Hirakud

Hirakud is a small township located in Sambalpur in Odisha. It was a Notified Area Council (NAC) which was later included along with Burla in Sambalpur city to become a Municipal Corporation. This city is a hub of HINDALCO, an Indian aluminium and copper manufacturing company. Hirakud Dam, is one of the most visited tourist spot. It is one of the longest and largest dams in the world. It is constructed across the Mahanadi river between the Gandhi Minar in North and the Nehru Minar in the South, which connects these two hills. The shoreline spans around 640 km. This dam had a generating capacity of 290MW.

Hirakud is a Notified Area Council city in district of Sambalpur, Odisha. The Hirakud city is divided into 17 wards for which elections are held every 5 years. The Hirakud Notified Area Committee has population of 30,207 of which 15,698 are males while 14,509 are females as per report released by Census India 2011. Population of Children with age of 0 6 is 3513 which is 11.63% of total population of Hirakud (NAC). In Hirakud Notified Area Committee, Female Sex Ratio is of 924 against state average of 979. Moreover, Child Sex Ratio in Hirakud is around 903 compared to Orissa state average of 941. Literacy rate of Hirakud city is 84.00% higher than state average of 72.87%. In Hirakud, Male literacy is around 90.39% while female literacy rate is 77.11%. Hirakud Notified Area Committee has total administration over 6,963 houses to which it supplies basic amenities like water and sewerage. It is also authorized to build roads within Notified Area Committee limits and impose taxes on properties coming under its jurisdiction.

Hirakud was conceptualized as an industrial town by the erstwhile Chief Minister of Odisha, Biju Patnaik. On completion of the Hirakud Dam, power intensive industries such as aluminium smelters, cable manufacturing, steel re rolling mills etc. established their presence in Hirakud. In the 1970s, Hirakud was a major industrial centre of Odisha, perhaps second only to Rourkela. At this point in time however, the main functional industry at Hirakud is the aluminium smelter of Hindalco and its associated units. As rural communities around Hirakud are primarily dependent on agriculture, Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI) Hirakud helps in storing and managing the food grains of nearby districts as well.

Three nationalised banks i. e. State Bank of India, Andhra Bank, and UCO Bank are currently functioning in hirakud Besides the ATM facilities of all the above banks and Axis bank, ICICI bank, Punjab National Bank etc are also present .