Asika or Aska is a town and a

Notified Area Council A nagar panchayat (town panchayat; ) or Notified Area Council (NAC) in India is a settlement in transition from rural to urban and therefore a form of an urban political unit comparable to a municipality. An urban centre with more than 12,000 ...

in Ganjam district in the state of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), 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 and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. Fondly known as the Sugar city of Odisha. Asika is a major commercial and transportation hub of Ganjam district.

Geography

Asika is located at . It has an average elevation of 30 metres (98 feet). It is situated at a distance of 40 km from Brahmapur on South, 35 km from

Bhanjanagar Bhanjanagar is a town and a semi-urban region. It is a Notified Area Council in the Ganjam District in the state of Odisha, India. The town, earlier named as Russellkonda (Russell's Hill) after George Russell, President of then board of Reve ...

on the North at the confluence of Rivers

Rushikulya The Rushikulya River is one of the major rivers in the state of Odisha and covers entire catchment area in the districts of Kandhamal and Ganjam of Odisha. The Rushikulya originates at an elevation of about 1000 metres from Daringbadi hills of the ...

and Badanadi (Bara River).

Asika Sugar Factory

Asika Sugar Factory is the first sugar factory in Asia, established in 1824. The plant is located in Asika town. Asika Cooperative Sugar Industries is a large scale industry employing more than 35000 families. It is one of the oldest in India, built by Minchin Saheb in British time. Along with the factory at Nellikuppam near Cuddalore, it was managed by Parry and Co. Due to this factory Asika Town is known as ''Sugar City.'' The jaggery mill was started in 1848 as Asika Sugar Works and Distillery Ltd. by Parry and Co. Madras. It met with huge losses for lack of supervision and other transport bottlenecks. Thereafter, Fredrick Josheph Vivian Minchin, the Book Keeper of Biny & Co. purchased the factory and with the new Sugar Technology obtained from Germany designed and rebuilt the factory in 1856.

Demographics

As of the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Informatio ...

, Asika had a population of 21,428 (third largest city in terms of population Ganjam dist after Brahmapur and

Hinjilicut Hinjilicut is a town and municipality of Ganjam district in the Indian state of Odisha. Geography Hinjilicut is located at . It has an average elevation of . Demographics India,Kendriya Vidyalaya
* Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir * NAC High School * Mac Mickle Sanskrit Vidyalaya * Hari Har High School * Harihar Nagar UP School * Bediri Sahi UP School * Govt Tech High School * Govt Girls High School
Aryan Public School
* DePaul School
Mom School of Excellency
* SriAurobindo Integral Education Center, R.Damodar Palli * Technical High School * Utkal Public School, Kishore Chandra Palli * Ramakrushna adarsha vidya mandir, Gayatri nagar, aska

College

Aska Science College
* Niranjan Women's College * Mac Mickle Sanskrit College * Saraswati Vidya (junior) Mandir College

Banks

* SBI Main Branch * Asika Coperative Bank * SBI ADB Branch * Andhra Bank * Axis bank * ICICI Bank * Bank Of India * Utkal Grameen Bank * Union Bank of India * Indian Overseas Bank * Karur Vaiysa bank * Punjab National Bank * HDFC bank * Corporation Bank of India * SBI Sme Branch

Transport

Road

Asika is connected with

National Highway 59 (India) National Highway 59 (NH 59) is a National Highway in India connecting Khariar and Brahmapur in the state of Odisha. Before renumbering of national highways, route of NH-59 was part of old national highway 217. The Highway is connected with SH ...

(Khariar – Brahmapur) and

National Highway 157 (India) National Highway 157, commonly referred to as NH 157 is a national highway in India. It is a spur road of National Highway 57. NH-157 traverses the state of Odisha in India. Route Purunakatak, Phulbani, Kalinga, Bhanjanagar, Asika. Ju ...

(Purunakatak – Asika) which connect Asika to other cities and towns of Odisha.

Rail

* Brahmapur railway station

Air

Biju Patnaik International Airport Biju Patnaik International Airport is an international airport serving Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Odisha. It is situated around south-west from Bhubaneswar Railway Station and from the city center. Named after the former chief minist ...

Berhampur Airport Berhampur Airport, also known as Rangeilunda airstrip , is located 9 km east of Berhampur (also known as Brahmapur) in Odisha, India. The airstrip was built by the British during World War II and is adjacent to the Berhampur University. Range ...

Port

Gopalpur port Gopalpur port is a deep sea port of Gopalpur in Ganjam District, Odisha, India. The port has been developed on the banks of the Bay of Bengal. The seaport will increase the sea trade of Odisha, as well as industry and employment. The Odisha gov ...

Politics

Aska (Vidhan Sabha constituency) Aska (Sl. No.: 128) is a Vidhan Sabha constituency of Ganjam district, Odisha. This constituency includes Aska, Aska block and 12 GPs (Subalaya, Kaniari, Barida, Paikajamuna, Sunapalli, Sialia, Nandiagada, Borasingi, Ambapua, Baliasara, Bo ...

includes Asika N.A.C, Asika block and 12 GPs (Subalaya, Kaniari, Barida, Paikajamuna, Sunapalli, Sialia, Nandiagada, Borasingi, Ambapua, Baliasara, Bolasara and Sunarijhola) of Kabisuryanagar block. The current MLA from Asika Assembly Constituency is Smt. Manjula Swain of BJD. Previous MLAs from this seat was Sri. Debaraj Mohanty from 2004 to 2014 of BJD, Usharani Panda of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

in 1995, Duti Krushna Panda of CPI in 1990, Raghaba Parida who won representing INC in 1985 and as a candidate of the Indian National Congress in 1980, and

Harihar Swain Harihar Swain (11 November 1939 – 13 October 2012) was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represented the Aska constituency of Odisha on a Biju Janata Dal ticket. He was expelled from the Biju Janata Dal The Biju Janata Dal (; ...

of JNP in 1977. Asika is part of

Aska (Lok Sabha constituency) Aska Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 21 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th larges ...

References

{{Ganjam district Cities and towns in Ganjam district