Barbil

Barbil is located at 22.12°N 85.40°E / 22.12; 85.40.[1] It has an average elevation of 477 m (1,565 ft). Barbil is fully surrounded by hills.

It boasts of being a mining area which welcomes all. All Indian cuisine can be found here and very scenic hills and forests, breath taking waters falls, picnic spots can be found here a few kilometers from the town.

According to the 2011 India census, Barbil had a population of 66,540.[2] Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Barbil has an average literacy rate of 72.18%. 16% of the population is under 6 years of age. Barbil has another about 50,000 people floating population from rest of India coming here for business travel and jobs.

As the Barbil area has been dominated by Ho people, local tribal people widely speak in the Ho language [it is written with the "Varang Kshiti" (also "Warang Chiti" script)] as their mode of communication.Most people can speak, write all three languages Odia, Hindi & English.

Barbil is an industrialised town with a number of steel plants, iron ore pellet plants, ore crushers and mines. The area is very rich in iron ore. The other mineral found is manganese ore. The latest demand is for iron ore fines. Nowadays the mines cannot meet up to the demand from the area. The iron ore which is benefited is also exported to China. This town also has Steel manufacturing, Iron ore pellet manufacturer and liquid oxygen production. A large number of industries have come up in the recent past. It remains to be seen how the government's directive increasing the cost of export of raw iron ore affects the economy of Barbil town. Some Government-run Industries have closed after incurring losses.

Barbil railway station under Chakradharpur division is on a by line in the Tatanagar–Bilaspur section of the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line Connecting the main line at Rajkharshavan station which is about 100 km from Barbil . Barbil is connected to Howrah, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Puri and Tatanagar Jamshedpur by train. Jan Shatabdi Express runs from Howrah to Barbil and one passenger train from Tatanagar to Barbil. Barbil is also connected to Bhubaneshwar & Puri by a daily-running Intercity Express train. Barbil-Chakradharpur Intercity Express (Daily) via Dongoaposi, Jhinkpani Chaibasa at Chakradharpur one can extend the journey to Rourkela or even Sambalpur Vizag Chennai Alleppy etc. towards south and Bilaspur Nagpur Mumbai towards West and also via Keonjhar Kendujhar. Jajpur road, Cuttack Bhubaneshwar for connecting trains. [3] (Puri-Barbil). Barbil is also connected to Kolkata, Kendujhar and Bhubaneshwar by road. Prior to January 2008, there was air service from Barbil. However, international & local flights can be connected via Netaji Subhas Airport (Dum Dum, Kolkata), and also from Biju Patnaik Airport Bhubaneshwar. The Airstrip at Barbil (Tonto) can be used for private and Chartered flights.

There are many many hotels and lodges located in this town. They are: Padma Inn, Hotel Prateek, Hotel Smita, Lucky India, Aadhar Hotel, Hotel Karrow, Hotel Indrapuri and The World pinaca.

'BIKASH MAHAL' is the pavilion where all the social, cultural and national day events are organised.

There are so many social organizations named Barbil Haalchal, 'NATIVE VOICE', PRAYAAS, Niladri, Sambad Sahitya Ghara, SEVA GROUP, MARWADI YUVA MANCH, SAHISTYA SANSADA, GURUDWARA SINGH SABHA BARBIL, BVP, N.D.C.C AND YBCC who carry out different social events in the town.

A New Town Hall by the name of Sita Ram Rungta Town Hall Barbil has come up with all modern amenities and is fully air-conditioned. It has available seating capacity of 300, which can be extended to 500 by temporary arrangement.

People of Barbil celebrate together all the festivals during the year - like Durga Puja, Laxmi puja, Raja Sankranti, Ganesh Puja, Makar Sankranti, Sri Ram Naumi, Biswakarma Puja, Chhat Puja, Guru Nanak Day, Ramzan, Idd, Eid ul Zuha (bakrid), Muharram, Eid Miladun Nabi, Kali Puja etc. and National Festivals like Republic Day, Independence Day Gandhi Jayanti, and State Festivals like Odisha Day, Madhusudan Birthday etc..

Viswakarma puja is also celebrated together in Barbil. We can see various pendals all around the town in Viswakarma puja as lord Viswakarma is the lord of machines and of course Barbil is a hub of many industries and heavy machines and vehicles. People worship their machine shop and vehicles on this auspicious occasion. This festival usually falls in the month of September. Durgapuja is celebrated as a grand festival in kalinga nagar which is near to barbil. Lakhs of visitors are eagarly waited for this festival and join during the 4 day festival hails from nearby areas from jharkhand also.

The air of Barbil is laden with dust due to mining activities and passage of mineral-laden trucks in the night through the town as no bypass roads for heavy vehicles are being constructed by the government. "People with a dust allergy are advised care before coming here". In the year 2016 there was a rampant spread of Dengue here which rattled the administration. Hundred were affected and many of them died.

Despite being an important centre it has Community Health Centre and needs urgent up gradation.

Posts of various departments are vacant. Doctors of various specialities are needed here and can contact directly with District Collector @ckeonjhar for direct appointment.