About
District (AJAMBAR) RAZZ
Bargarh is a district on the Western border of
Orissa. Prior to 1992, it was a subdivision of Sambalpur district. Bargarh
District formed on the 1st April 1993 being devided from Sambalpur District. It
is one of the illustrious District of Odisha. Bargarh has been named after the
headquarters town Bargarh situated on the left bank of the Jirariver. The town
is on the National Highway No.6 and located at 59 km to the west of Sambalpur
district. It is also served by the D.B.K railway running from Jharsuguda to
Titlagarh. The railway station is about 3 kms off the town. A meter gauge
railway line connects Bargarh with the lime stone quarry at Dunguri. The main
Hirakud canal passes through the town and is known as the Bargarh canal.
Bargarh District lies on the western most corner of Odisha between 20 degree
43’ to 21 degree 41’ north latitude and 82 degree 39’ to 83 degree 58’ east
longitude. The District is surrounded by Chhatisgarh state on the north,
Sambalpur District on the east, Balangir and Subarnapur on the south and
Nuapada District on the west.
The original name of the place was Baghar Kota as known from the inscription of
the 11th century AD. It was called Bargarh probably from the time of BalaramDev
the first Chouhan Raja of Sambalpur who made it his head quarters for some time
and constructed a big fort for it’s protection. Narayan Singh the last Chouhan
Raja granted this place in Mauzi (free hold) to two Brahmin brothers Krushna
Das and Narayan Das, sons of Baluki Das who was killed in action by the Gond
rebels led by Bandhy Ray and Mahapatra Ray. The grant is popularly known as
Sira-kata(head-cutting) grant.
To know the history of the newly formed Bargarh district one cannot ignore the
history of undivided Sambalpur district, because Bargarh was one of the
subdivisions of old Sambalpur district. This district lies at the close
proximity of Sambalpur subdivision separated by the Mahanadi river. The
Chouhans,were the most powerful and ruled over a cluster of 18 states in
western Orissa and eastern part of Madhya Pradesh. The Chauhan states which
crumbled by the British Imperialism, lapsed to the East India Company in 1849
when the last Raja Narayan Singh died without any issue. The Principal
Assistant of the British Agent for the south east frontier having his
headquarters at Ranchi took over the rein of administration of these states.
Prior to 1905, Sambalpur and Bargarh sub- divisions were part of present
Chhatisgarh state (erstwhile Central province). In 1936, separate province of
Orissa was formed. In the year 1948, the ex-state areas of Bamra and Rairakhol
were added to the district of Sambalpur. In the year 1969 a new sub-division,
Padmapur was created constituting the areas of Bijepur,Gaisilet, Jagadalpur,
Melchhamunda, Padmapur, Paikamal and Sohela Police Stations of old Bargarh
sub-division.
Keeping the smooth administration and effective implementation of developmental
programmes in view, 13 districts of Orissa were divided into 30 districts in
the years 1992,1993 and 1994. By this process, the erstwhile Sambalpur district
was divided into four districts namely Sambalpur,Jharsuguda, Bargarh and
Debagarh. Bargarh district was carved out taking the areas of two
sub-divisions, namely, Bargarh and Padmapur from the erstwhile district of
Sambalpur as per the Government of Orissa Notification No.14218/R. dated
27.03.1993. The area of Sambalpur district was 17516.00 sq.km as per the 1991
Census and that of Bargarh was 5831.57 sq.km. As such, Bargarh district holds
33.29 percent of the total area of undivided Sambalpur district
Administrative Setup
Bargarh district is situated on the western
part of Orissa. It is linked with the state headquarters, Bhubaneswar which is
370 Kms by road and rail.
In conformity with the uniform pattern of district administration, the
Collector and the district Magistrate for the district is treated as the pivot
of the set up with vast and varied power. As the district Magistrate, he is the
highest authority in the district for maintenance of law and order. Although
the officials of other departments in the district are under the immediate
charge of their respective Heads of departments, the district Collector
exercises general supervision over them.
The district has been divided into two subdivisions, namely, Bargarh and
Padmapur and each sub-division is in charge of a Sub-Collector who looks after
the general administration, maintenance of law and order and implementation of
developmental programmes. For revenue administration, the district has been
divided into 12 tahasils, namely – Paikamal, Padmapur, Sohela, Barapali,
Bheden, Bargarh, Bhatli, Attabira, Gaisilet, Bijepur, Ambhabona&Jharbandh
and each tahasil is kept in the charge of a Tahsildar. For the maintenance of
law and order, the district has been divided into fifteen Police Stations,
namely :- Paikamal,Jharbandha, Padmapur, Burden, Gaisilet, Melchhamunda,
Sohela, Bijepur,Barapali, Bheden, Bargarh, BargarhSadar, Bhatli, Ambabhona and
Attabira.
There are 12 CD Blocks in the Bargarh District viz. Ambabhona, Attabira,
Bargarh, Barpali, Bhatli, Bheden, Bijepur, Gaisilet, Jharbandh, Padampur,
Paikmal and Sohella. Bargarh Municipality is the one Municipality in the
District and 3 N.A.Cs are Barpali, Padampur and Attabira. There are total 248
Gram Panchayats and 1208 Revenue villages in the District.
