Sundargarh district

ସୁନ୍ଦରଗଡ଼ ଜିଲ୍ଲା

Sundargarh is Odisha's second-largest district, home to the Rourkela Steel Plant, Khandadhar Falls and a celebrated hockey tradition. History, places, how to reach.

Headquarters: Sundargarh
Population (2011): 2,093,437
Area: 9,712 sq km
Villages: 1,776
Literacy (2011): 73.3%
Towns (2011): 14

Sundargarh (ସୁନ୍ଦରଗଡ଼) is a district in north-western Odisha, bordering Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Sundargarh district is known for the steel city of Rourkela, its mineral wealth, its large Adivasi population and its long record of producing India hockey players.

Sundargarh is the second-largest district in Odisha, covering 9,712 sq km, or a little over 6 percent of the state. Its headquarters is the town of Sundargarh. The district's largest city, however, is Rourkela, which grew up around the Rourkela Steel Plant from the late 1950s.

The district was formed on 1 January 1948, when the princely states of Gangpur and Bonai acceded to India and were merged into Odisha. It has three sub-divisions: Sundargarh, Panposh (which includes Rourkela) and Bonai.

At the 2011 Census, Sundargarh had 2,093,437 people. About half the population (50.75 percent) belonged to Scheduled Tribes, the largest groups being the Oraon, Munda, Kisan, Kharia, Bhuiyan and Gond. Odia is the main language, but Sadri, Mundari, Hindi, Kurukh, Kisan and Kharia are also widely spoken. With more than a third of its people living in towns, Sundargarh is one of the more urbanised districts of Odisha.

People of Sundargarh district

Census 2011 counted 20,93,437 people in 4,79,109 households in Sundargarh district. 35.3% lived in towns, and the literacy rate (age 7 and over) was 73.3%. The census recognised 14 towns in the district.

Population: 20,93,437; 10,61,147 male · 10,32,290 female
Households: 4,79,109; about 4.4 people each
Literacy (age 7+): 73.3%; men 81.0% · women 65.5%
Females per 1,000 males: 973
Girls per 1,000 boys (0–6): 946
People per km²: 216

Rural13,55,340 (64.7%)
Urban7,38,097 (35.3%)

Scheduled Castes: 1,91,660 (9.2%)
Scheduled Tribes: 10,62,349 (50.7%)

What the 8,73,227 workers did

Cultivators1,32,555 (15.2%)
Agricultural labourers59,287 (6.8%)
Household industry16,490 (1.9%)
Other work3,26,780 (37.4%)
Marginal workers3,38,115 (38.7%)

Marginal workers worked less than six months of the year.

Source: Census of India 2011, Primary Census Abstract (district, sub-district and town level). Figures are from 2011, the most recent census with published district, town and village figures.

Facilities in the villages of Sundargarh

How many of the 1,712 inhabited villages of this district had each facility within the village itself, from the Census 2011 Village Directory. Together the 1,762 villages cover 7,030 km², 40% of it sown with crops and 22% forest.

Education

Primary school1,624 of 1,712
Middle school859 of 1,712
Secondary school377 of 1,712
Senior secondary school60 of 1,712
Degree college29 of 1,712

Health

Primary health centre5 of 1,712
Health sub-centre342 of 1,712
Anganwadi centre1,559 of 1,712

Water & power

Treated tap water0 of 1,712
Hand pump1,672 of 1,712
Electricity for homes1,397 of 1,712

Roads & transport

All-weather road1,233 of 1,712
Public bus458 of 1,712
Mobile phone coverage1,599 of 1,712

Services

Post office or sub post office420 of 1,712
Commercial bank1 of 1,712
Ration (PDS) shop401 of 1,712
Weekly haat153 of 1,712

Primary schools: 2,086
Middle schools: 975
Secondary schools: 499
Degree colleges: 31
Primary health centres: 16
Health sub-centres: 342

Main crops named by villages: Paddy (1,677), Wheat (226), Pulses (211), Vegetables (163), Vegetable (161), Mustard (92), Mandia (91), Ground Nuts (85). Handicrafts: Tailoring (10), Furnitures (7), Broomstick (6), Carpentery (4), Earthern Pots (3), Broom Stick (3), Pottery (2).

