical identity.The beautiful holy name of the city is derived from the name of the presiding deity of the city, Maa Samleswari. The city contains many famous temples, historic buildings and parks. Sambalpur is famous for Hirakud Dam, Sambalpuri Sarees, Sambalpuri folk songs and Dance, the Sitalsasthi festival and the leaning Temple of Huma. Several traits of the culture like Sambalpuri language, Sambalpuri dance, Sambalpurisongs and Sambalpuri sarees have held a national identity which is now being admired by people all over the world.
Brief history
The region of Sambalpur was known as Hirakhanda from ancient times. Claudius Ptolemy has described the place as Sambalak. According to Tavernier the French traveler and Edward Gibbon the English Historian, Diamonds were exported to Rome from Sambalpur.
The history of Sambalpur exhibits many evidences of its contribution towards the struggle for freedom of our country. Veer Surendra Sai , Madho Singh, Hatte Singh, Kunjel Singh, Aairi Singh, Bairi Singh are those freedom fighters who led the revolution against East India Company rule even before Mangal Pandey initiated the ‘Sipoy Mutiny’ and are still recognised for their contributions.
Educational Institutions
Educational institutions in the city include Veer Surendra Sai University (VSSUT), Gangadhar Meher University, Women's College, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose College, Lala Lajpat Rai Law College, Silicon Institute of Technology, Delhi Public School, Kendriya Vidyalaya, St. Joseph's Convent Higher Secondary School (SJC-SBP), Gurunanak Public School, Madnawati Public School (MPS), Indian Public School (IPS), St. John's School, Seven Hills Residential School (SHRS), Sri Aurobindo School (SAIIE&R) and DAV Public School. IT education (computer education) facilities are provided by SCAT Corporation and it has multiple branches with named SCAT Learning. A new Indian Institute of Management, Sambalpur(IIM) has been set up in the city. The Sambalpur chapter of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India was set up from 2010 at Deheripali, near Fatak, Sambalpur, Odisha.
Industries
Mahanadi CoalFields Limited, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited located at Sambalpur, produced 100.28 million tonnes (98.70 million long tons; 110.54 million short tons) of coal and had a profit before tax during 2010–2011 at Rs 4039.30 crore. Hirakud, in the vicinity of Sambalpur, was conceptualized as an industrial town by the erstwhile Chief Minister of Odisha, Biju Patnaik. On completion of the Hirakud Dam, power intensive industries such as aluminium smelters, cable manufacturing, steel re-rolling mills etc. established their presence in Hirakud. In the 1970s, Hirakud was a major industrial centre of Odisha, perhaps next only to Rourkela. At this point in time however, the main functional unit at Hirakud is the aluminium smelter of Hindalco and its associated units. The smelter set up by Indal in 1959 at Hirakud and later acquired by Hindalco, was the country's second aluminium smelter operating on grid power sourced from the hydro power station of the Hirakud Dam. It was the first in India to adopt clean coal combustion technology that uses a circulating fluidised bed, which is considered environmentally friendly. Currently the smelter has a capacity of 213,000 tonnes per year (210,000 long tons per year; 235,000 short tons per year), and provides employment to around 1700 persons.
Transportations
The city of Sambalpur has a well network of transport facilities for both commercial and public transportation. It is connected to the rest of Odisha and India by national highway – NH 53/Economic Corridor 1 (EC1), which is a part of Asian Highway-AH46 (Mumbai-Kolkata Highway). Sambalpur is one of the three railway divisions under East Coast Railway zone of Indian Railways. Sambalpur (SBP) is a major railway station in Odisha. This railway station is the cleanest railway station of East Coast Railway declared by Indian Railway. There are four other railway stations serving Sambalpur, viz. Sambalpur City Railway Station(SBPY), Sambalpur Road Railway Station(SBPD), Hirakud (HKG), across the Mahanadi and Maneswar Railway Station(MANE). The nearest airports are Veer Surendra Sai Airport, Jharsuguda (62 km, 39 mi) and Swami Vivekananda Airport, Raipur (262 km, 163 mi) and Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar (325 km, 202 mi).
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Administrative Capital
Administrative offices like Head Office of the Northern Range Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Northern Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Head Office of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and East Coast Railway Divisional Office are located at the city of Sambalpur providing administrative importance to the city.
Future Plans
Sambalpur has a populatiuon of nearly about 6.36 lakhs people and the population is growing due to massive and rapid industrialisation. From other states, people are migrating to Sambalpur ast the city has become a hub for employment as well as business opportunities.
Some of the prestigious institutions like Sainik School, Police Training School, etc. are also being planned and will soon be developed in the future. State Government has signed MOU in PPP mode for ‘Super Speciality’ hospital with accommodation strength up to seven hundred beds.
