Location

Located on the banks of the river Mahanadi, 15 Kms from Cuttack on the National Highway – 5 (linking Chennai - Howrah), is Choudwar. It though shares the same STD code as Cuttack (0671), Choudwar has unique distinction of being an industrially significant zone in Orissa state. The principal language spoken here is Oriya.

Historical Significance

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

Schools and Colleges

The notable schools in the area imparting quality education for decades in accordance with the Government of Orissa affliation, from lower kidergardens to tenth are:

• Kalinga public school is an English Medium School under the Board of Secondary Education, Orissa
• Kalinga Vidyaniketan is an Oriya medium School under the Board of Secondary Education, Orissa
• OTM School is an Oriya medium School under the Board of Secondary Education, Orissa
• Kendriya Vidyalaya is affliated to CBSE; New Delhi is a Hindi Medium school and has also 11 and 12 standards

Various other schools to have sprang up in the last four-five.

The region two regular colleges and one Textile Engineering College–

• Choudwar College in affliation with Utkal University gives Bachelor level courses in Science Arts and Commerce. It also imparts undergraduate courses in accordance with Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) in the three domains. It is a Co-Ed college
• Choudwar Women’s College, which currently (2006) imparts only +2 level education.
• The Textile Technology Institute awards B.Tech degrees in textile engineering

Industries

The various industries in the town are

1. Libra Carpets
2. Orissa Textile Mills (OTM)
3. Aviation Research Centre (ARC)
4. Indian Charge Chrome Ltd (ICCL)
5. Ballarpur Paper Industries Limited (BILT)

Libra Carpets had the unique distinction of being the finest carpets woven in India. The unit was functional till early Nineties as an EOU (Export Oriented Unit). Now-a-days plans are under to revive the organization.

Orissa Textile Mills after being functional for more than three decades had to shut down its operations owing to mis-handling of funds of the company. It was an orissa state government owned company. With a work force of more than 500 employees it could cater to the clothing needs of the Orissa people. Company owned show rooms prevailed in all principal towns of the state. During its lifetime it also bagged the awards for best productivity in Asia. Quiet a few employees still continue to reside in the company provided quarters.

Spread across a wide area towards one end of the town is ARC, a wing of Central Government engages in aviation research and development activities.

With Kalinga tubes winding up its production units at choudwar in early Eighties, Dr. Bansidhar Panda, a prominent industrialist had taken over the equipment to raise up the current ICCL (Estd in 1983), as a unit of Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys (IMFA). The Industry here is responsible for the production of Charge Chrome. The industrialist also owns another metal and Ferro alloys industry at Therubali, Rayagada district of Orissa,established in 1962. At Choudwar, ICCL also 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. November 26th every year is celebrated as Foundation Day, which happens to be the Birthday of the Founder chairman – Dr. Bansidhar Panda.

The BILT began functioning in the late nineties as a unit of Ballarpur Industries Ltd.

Festivities

The state of Orissa is famous of year round festivals and merrymaking common festivals here are: Rath Yatra, Dola purnima, chadakai, saraswati puja, vishwakarma puja apart from Diwali, dusshera, Laxmi puja,

The socio-economic condition

A major cross-section of the society is the employees of the organizations. The closure of OTM and Libra carpets in nineties was very much apparent across the all sections of the society as there was a sudden fall in purchasing capacity of 1000 odd population of the area. The other segments that comprise the area are the teachers, the staff of the local administration (municipality office), and the doctors. A very small segment depends on agriculture.

Hospitals

There is also an ESI hospital that houses specialists in about 15 disciplines. There are also other private hospitals that meet to quality treatment requirements in the region

Connectivity

The town being a part on the NH-5 has a good connectivity by road to the rest of state. Buses plying between Bhubaneswar to Sambalpur or Anugul move via Choudwar. The nearest railway station is Cuttack, which is 15 kms away from Choudwar town, while the capital city Bhubaneswar railway station is 42kms away. The nearest airport is national airport at Bhubaneswar. The Choudwar town is about 55km from Bhubaneswar airport.