Rourkela

This article is about the city which is a part of the greater metropolis of Odisha. For the greater metropolis, see Odisha.
Rourkela
Metropolitan City

Anticlockwise from top left: Hanuman Vatika, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Rourkela Steel Plant, Banja Bhawan and Entrance Highway to Raurkela Main City.
Nickname(s): Ispat Nagar
Industrial Capital of Odisha (also called Orissa)
Rourkela

Location in Odisha, India

Coordinates: 22°14′57″N 84°52′58″E / 22.24917°N 84.88278°ECoordinates: 22°14′57″N 84°52′58″E / 22.24917°N 84.88278°E
Country  India
State Odisha
District Sundergarh
Established 1954
Elevation 216 m (709 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total 273,217
 • Density 6,696/km2 (17,340/sq mi)
Languages
 • Official Oriya, Hindi
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
Vehicle registration OR-14/ OD-14

Rourkela  pronunciation  is a city located in the northern border of the Indian state of Odisha, also known as Orissa. It is the fourth largest city of Odisha after Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Berhampur with a population of 273,217 (Census Report of India 2011). It is situated about 340 kilometres (211 mi) north of state capital Bhubaneswar, and is surrounded by a range of hills and encircled by rivers. The city is also popularly known as Ispat Nagar and also as the Steel City of Odisha. It has one of the largest steel plants of the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) known as Rourkela Steel Plant. It also has one of the National Institutes of Technology (NIT Rourkela) of the country.

Name

The name Rour kela in the local tribal language of Sadri means "Our Village". It comes under Sundergarh district of the Indian state of Odisha. An indigenous community called Raulia used to inhabit this region.[1]

History

The twin towns of Rourkela and Fertilizer Township as well as their developed periphery are located in areas that were once covered by dense forests. These forests were once favorite hunting ground for the kings in the past. According to the census report of 2011 the population of Rourkela Industrial Township is 273,217 and Rourkela Town is 210,412 and the urban metropolitan area is 552,970. Then railway station of Rourkela was within the revenue village of Mahulpali. India's first public sector steel plant facility was established in Rourkela with the help of German businesses Krupp & Demag. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the town was the largest German colony outside Germany.

Geography

New Suraksha Path bridge Near Indira Gandhi Park

Rourkela is located at 84.54E longitude and 22.12N latitude in Sundergarh district of Odisha at an elevation of about 219 meters above mean sea level. The area of Rourkela is 200 square kilometres approximately. Being situated on Howrah-Mumbai rail track, Rourkela had an added advantage of the steel plant being set up there. Red and laterite soils are found here which are quite rich in minerals. The area near Rourkela is rich in iron-ore hence a steel plant is situated in Rourkela. Bolani and Barsuan are the two most prominent mines situated near the town. Rourkela is situated in a hilly region. A small hill range named Durgapur runs from the heart of the town dividing it into plant area and the steel township. The name "Durgapur" comes from an old village existed at the foothills long time ago before the plant was set up. The Koel and Sankha rivers meet at Vedvyas, Rourkela and flow as a single river called Brahmani.

Layout

The Rourkela Township is divided into two separate townships under Census of India as Steel Township and Civil Township. The Residential quarters colony of Rourkela Steel Plant having 21 sectors on record (while in reality the Sector – 10, 11 and 12 do not exist, though the area for the same is earmarked) is called Steel Township and the other part is called Civil Township. One smaller township Fertilizer was renamed sector-22, as this township is within the purview of SAIL.[2]

The 23 kilometers long Ring Road, connecting 19 sectors and some other parts of the steel city including old Rourkela. Other layouts include Civil Township, Station Road (Bus & Railway), Koel Nagar, Panposh, Udit Nagar, Fertiliser Township, Hamirpur, IGH Road, Vedvyas.

