Debagarh, also known as Deogarh, is a city in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

state of eastern India. Located in the North-Western region of the state, it is the headquarters of

Debagarh District Debagarh District also known as Deogarh District is a district of Odisha state, India. Located in the north-western part of the state, it is one of the 30 administrative districts and has its headquarters at Deogarh town. The district covers an ...

that was created on 1 January 1994, after being bifurcated from Sambalpur District.

Geography

Debagarh is located at . It has an average elevation of . Deogarh is located between 21° 31′ 53″ N Latitude and 84° 43′ 2″ E Longitude. Deogarh Town is 90 km to the east of Sambalpur City on N.H-6. National Highway No.6 passes through the district acts as the main artery of inter-regional trade and other links.

History

Debagarh is the former capital of Bamanda or

Bamra Bamra State or Bamanda State, covering an area of 5149 km2, was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj, its capital was in Debagarh (Deogarh). Bamra State acceded to India in 1948. The state was located i ...

princely state of British India. The king of this princely state belongs to Ganga vamsi dynasty and one of the extended royal family of Gajapati emperor of Odisha. Raja Shri Basudeb Sudhal Deb (1869–1903) was an enlightened ruler, he did much to further conditions in princely state and for the cause of Oriya nationalism. His contribution was more towards Literature, Education and Art. He established an educational institution, which is currently well known as

Raja Basu Dev High School Raja Basu Dev High School is an Indian school located in Debagarh (also known as Deogarh), Odisha. History It was established in 1882 by Raja Basudev Sudhal Dev, the ruler of the princely state of Bamra (also known as Bamada). Originally known ...

. His son had equally contributed to the social, cultural and scientific development of Debagarh. Bamanda was the first princely state to introduce postal, telegraph and electricity in India. Currently Jagannath sahitya sansad is actively inspiring and promoting local talent in the field of art and literature in Oriya language. The sansad was a combined effort of some real patriotic and creative people like Sh. Jagamohan Mishra, Sh. Yogesh Dalbehera, Sh. Prafulla giri, Sh. Madhusudan Guru, Sh. durga Prasad Dwivedy, Sh. Prafulla Mahapatra etc. A beautiful waterfall PRADHANPAT decorates the town and supply the clean drinking water to the citizen. Pradhanpat ustav is celebrated annually near the fall. Bamanda–the citadel of creative artists dates back to 5th century A.D. when Mathara Royal Family was at the helm of the Administration. After this dynasty, Ganga Rulers came into power and established their capital at Deogarh. Deogarh attained all-round prosperity during the reign of Raja Basudev Sudhal Dev, the most enlightened rulers of this clan. A new horizon was innovated in the field of communication by the foundation of Jagannath Ballav press in 1886 and publication of a weekly magazine the "Sambalpur Hitaishini" in 1889. It was during his rule that the jail, police station, post offices, Dispensaries were established and irrigation system was introduced. He had a telephone line of 78 Miles connecting Bamara and Barkote in 1900 was the longest in India during that period. Bamanda's own postal system was very developed. It got affiliated to the British Postal system in 1895. Sir Sudhal Dev, the then King of Bamanda had coined and issued postage stamps in his own Kingdom. He had promulgated paper currency also in his state. After him, his illustrious son Raja Sachidananda Tribhuban Dev undertook the improvement activities of the erstwhile estate. The most outstanding developmental activities was the introduction of the hydro-electric system in Kurdkot water fall by which the Palace, cloth loom, Sugar factory established in 1908 at Rambhei got power supply. During the reign of Bhanuganga Tribhuban Dev, the estate of Bamra was merged with Odisha i.e. on 1 January 1948 and it became a part of the District of Sambalpur.

Transportation

1. Air: – The nearest airports for visiting places of interest in Deogarh District are at

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

(265 km),

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

(376 km) and

Jharsuguda Jharsuguda is a city and district headquarters of Jharsuguda district of Odisha, India. It is an industrial hub, consisting mainly of metallurgical industries. It is well connected to major cities of India through the rail network, and a rece ...

(98 km) . 2. Rail: - The nearest rail heads for Deogarh are at Sambalpur (90 km), Bamra on the Rourkela-Jharsuguda section of Howrah-Mumbai line (103 km),

(98 km) and Rourkela (115 km) 3. Road: - Deogarh is connected with NH6 (Part of

AH46 Asian Highway 46 (AH46) is a route of the Asian Highway Network within India, from Kharagpur in West Bengal to Dhule in Maharashtra. The route is part of old National Highway 6. This highway connects Dhule-Jalgaon-Akola-Amravati-Nagpur- Bhandar ...

) (

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

) and NH200 (

Chandikhole Chandikhole is a place in Jajpur district, Odisha, India. The place has been named after Goddess "Chandi" worshipped by late monk Baba Bhairabananda Bramhachari who established the deity of ''Maa Chandi'' in one of the adjoining hills of Baru ...

).The city is 90 km from

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 ...

, 115 km from

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 state capital Bhubaneswar and is surro ...

and 265 km from

Demographics

India

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, Debagarh had a population of 52,390. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Debagarh has an average literacy rate of 67%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 74% and, female literacy is 59%. In the town, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Politics

Current MP from Deogarh Sh.Nitesh Ganga Deb of Bharatiya Janata Party who won the seat in State elections of 2014 to previous MLAs from this seat include, Sh. Sanjib Pradhan of Biju Janata Dal in 2009, Sh.Nitish chandra ganga dev of congress who won this seat in 2004, Sh.Shubash ch. Panigrahi of BJP in 2000 and a byelection prior to it Pradipta Ganga Deb of JD in 1995 and in 1990, Raj Kishore Pradhan of INC in 1985, Ashwini Kumar Behera of INC(I) in 1980, and Bhanu Ganga Tribhuban Deb of JNP in 1977. Deogarh is part of Deogarh (Lok Sabha constituency).

References

{{Municipalities of Odisha Cities and towns in Debagarh district