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 4 N.A.Cs are Barpali, Padampur, Bijepur and Attabira. There are total 253 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.