Source: Census of India 2011, District Census Handbook: Village and Town Directory (Odisha). The facilities were recorded for the 2011 census (reference year 2009 for most items); many places have changed since. Facilities in towns are not included.

Towns of Sundargarh

6 statutory towns (municipal corporation, municipality, notified area council or industrial township) and 8 census towns — places the census counted as urban but which are governed by gram panchayats.

Town	Type	Population	Literacy	Wards
Raurkela	Municipality	2,72,721	87.0%	41
Raurkela	Industrial township	2,10,317	85.5%	20
Rajagangapur	Municipality	51,362	84.3%	20
Sundargarh	Municipality	45,036	88.9%	19
Biramitrapur	Municipality	33,442	78.1%	11
Jalda	Census town	15,789	75.9%	–
Panposh	Census town	9,923	79.0%	–
Kuanrmunda	Census town	9,043	79.6%	–
Hatibandha	Census town	8,938	81.7%	–
Lathikata	Census town	7,405	86.7%	–
Banaigarh	Census town	7,080	87.3%	–
Koida	Census town	6,763	73.5%	–
Tensa	Census town	4,469	81.9%	–
O.C.L.	Industrial township	2,397	96.5%	–

Population of the town itself; for towns with outgrowths, the town page also gives the figure including them. Ward counts are the census wards of 2011.

Census sub-districts: town and country

Sub-district	Population	Rural	Urban	Literacy
Hemgir	84,559	84,559	0	74.5%
Lephripara	70,547	70,547	0	70.3%
Bhasma	42,101	42,101	0	74.7%
Dharuadihi	35,427	35,427	0	71.4%
Sundargarh Town	48,969	3,933	45,036	88.1%
Sundargarh	74,134	74,134	0	70.7%
Kinjirkela	57,452	57,452	0	66.0%
Talasara	80,443	80,443	0	68.2%
Baragaon	77,943	77,943	0	69.3%
Kutra	66,462	66,462	0	67.5%
Rajagangapur	1,66,131	1,02,449	63,682	73.1%
Raiboga	43,474	43,474	0	65.4%
Biramitrapur	96,881	54,396	42,485	70.1%
Hatibari	61,931	61,931	0	62.9%
Bisra	98,455	98,455	0	63.9%
Bondamunda	14,399	14,399	0	71.2%
Brahmani Tarang	57,664	57,664	0	65.7%
Raghunathapali	26,095	1,368	24,727	77.5%
Tangarapali	5,851	5,851	0	70.5%
Lathikata	24,846	17,441	7,405	72.2%
Chandiposh	21,864	21,864	0	60.0%
Kamarposh Balang	42,854	42,854	0	56.1%
Koida	40,824	34,061	6,763	56.8%
Lahunipara	77,841	73,372	4,469	64.1%
Gurundia	35,256	35,256	0	62.2%
Tikaetpali	23,589	23,589	0	63.6%
Banei	61,804	54,724	7,080	75.3%
Mahulapada	19,191	19,191	0	45.3%
Raurkela (M)	3,20,040	0	3,20,040	86.6%
Raurkela (ITS)P.S.	2,16,410	0	2,16,410	85.6%

Odisha's census sub-districts are police-station areas, not revenue tahasils.

History

The Sundargarh area is generally counted as part of ancient South Kosala. In recent centuries it was divided between two princely states. Gangpur, with its capital at Sundargarh, was ruled by the Sekhar family, while Bonai, with its capital at Bonaigarh, was ruled by a Kadamba line. In both cases, tradition says the dynasties were founded with the help of local Bhuyan leaders.

