Choudwar

Choudwar
—  Town & Municipality  —
Choudwar from Dolamundai
Choudwar Location in Orissa
Coordinates: 20°30′21.76″N 85°55′0.7″E / 20.5060444°N 85.916861°E / 20.5060444; 85.916861Coordinates: 20°30′21.76″N 85°55′0.7″E / 20.5060444°N 85.916861°E / 20.5060444; 85.916861
Country	India
State	Orissa
District	Cuttack
Languages	Oriya, English
Population (2001)
- Total	42,597
Time zone	IST (+5.30)
Postal code	754025
Area code(s)	+0671
Vehicle registration	OR/05

Choudwar is a city and a municipality in Cuttack district in the state of Orissa, India.

Geography

Choudwar (Oriya: ଚୌଦ୍ଵାର) is located on the banks of the river Mahanadi, on National Highway 42. Choudwar has the unique distinction of being an industrialzone in Orissa state. The principal language spoken here is Oriya. The STD Code of Choudwar is 0671, same as that of Cuttack, while the postal pincode is 754025/ 71 / 72

History

Choudwar once served as the capital for the Somakuli Keshari Kings of Orissa. Eight prominent Siva pithas were established by the Keshari dynasty in the vicinity of Choudwar, which are now in ruins. Tradition holds that it was the capital for Virat, the brother-in-law of Kichaka. Additionally, the five Pandava brothers, with their consort Draupadi, took shelter in Choudwar in their secret exile.

Education

There are several schools which have been educating students according to the guidelines of the government of Orissa:

• Affiliated with Board of Secondary Education, Government of Orissa
  • Municipal High School is an oriya Medium School
  • Nigamananda Bidyapitha, named after Swami Nigamananda, is an Oriya Medium School.
  • Gopabandhu High School is an Oriya Medium School.
  • Kalinga public school is an English Medium School.
  • Kalinga Vidyapitha is an Oriya Medium School
  • OTM HIgh School is an Oriya medium School
  • Charbatia UGME and High School is an Oriya medium School
  • Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir,Gandhi chhak,Choudwar
• Affiliated with CBSE, New Delhi
  • Kendriya Vidyalaya, Charbatia is an English/Hindi Medium school and has 11 and 12 standards also

The region also has two regular colleges and one Textile Technology College:

• Choudwar College, in affiliation with Utkal University, gives Bachelor-level courses in science, arts, and commerce. It also provides undergraduate courses in accordance with the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) in the three domains. It is a co-educational institution.
• Choudwar Women’s College, which currently^[update] imparts only +2 level education.
• The Textile Technology Institute awards B.Tech degrees in Textile Technology.

Economy

Some of the current and former industrial employers in the town are

• Libra Carpets
• Orissa Textile Mills (OTM)
• Aviation Research Centre (ARC)
• Indian Charge Chrome Ltd (ICCL)
• Ballarpur Paper Industries Limited (BILT)

The Libra Carpets organization was functional until early the early 1990s as an EOU (Export-Oriented Unit). Plans are currently underway to revive the organization.

After being functional for more than three decades, Orissa Textile Mills had to shut down its operations owing to mishandling of company funds by the higher management. It was an Orissa state government-owned company. With a work force of over 3000, OTM was effective in providing clothing for much of India and it garnered several awards. Now, though it had been shut down for a decade, some officials still reside in company-provided quarters.

Spread across a wide area towards one end of the town is the ARC, where a part of the central government engages in aviation research and development activities.

With Kalinga tubes winding up its production units at Choudwar in the early 1980s, Dr. Bansidhar Panda, a prominent industrialist, had taken over the equipment to recreate the current ICCL (established in 1983) as a unit of Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys (IMFA). The Industry here is responsible for the production of Charge Chrome. At Choudwar, ICCL has an independent 108 MW coal-based Captive Power Plant unit to meet the power requirements of the two industries. ICCL sprang up as a 100% EOU and has kept with the times in achieving the requisite ISO 9001:2000 certifications. 26 November every year is celebrated as Foundation Day, which is the Birthday of the Founder chairman.ICCL has now been merged with IMFA, and the establishment is now Choudwar Division of IMFA Ltd.

The BILT began functioning in the late 1990s as a unit of Ballarpur Industries Ltd. and this company also shutdonw in 2003.

Demographics

As of 2001 India census,^[1] Choudwar had a population of 42,597. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Choudwar has an average literacy rate of 77%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 83% and, female literacy is 71%. In Choudwar, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Festivities

The state of Orissa is famous for festivals over the entire year. Some examples are Rath Yatra, Dola purnima, Chadakai, Saraswati puja, Vishwakarma puja apart from Diwali, Dusshera(Commonly known as Dusshera jatra), and Laxmi puja.

Socio-economic Conditions

A major cross-section of the society is the employees of the organizations. The closure of OTM and Libra carpets in the nineties was very much apparent across the all sections of the society as there was a sudden fall in purchasing capacity of the area. The other segments of society comprise teachers, staff of the local administration (municipality office), and doctors. A very small segment depends on agriculture.

Transportation

The town, being a part of the NH-5, is well-connected to the rest of the state by road. Buses going between Bhubaneswar and Sambalpur or Anugul move via Choudwar.

The nearest railway station is Cuttack, which is 15 km away from Choudwar town, while the capital city Bhubaneswar railway station is 42 km away.

The nearest airport is the national airport at Bhubaneswar. The Choudwar town is about 55 km from Bhubaneswar airport.

Politics

Current MLA from Choudwar-Cuttack Assembly Constituency is Mr. Pravat Biswal of BJD. Previous MLAs from this seat were Dharmananda Behera of BJD, who won the seat in State elections of 2004, Bibhubhusan Praharaj who won this seat in 2000 as an independent candidate, Kanu Charan Lenka who won in 1995 representing INC and representing INC(I) in 1980, Raj Kishore Ram who won in 1990 representing JD and also in 1977 representing JNP, Rasananda Sahu of INC in 1985.^[2]

Choudwar is part of Cuttack (Lok Sabha constituency).^[3]

References

1. ^ "Census of India 2001: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2004-06-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20040616075334/http://www.censusindia.net/results/town.php?stad=A&state5=999. Retrieved 2008-11-01. 
2. ^ "State Elections 2004 - Partywise Comparison for 45-Choudwar Constituency of ORISSA". Election Commission of India. http://archive.eci.gov.in/March2004/pollupd/ac/states/s18/Partycomp45.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-24. 
3. ^ "Assembly Constituencies - Corresponding Districts and Parliamentary Constituencies of Orissa". Election Commission of India. http://archive.eci.gov.in/se2000/background/S18/Orissa_AC_Dist_PC.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-24. 

External links

• IMFA group for more information regarding IMFA and ICCL
• Utkal University