Brajarajnagar is a city and a municipality in Jharsuguda district in the state of Orissa, India.

Most of the population of this city were working for Orient Paper Mills, which belonged to Birla group of industries. Brajrajnagar has in its vicinity numerous open-cast coal mines of Ib Valley Coalfield now belonging to government owned Mahanadi Coalfields Limited.

Geography
is located at 21°49?N 83°55?E / 21.82°N 83.92°E / 21.82; 83.92. It has an average elevation of 216 metres (708 feet).

Demographics

As of 2001 India census, Brajarajnagar had a population of 76,941. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Brajarajnagar has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%; with male literacy of 77% and female literacy of 60%. 12% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Brajrajnagar had one large paper mill named Orient Paper Mills of Birlas which happens to be the oldest industry in the state of Orissa, having set up in the year 1936 and production being started in 1939. Though since 1999, the O.P.M of Brajrajnagar has been shut down. Since then, thousand of workers have either shifted to the O.P.M. at Amlai, Madhya Pradesh or are working at MCL Brajrajnagar.

The IB Valley Coal Area is also in Brajrajnagar and nearby areas. Prior to nationalization in the year 1973, three underground mines were operational in Brajrajnagar. Post nationalization, the IB valley Opencast Mines were opened from 1984 onwards. At present IB Valley Area consists of three Opencast Mines namely Lajkura Opencast mine, Samleswari Opencast mine and Lilari Opencast mine.

National Aluminium Company Ltd, a government owned company, is planning to set up an Aluminium Smelter plant and one of the largest power plant near the town.

Transport

Road

Brajarajnagar falls on National Highway 200 (NH 200) which connects Raipur, the state capital of Chhattisgarh to Chandikhole in Orissa. Many Private buses runs daily service to major cities of Orissa such as Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur.

Railways

Brajrajnagar Railways Station (BRJN) falls on Bilaspur – Rourkela and Bilaspur – Sambalpur route and is managed by Bilaspur division of South East Central Railway. It serves as important loading point for various coal-mines located in this area of Orissa. Brajrajnagar has another railway station, IB which is 1.5 km away from BRJN

Airport

As of now the nearest airport is the Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneshwar. Very soon in near future a full fledged running airport will be developed in Jharsuguda.

Politics

The current MLA from Brajarajnagar Assembly Constituency is Mrs. Radharani Panda of BJP, who won the seat in State elections of 2014 defeating the 3 time winner. Mr. Anup Kumar Sai of Indian National Congress. Mr. Keshba Chandra Sahu had won this seat in 1999 for 17 months and before him, Mr. Prasanna Kumar Panda of CPI had won this seat in 1995, 1990 and in 1985. Mr. Upendra Dikshit had won this seat as INC(I) candidate in 1980 and as INC candidate in 1977.

It was a part of Deogarh (Lok Sabha constituency), though now it is a part of Bargarh (Lok Sabha constituency), after a new Lok Sabha constituency was created after 2008 delimitation of parliamentary constituencies based on the recommendations of the Delimitation Commission of India in 2002. Dr P.K. Singh of BJD is currently the M.P. from Bargarh (Lok Sabha constituency).

Places of Interest

• Chandi Mandir, Brajrajnagar
• LaxmiNarayan Temple, Brajrajnagar
• Birla Temple, near Lamtibahal, Brajrajnagar

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