Climate

Rourkela has a tropical climate and receives high rainfall during Southwest monsoon (June – September) and retreating Northeast monsoon (December – January). Average annual rainfall ranges between 160 and 200 cm. The minimum and maximum temperatures are in the range of 7 C to 47 C with a mean minimum and maximum temperature range of 9.8 C to 39.2 C during coldest and hottest months. Thirty six percent of the geographical area of the district has semi-evergreen or tropical dry deciduous forest.[3]

Climate data for Rourkela
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 24
(75)		 27
(81)		 31
(88)		 36
(97)		 37
(99)		 33
(91)		 30
(86)		 29
(84)		 29
(84)		 29
(84)		 27
(81)		 24
(75)		 29.7
(85.4)
Average low °C (°F) 9
(48)		 13
(55)		 17
(63)		 21
(70)		 23
(73)		 23
(73)		 23
(73)		 22
(72)		 22
(72)		 19
(66)		 14
(57)		 10
(50)		 18
(64.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 22
(0.87)		 23
(0.91)		 29
(1.14)		 27
(1.06)		 55
(2.17)		 259
(10.2)		 334
(13.15)		 322
(12.68)		 255
(10.04)		 93
(3.66)		 19
(0.75)		 10
(0.39)		 1,448
(57.02)
Source: Rourkela Weather

Economy

Rourkela is the industrial capital of Odisha. It has industries of all sizes. The city is known internationally for iron & steel trades. Recent upspurt in iron & steel pricing has seen a lot of industries of all sizes coming in and around Rourkela. The city is near to the source of Raw Materials.

Civic administration

The steel city is divided mainly into two sections: Old Rourkela (sections of the city near the railway station that were settled prior to RSP coming up) and the much larger Steel township. The Steel township till 1999, was divided into 18 Sectors, Sector 6 being the largest of them.

The Steel Township and Fertilizer Township are under the Steel Plant Administration while the other sections of the city are under the Rourkela Municipal Corporation. Some rural areas of South Rourkela are managed by the Jalda Panchayat. Central Water Commission has its sub divisional headquarter near Panposh.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,[4] Rourkela had nearly 300,000 of population. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Rourkela has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 81%, and female literacy is 69%. In Rourkela, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Transport

Rourkela South Eastern Railway Station

As Rourkela is the industrial capital of Odisha, it has a developed transportation network. Rourkela railway station is on the Tatanagar–Bilaspur section of Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line under Chakradharpur rail division in the South Eastern Railway Zone headquartered at Kolkata. Rourkela city is connected with National Highways NH-23 and SH-10 to the towns and cities of Odisha. Independent three-wheeler auto taxis without meters and local self governance are the most important mode of transportation in the city. Sampark buses, introduced in September 2006, connect various areas in the city. At one time Rourkela was the only city in Odisha to have a direct air connectivity with Kolkata. Around 2010–11, the authority of Rourkela Airport was passed over to Airport Authority of India. DTDS, Sky Airways and Air Odisha were connecting Rourkela with other parts of Odisha. According to the 12th fifth year plan of the Central Government, Rourkela airport would be converted into a mini airport.

Recreation

Hands of Steel

Rourkela has three recreation parks: Indira Gandhi Park, Jubilee Park, and Ispat Nehru Park Udyaan.

Bhanja Bhaban (comprising the Bhanja Kala Kendra and the library) and Civic Centre hosts the State level and National Level Drama, Fashion and Dancing competitions throughout the year.

The city has several movie theatres, namely Konark and UMA, the two most popular ones. Apsara, Deepak & Razzaq (presently all of them being turned into multiplex). A couple of multiplexes however have started recently, namely PSR Cinemas and Cineplex @ Shanti Towers. Several food courts like Ambagan food court, sec-5 VIP market, Koel Nagar NAC market, Khana Khazana, 7 AM & Max Restaurant & Bakery in New Rourkela, Green Chillyz behind Ambagan are some of the most visited places.

"The Hands of Steel" or the "Ten Million Monument" was designed by Vijay Acquilla and made at the initiative of Dr. P L Agarwal.

Media

Rourkela City has a radio station of All India Radio (A.I.R) on FM Band 102.06 MHz since 24 June 1995. AIR Raurkela has two transmission one from 12pm to 5pm & the second from 6pm to 11pm. Other privately owned radio channels include Radio Choklate 104 FM and Big 92.7 FM. These channels broadcast Hindi & Oriya film and non film songs, talk shows and other entertainment programmes.

The Oriya daily newspaper Sambaad gets published in its Raurkela section press.

