Rourkela

Rourkela ରାଉରକେଲା
City
Anticlockwise from top left: Hanuman Vatika, National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, Rourkela Steel Plant, Bhanja Bhawan and Entrance Highway to Rourkela Main City.
Nickname(s): ଇସ୍ପାତ ନଗରୀ ଓଡିଶାର ଶିଳ୍ପ ରାଜଧାନୀ Steel City Ispat Nagar, Industrial Capital of Odisha, Mini India
Rourkela Show map of Odisha Rourkela Show map of India Location in Odisha, India
Coordinates: 22°14′57″N 84°52′58″E / 22.24917°N 84.88278°E / 22.24917; 84.88278Coordinates: 22°14′57″N 84°52′58″E / 22.24917°N 84.88278°E / 22.24917; 84.88278
Country	India
State	Odisha
District	Sundergarh
Established	1954
Government
• Type	Mayor-Council
• Body	Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC)
Population
• Rank	80th (India) & 3rd (Odisha)
• Density	6,696/km2 (17,340/sq mi)
• Metro	536,450
Languages
• Official	Odia
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	769001-769xxx
Telephone_code	0661
Vehicle registration	OD-14 (OR-14 before 2012)

Rourkela  pronunciation  (Odia: ) is a city located in the northern border of the Indian state of Odisha. It is Third largest city of Odisha. 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. The city has been selected as smart city in the third phase of smart city list on 20 september 2016. Among all the 27 city list Rourkela ranked 12th position on merit basic.

The name Rour-kela originates from the local tribal language of Sadri which means "Your Home". It comes under Sundergarh district of the Indian state of Odisha. An indigenous community called Rautia used to inhabit this region.

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 favourite hunting ground for the kings in the past. According to the census report of 2011 Rourkela has a population of 483,038 (Rourkela Industrial Township is 273,217 and Rourkela Town is 210,412) and the urban metropolitan area population is 536,450. 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 and Demag. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the town was the largest German colony outside Germany. Some merchants, started settling at Rourkela with business objective, around the village Rourkela and the Railway station was named after the village Rourkela. The erstwhile revenue village of Rourkela is now popularly known as old Rourkela. The B.N.R. Company (Bengal-Nagpur Railway Company) constructed the Howrah Nagpur railways, which ran through Rourkela. The habituated area around the railway station of Rourkela was declared as an urban town in the year 1931. The census report of 1931 reveals that the number of population was 493. By the time a primary school, an office of the forester, a sub-post office, a handful of liquor shops, tea shops and restaurants were found around the outlying area of the railway station. Gradually a train line was connected to Birmitrapur and Rourkela and it could avail a status of a junction allowing the settlement of more railway employees. Soon another station at the village Panposh was found 10 km away. The population of Panposh by 1931 was 2,252 almost five times of Rourkela. There was a village called Durgapur in between Rourkela and Panposh stations. The construction of the sub-divisional court building was started in 1945 at the village Durgapur (Hence the nearby Hills also known as Durgapur Pahada(Durgapur Hills), today it is known as Uditnagar. As a result, the two railway stations of Panposh and Rourkela came into recognisation. Following India's independence, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, wanted to make India an industrialised state in Soviet model of social development; giving wings to his dreams Sri Biju Pattanaik convinced Pandit Nehru to consider the location of Rourkela for setting up a steel plant.