Both states were tributaries of Sambalpur and so came under the Maratha rulers of Nagpur. According to the district administration, they were ceded to the British in 1803, returned to the Marathas in 1806 and finally ceded in 1826. In 1905 they were moved from the control of the Chota Nagpur commissioner to that of Odisha.

On 25 April 1939, troops opened fire on a gathering of tribal peasants at Amko Simko, near Simko village. The crowd had gathered for a no-rent movement led by Nirmal Munda against heavy taxes in Gangpur State. The number of people killed is disputed. The Government of Odisha figure is 39, other records give about 49, and Harekrushna Mahtab wrote of a much higher toll. The event is remembered as one of the major tribal protests in Odisha's freedom movement.

After Independence, the rulers of Gangpur and Bonai signed accession on 1 January 1948, and the two states together became Sundargarh district. In the 1950s a public-sector steel plant was built at Rourkela with West German collaboration. President Rajendra Prasad lit its first blast furnace on 3 February 1959.

Places to visit

Vedvyas

Vedvyas, on the edge of Rourkela, is where the Sankh and South Koel rivers meet to form the Brahmani. Local tradition links the place with the sage Vyasa. Some accounts say he composed the Mahabharata here, while others link it to the story of his birth. A temple at the confluence draws pilgrims.

Khandadhar Falls

Near Nandapani in the Bonai area, Khandadhar Falls drops about 244 m (801 ft) in a single plunge, fed by the Kora Nala. Wikipedia describes it as the second-highest waterfall in Odisha. Its name comes from its sword-like shape (khanda means sword). It is about 104 km from Rourkela via Bonaigarh. It is different from the Khandadhar falls in Kendujhar district.

Mandira Dam

Mandira Dam on the Sankh river near Kansbahal was built after 1957 to supply water to the Rourkela Steel Plant. The district administration puts it about 26 km from Rourkela by road. Its reservoir is a popular picnic spot.

Hanuman Vatika

A temple garden in Rourkela known for its very tall statue of Hanuman, one of the city's best-known landmarks.

Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium

Opened in Rourkela on 5 January 2023, this stadium seats about 21,800 people. It co-hosted the 2023 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup with Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Stadium. Guinness World Records recognised it as the largest fully seated hockey arena in the world.

How to reach

Air: Rourkela has a small airport about 6 km from the city, served by regional flights. Veer Surendra Sai Airport at Jharsuguda is another option for the south of the district. Check current schedules before planning.
Rail: Rourkela Junction is on the Howrah–Mumbai main line, with trains to Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and other cities. Sundargarh town and other parts of the district are served by smaller stations.
Road: Rourkela is about 328 km from Bhubaneswar by road, according to Wikipedia. The Biju Expressway connects Rourkela with Sambalpur and southern Odisha.

See also the neighbouring Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts, or browse all districts of Odisha.

Temples (1)

Ramji Temple

Photos and map links in the temple directory. Today's tithi, sunrise and Rahu Kala here.

Railway stations

28 stations and 0 halts inside the district, as mapped on OpenStreetMap; some on new lines may not yet have regular trains.

Culture and festivals

Sundargarh's culture is shaped by its many Adivasi communities, among them the Oraon, Munda, Kisan, Kharia, Bhuiyan and Gond. The Karma festival, with its group dances and songs, is celebrated widely in the region, as are Nuakhai, Durga Puja and Rath Yatra. Sadri, a link language of the Chota Nagpur region, is widely spoken alongside Odia, Mundari and Kurukh.

Rourkela, built around the steel plant, has drawn workers from across India, and Christian, Hindu and Muslim festivals are all marked in the city.

The district's languages reflect this diversity. At the 2011 Census about 44 percent of people gave Odia as their mother tongue, about 15 percent Sadri, and about 10 percent Mundari, with Hindi, Kurukh, Kisan and Kharia each spoken by several percent. Among the Scheduled Tribes, the Oraon made up about 14 percent of the district's population, the Munda about 11 percent, and the Kisan and Kharia about 7 percent each.