The Bargarh District experiences extreme type of climate with hot and dry
summer followed by humid monsoon and chilling winter. The temperature varies
between 10 degree Celsius to 46 degree Celsius. The winter season lasts between
November to February. The hot season follows thereafter and continues till the
second week of June. The south-west monsoon season is from mid June to the end
of September. The average annual rainfall in the District is 1527 mm.
Agriculture acts as the backbone of the economy of the Bargarh District. Most
of the indigenous inhabitants in Bargarh District mainly practice crop
cultivation. Because of the presence of natural drainage facilities, the
District plain supports the growth of large agricultural products and is free
from insects and pests.
As we go through the educational scenario of the District, Bargarh District has
got many educational institutes like Pharmacy College Barpali, Vikash Junior
College, Sri Sri Nrusinghanath Ayurvedic College Paikmal, Panchayat College
Bargarh, Larambha College, Bargarh Law college, Anchal College Padampur,
Attabira College, Padmashree Krutartha Acharya College of Engineering Bargarh.
Bargarh district celebrates many festivals round the year. Common festivals
like Nuakhai, Dhanuyatra, Maha Shivratri of Kedarnath, Nrusingha Chaturdarshi,
Sitalasasthi, Viswakarma Puja, Bali yatra of Khuntapali, Baisakh Mela of
Nrusinghanath, Falguna Mela of Bhatli.
Many prominent personalities born in this district like Parbati Giri,
Padmashree Krutartha Acharya, Padmashree Kunjabihari Meher, Surendra Meher,
Manabodh Rana.
Panchayati Raj System
The three tier Panchayati Raj System was
introduced in the state with the enforcement of the Orissa PanchayatSamiti and
ZillaParishad Act, 1959, w.e.f. 26th January, 1961 which was further
strengthened with the implementation of Orissa ZillaParishad Act, 1991 w.e.f.
1st November, 1993. The major objective of the Panchayati Raj System is to
entrust the people with the management of local affairs and develop their
capacity for self-governance. In the three tier system of Panchayati Raj, the
PanchayatSamiti functions as the inter-mediary between ZillaParishad at
district level and the Gram Panchayat at village level and each of them
functions within their own jurisdiction for the development of rural areas of
the districts for a normal tenure of five years.
ZillaParishad, the apex body in the district is constituted of the following
members. Each PanchaytSamiti in the district elects two members to the ZillaParishad.
Elected Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Parliament from the
district become the members of the ZillaParishad. The Chairmen of all
PanchayatSamities of the district, Chairmen of the Municipalities/NACs and
Cooperative banks of the district, the district officers of Health,Education,
Public Health, Agriculture, Forest, Works and Cooperative development become
the ex-officio members of ZillaParishad. There is reservation of seats for SC
and ST members on the basis of proportion of their population while 1/3rd of 13
the seat is reserved for women members including SC and ST woman. The members
of the ZillaParishad elect one amongst them as President and another as Vice
President. The Collector of the district acts as the Chief Executive Officer.The
ZillaParishad, besides formulating policies for the key areas of rural
development in the district, monitors and evaluates the various developmental
programmes of the government which are implemented by the PnchayatSamities in
their respective areas of the district.The PanchayatSamities, which act as the
inter-mediary between ZillaParishad and Gram Panchayats were established
throughout the state in accordance with the provisions of the Orissa
PanchayatSamiti Act, 1959 and its jurisdiction is coterminous with the area of
the Community Development Block. The Block Development Officer is the executive
head of the Samiti. Other Block level officers are the official members. The
elected members of the PanchayatSamiti elect one amongst them as the chairman
and another as vice chairman, of whom one must be a woman. PanchayatSamities
are not only responsible for the planning, execution and supervision of all
types of governmental development programmes in their areas but also look after
the spread of primary education, management of trust and endowments etc. and
all other developmental matters in their respective localities. The Gram
Panchayat at the primary level is constituted of a group of villages which are
divided into wards. Ward members are directly elected by the voters of each
ward. The Sarpanch of the Panchayat is elected by the voters of all the wards
under the Gram Panchayat and one NaibSarpanch is elected from amongst the ward
members to look after the work of the Panchayat. This primary unit of democratic
de-centralisation is the main agency to mobilize the rural man-power. Functions
of the Gram Panchayat include sanitation, supply of drinking water, maintenance
of ferry ghats and wells, construction and maintenance of Panchayat roads,
cattle pounds, providing street light and implementing different agricultural
schemes in the villages under its jurisdiction.
With regard to superintendence and control of the administrative functions the
Collector is under the Revenue Divisional Commissioner, Northern Division. The
office of the RDC is located at Sambalpur.
In order to look after the developmental work of urban areas of the district,
there are three statutory towns viz. – Bargarh Municipality, Barpali NAC and
Padmapur NAC. Besides, Khaliapali Census Town which existed during 2001 Census,
four more villages, namely, Bardol of Bargarh Tahasil, Sohela of SohelaTahasil,
Bijepur of BijepurTahasil and Bhatli of BhatliTahasil were declared as Census
towns during 2011 Census. Thus, there are 8 towns including 5 Census Towns in
the district. During 2001 Census there were 1207 villages in the district, but
owing to creation of three new villages within Attabira Police Station and
declaration of four
villages as Census Towns, total number of villages of the district during 2011
Census have come down to 1206, out of which 27 villages are un-inhabited.
