Sundargarh is a town in Sundergarh district of the Indian state of

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 ...

. As of 2011

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 ...

, the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

had a population of 45,036. Sundargarh is recognized as an industrial district in Odisha. Steel, fertilizer, cement, ferrovanadium, machine-building, glass, china-clay plants and factories, and spinning mills are some of the major industries of this district. Sundargarh occupies a prominent position in the mineral map of Odisha and is rich in iron ore, limestone, and manganese.

Geography

Sundargarh is located at . It has an average elevation of 243 metres (801 feet). The Ib river flows along in the north.

Climate

The climate of this district is characterized by extremely hot summers and cool winters. The climate is hot and moist sub-humid. The normal rainfall of the district is approximately 1230 mm.

History

Sundargarh was the capital of the princely State of Gangpur till 1948 and became the district headquarters of

Sundargarh district Sundargarh District is a Districts of Odisha, district in the northwestern part of Odisha States and territories of India, state in eastern India. Sundargarh district is bounded by Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh in the west, Jashpur district o ...

in 1948. It is understood that, in ancient times, Sundargarh was under the rule of different dynasties. However, divergent views are available regarding the origin of the ruling family. The present royal family of Gangpur belongs to the Sekhar dynasty. This ex-state was under the suzerainty of

Sambalpur Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Samb ...

, known as Hirakhand Desh, and later formed part of the dominion of the Maratha Rajas of

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

. This was ceded to the British Government in 1803 by the Maratha Chief Raghuji Bhonsla of Nagpur under the treaty of Deogaon (near Rourkela). This was restored to him by a special engagement in 1806. This was finally ceded in 1826. In 1905, this princely state along with Bonai was transferred from the control of the commissioner of Chhotanagpur to that of the Odisha Division and a separate political agent was appointed. Biramitra Gate Sundargarh

Demographics

India

, the population of the town was 45,036, with 22,754 males and 22,282 females.

Transport

Sundargarh is connected to all major towns in

by road. It is connected to

Rourkela Rourkela () is a planned city located in the northern district Sundargarh of Odisha, India. It is the third-largest Urban Agglomeration in Odisha after Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. It is situated about west of the state capital Bhubaneswar and is ...

and

by State Highway 10. The nearest railway station is Jharsuguda railway station. The nearest airport is Jharsuguda Airport which is 27 kilometers from the town.

Politics

The current MLA from Sundargarh Assembly Constituency is Jogesh Singh of BJD, who won the seat in the general election in 2024 after Kusum Tete, who won the legislative assembly seat in 2019 after Sushama Patel who won the seat by election due to the death of her husband and seating MLA Sankarsan Naik who won the seat in the 2004 general election. Previous MLAs from this seat were Kishore Chandra Patel who won this seat representing INC in 1995 and in 1977, and also representing INC(I) in 1980, and Bharatendra Shekhar Deo who won this seat representing JD in 1990 and representing JNP in 1985. Sundargarh is part of Sundargarh (Lok Sabha constituency). The current Member of Parliament is Jual Oram from BJP.

Education

There are many schools and two colleges exist in the town. The schools are both private and public, where as both the colleges are government run. The Govt. College is the oldest college in the town (inaugurated in 1958) which provides co-education and the Govt. Women's college accepts only female students. A medical college is being constructed with the sponsorship of NTPC. The Medical College was taken over by Government of Odisha and renamed as Government Medical College and Hospital with MBBS classes starting from 2022-23 academic session under the leadership of Dean and Principal Professor Dr Daitary Routray.

Sports

A new synthetic (polygrass) hockey turf has been laid at the SAI Sports Complex in Bhawanipur, Sundargarh. This is the third synthetic hockey turf in the district of Sundargarh. The other turfs are at Panposh (Panposh Hockey Hostel) and Rourkela ( Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium). The

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India, SAI, was set up in 1984 to carry forward the legacy of the 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi under the Department of Sports. SAl has been entrusted with promoting sport in India and achieving sporting excellen ...

(SAI) had approved the Rs. 2.25 crores project in 2007. The base work for the turf began in 2007, and was completed by May 2008. Then began the wait for synthetic turf, which arrived only in November 2008, and was subsequently laid by February 2009.

Notable people

* Dilip Tirkey -

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

player from Sundergarh

References

7. https://www.dailypioneer.com/2017/state-editions/60-natl-hockey-players-are-from-sundargarh.html {{Authority control Cities and towns in Sundergarh district