Hockey is part of the district's identity. Village teams across the tribal belt have produced generations of national players. Two of India's most decorated defenders, Dilip Tirkey and Amit Rohidas, both come from Saunamara village. With the Birsa Munda stadium in Rourkela, the district can now host international tournaments.

Food

Everyday meals in Sundargarh are rice-based, like the rest of western Odisha. Rural cooking makes good use of forest and seasonal foods such as mushrooms and bamboo shoots, while Rourkela offers food from many parts of India. Dishes common across western Odisha, such as chaula bara and bamboo-shoot preparations, are also eaten here.

Geography and climate

Sundargarh lies on the northern edge of Odisha. It borders Raigarh and Jashpur districts of Chhattisgarh to the west and north-west, Jharkhand to the north and north-east, and the Odisha districts of Kendujhar, Angul, Deogarh, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda to the east and south.

The landscape is a hilly plateau cut by river valleys and covered in large areas of forest. The Brahmani river is formed near Rourkela, where the Sankh and South Koel rivers meet at Vedvyas. The Ib, a tributary of the Mahanadi, drains the western part of the district. The Bonai hills in the east are rich in iron ore and hold the tall Khandadhar waterfall.

Feature	Detail
Area	9,712 sq km (second-largest district in Odisha)
Main rivers	Brahmani, Sankh, South Koel, Ib
Notable waterfall	Khandadhar, about 244 m
Climate	Hot summers, a south-west monsoon from June to September, and cool, dry winters

Economy

Sundargarh is one of Odisha's main industrial and mining districts.

Steel: the Rourkela Steel Plant, run by the Steel Authority of India (SAIL), was India's first integrated steel plant in the public sector. After its 2010–12 expansion it has a capacity of about 4.2 million tonnes of crude steel a year.
Mining: the district has deposits of iron ore, manganese and limestone; iron-ore mining in the Bonai hills has even affected the flow of Khandadhar Falls.
Cement and other industry: Rajgangpur has a large cement plant (now run by Dalmia Cement), and many smaller industrial units operate around Rourkela.
Agriculture: most rural households farm paddy on rain-fed land and collect forest produce.

In 2006 the central government listed Sundargarh among India's 250 most backward districts, a measure that reflects the wide gap between its industrial towns and its rural interior.

Climate of Sundargarh

In Sundargarh district (at 22.12°N, 84.04°E), the hottest month is May (average highs of 40°C) and the coolest nights come in Jan (13°C). About 1510 mm of rain falls in a year, most of it in the monsoon; Jul is the wettest month.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Average high (°C)	26	30	35	39	40	35	30	30	30	30	29	26
Average low (°C)	13	16	20	24	27	27	25	24	24	21	17	13
Rainfall (mm)	19	14	16	17	32	255	409	388	257	74	11	17
Rainy days	2	2	2	2	3	15	25	25	20	7	1	1

Averages for 1995–2024 at that point (248 m above sea level), from the Open-Meteo historical weather API (ERA5 reanalysis by ECMWF/Copernicus, CC BY 4.0) — modelled values on a ~25 km grid, not station readings from the India Meteorological Department. A rainy day has 2.5 mm or more.

Notable people

Dilip Tirkey (born 1977, Saunamara village): former India hockey captain who played 412 internationals; Padma Shri (2004) and later president of Hockey India.
Ignace Tirkey (born 1981, Lulkidihi): India hockey player, Asia Cup gold medallist; Arjuna Award (2009) and Padma Shri (2010).
Amit Rohidas (Saunamara village): India hockey defender who won Olympic bronze medals in 2020 (Tokyo) and 2024 (Paris).
Jual Oram (born 1961, Kendudihi village): MP for Sundargarh and India's first Union Minister of Tribal Affairs (1999).
Nirmal Munda: leader of the 1939 no-rent movement in Gangpur State, later honoured as a freedom fighter.

Blocks, sub-districts, panchayats & villages

Choose a block, sub-district or town to see its details and its gram panchayats and villages. Open any village for its own page.

