Sukinda is a town in

Jajpur district Jajpur () is a district of Odisha state in eastern India. The Odisha Government carried out a re-organisation of districts of Odisha in 1993. The erstwhile Cuttack district was split into multiple districts with Jajpur being one of them. Th ...

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

, India. Odisha accounts for about 98% of the total proved

chromite Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of Iron, FeChromium, Cr2Oxygen, O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The ...

(

chromium Chromium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6 element, group 6. It is a steely-grey, Luster (mineralogy), lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium ...

ore) reserves of the country, of which about 97% occur in the Sukinda Valley. In September 2007, the

Blacksmith Institute Pure Earth (originally Blacksmith Institute) is a New York City–based international nonprofit founded in 1999 that works to identify and address pollution-related issues in low- and middle-income countries. Pure Earth's work focuses on two key p ...

listed Sukinda as one of the 10 most polluted places in the world. Multiple local political figures and scientists disputed the listing, claiming that the Blacksmith Institute used outdated research.

Location

National Highway 200 passes through Sukinda. Sukinda is flanked by the Mahagiri range and the Daitari range, Sukinda Valley spreads over an area of 50 km² from Kansa to Maruabil in Jajpur District. In the middle of this valley flows a natural stream, Damsala, and it joins river Brahmani at a point further from the valley.

Natural Resources

Sukinda has an abundance of chromite, around 97% of India's total deposits. The valley is abundant in the deposits of chromite and has the largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world. Around 12 mines operate in the area without proper environmental controls, and pollution caused by the mines is a major health hazard. 60% of the drinking water contains hexavalent chromium at levels more than double international standards and as per an Indian health group estimations 84.75% of deaths in the mining areas — where regulations are non-existent — are due to chromite-related diseases. There has been virtually no attempt to clean up the contamination. Sukinda is also on the list of the most polluted cities in the world.

Tourist Places

Near to sukinda there is lot of tourist places and those are well connected with road ways: Bramhani River bridge, Lord Jagannath Temple in Hatibari village, Chandaneswar Mahadev Temple in Kaitha village, Sun rise and sun set view point from Kaitha village, Maa Mangala Temple in Kaitha village, apart from that there are lot of mountains for tracking purpose (Mahagiri, Tamaka, Badasuli, Sunajhar).Beautiful Ashokajhara waterfall inside dense forest and a temple. Ragada Dam, nature's best view can found on foot hill of Nagada Hills.

References

External links

Satellite map of Sukinda
Cities and towns in Jajpur district {{odisha-stub