Education

Main article: Education in Rourkela

Rourkela is the educational, technical and medical research hub of Western Odisha and even students from all parts of Odisha & some parts of neighbouring states Jharkhand & West Bengal come here to pursue higher education. It houses many English medium schools which provide CBSE and ICSE certificates to their students. Notably, mostly there are ICSE-ISC board schools like Ispat EM School, St. Paul's School, Mount Carmel School, St. Joseph's School, Desouza's School, MGM English Medium School, St. Thomas School, St. Gregorious School, and St. Arnold's School. Most of them are missionary based organizations run by licensee trustees. Saint Paul's School is the largest school in Rourkela and is among the best of schools in Eastern India. The CBSE board schools are Deepika English Medium School, Delhi Public School, Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) School, Chinmaya Vidyalaya,etc. The Central government has its own Kendriya Vidyalaya in Sector 6 and Bondamunda.

National Institute of Technology Rourkela is an institute of national importance situated in Rourkela

The National Institute of Technology, Rourkela (NIT-R) ranks 5th in terms of education & placement quality in India. The students of various schools in NIT represent their schools in various national level and international competitions including IMO, IChO and NASA.[5][6][7]

Rourkela has a high tech private medical college and hospital and is the only city in Odisha to have a private medical college outside Bhubaneshwar. The local leaders have demanded a government medical college in Rourkela. There are over 15 colleges for arts, science and commerce streams under the Sambalpur University. Some of the famous ones are Government Autonomous College, Rourkela Municipal College, Ispat College, SG Women's College. There are also private engineering & management colleges like Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (RIMS), DAMITS, Rourkela Institute of Technology (RIT), Padmanava College of Engineering (PCE) and Purushottam Institute of Engineering & Technology (PIET). These colleges come under the jurisdiction of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) and the head office is located in Chennd, Rourkela.[8]

Universities

Sports

Hockey

Indian captain Dilip Tirkey and deep defender Lazarus Barla started their careers in Raurkela. Raurkela has special hockey hostels for kids, upbringing the next generation players with some of the best amenities. It has produced a few Arjuna Awardees, including Minati Mohapatra. Olympians of repute like Paralympian Roshan and Rachita Mistry are from this city. Indian national cricketer Sanjay Raul and the Under-19 world cup representative Chandrakant Barik play from this city. Pabitra Mohan Mohanty, the former national 'B' champion in chess and second only to Viswanathan Anand in national 'A' category is a resident of this city.

The city has a sports hub of two stadiums and few other sports grounds located in sector-6. The two stadiums are Ispat Stadium and a beautiful AstroTurf hockey stadium. There is a basketball ground, a chess hall, and a well-maintained volleyball ground nearby. The indoor stadium at sector-20 hosts the badminton and Table Tennis events.

Stadiums

Rourkela has an International hockey stadium with synthetic astroturf which has been host to World Junior Hockey Championship and been a training center to most of the international Hockey players of India. Ispat Stadium has been host for several Ranji Trophy matches. The city has produced many reputed Ranji players in the recent times.

Notable residents

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rourkela Reader, see "Rourkela from 1921 to 2005". (PDF) . Retrieved on 15 April 2012.
  2. ↑ About Rourkela and its History | Greater Rourkela | Rajgangpur | Kansbahal | Bonai of India. Rourkelacity.com. Retrieved on 15 April 2012.
  3. ↑ Field Station- Rourkela (Odisha). National Institute of Malaria Research. mrcindia.org
  4. ↑ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 16 June 2004. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  5. ↑ Rourkela Girl Topped in NASA Contest | Rourkela | Rajgangpur | Kansbahal | Bonai of India. Webcache.googleusercontent.com (5 May 2010). Retrieved on 15 April 2012.
  6. ↑ India to host Chemistry Olympiad | 33rd International Chemistry Olympiad. Hindu.com. Retrieved on 6 April 2013.
  7. ↑ Deepika English Medium School|deepika school rourkela. Deepikaemschool.org. Retrieved on 15 April 2012.
  8. ↑ bput.ac.in. bput.ac.in. Retrieved on 15 April 2012.

External links

 Ambikapur Ranchi Jamshedpur
Bilaspur Kharagpur
   Rourkela  
Sambalpur Talcher Keonjhar