Counts below: Local Government Directory, December 2022 snapshot (LGD villages, which can differ from the district administration's revenue-village count).

Blocks: 17
Sub-districts: 30
GPs: 279
LGD villages: 1,776

Community development block

Balisankara

Gram panchayats: 19
Villages: 101
LGD block code: 3573
District: Sundargarh

Open full block page

Villages (…)

All blocks in Sundargarh

Block	GPs	Villages	Village pop.	Literacy	ST share
Balisankara	19	101	85,690	67.5%	67.0%
Bargaon	15	69	71,242	69.3%	65.0%
Bisra	14	71	68,629	67.7%	55.5%
Bonaigarh	13	118	62,811	72.0%	56.9%
Gurundia	13	146	66,988	63.4%	79.4%
Hemgir	19	153	84,559	74.5%	45.3%
Koida	15	113	75,586	54.5%	74.9%
Kuarmunda	20	108	97,870	64.4%	80.3%
Kutra	16	54	80,470	68.8%	77.1%
Lahunipara	17	220	99,526	59.0%	67.9%
Lathikata	18	88	80,702	66.1%	75.1%
Lephripara	17	108	78,808	68.4%	58.9%
Nuagaon	20	120	1,06,156	61.9%	66.2%
Rajgangpur	20	77	95,142	65.2%	83.2%
Subdega	14	63	66,909	69.3%	71.3%
Sundargarh	16	87	69,878	73.9%	51.9%
Tangarpali	13	80	64,374	71.6%	53.4%

GPs and villages: Local Government Directory (Dec 2022). Village population, literacy and Scheduled Tribe share: sum of the block's villages in Census of India 2011, Primary Census Abstract (village level).

All census sub-districts

Towns (urban local bodies)

Biramitrapur · Municipality
Rajagangapur · Municipality
Raurkela · Municipal Corporation
Sundargarh · Municipality

Assembly constituencies in Sundargarh

8TalsaraSTBhabani Shankar Bhoi · BJP
9SundargarhSTJogesh Kumar Singh · BJD
10BiramitrapurSTRohit Joseph Tirkey · BJD
11RaghunathpaliSCDurga Charan Tanti · BJP
12RourkelaSarada Prashad Nayak · BJD
13RajgangpurSTC. S. Raazen Ekka · INC
14BonaiSTLaxman Munda · CPI(M)

Source: Local Government Directory (lgdirectory.gov.in), Government of India — data dump of December 2022 via github.com/planemad/india-local-government-directory. Sub-districts follow the Local Government Directory, which for Odisha uses the Census sub-districts (police-station areas) — these are not the same as revenue tahasils. Boundaries and names change over time; check the district administration for current status.

Frequently asked questions

Is Rourkela in Sundargarh district?

Yes. Rourkela, home of the Rourkela Steel Plant, is the largest city of Sundargarh district, although the district headquarters is the town of Sundargarh.

Why is Sundargarh famous for hockey?

The district has produced many India hockey players, including former captain Dilip Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey and Olympic medallist Amit Rohidas. Rourkela's Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium co-hosted the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup.

How high is Khandadhar waterfall in Sundargarh?

Khandadhar Falls near Nandapani in the Bonai area drops about 244 m (801 ft) in a single fall, according to Wikipedia. It is about 104 km from Rourkela by road.

When was Sundargarh district formed?

Sundargarh district was formed on 1 January 1948 by merging the princely states of Gangpur and Bonai after they acceded to India.

Sources & references

1Districts of Orissa – Census 2011 population — Census2011.co.in (compiled from Census of India 2011)
2History — District Administration, Sundargarh (NIC)
3Mandira Dam — District Administration, Sundargarh (NIC)
4Sundargarh District at a Glance — District Administration, Sundargarh, Government of Odisha
5Sundargarh district — Wikipedia
6Rourkela Steel Plant — Wikipedia
7Khandadhar Falls (Sundargarh) — Wikipedia
8Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium — Wikipedia

Last reviewed 6 October 2026. How we check articles

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