The history of Bhubaneswar may be viewed in two phases: Ancient Bhubaneswar and Modern Bhubaneswar. While the ancient city has a history that goes back to more than 3000 years to the Kalinga empire, the modern city came into existence in 1948.
Known as the "Temple City", Bhubaneswar holds an unique position within Indian cities by virtue of its ability to seamlessly integrating its rich cultural heritage with a strong regional economic base. Founded during the Kalinga empire over 3,000 years ago, Bhubaneswar today boasts of a cluster of magnificent temples, constituting a complete record of Odisha temple architecture from its early beginnings to its culmination.
Modern Bhubaneswar was designed and planned by German Architect Otto. H. Konigsberger in 1946 to be a well-planned city with wide roads, multiple gardens and parks to shape the city serving as the administrative seat of the state. Post-independence, Bhubaneswar was formally inaugurated as the capital of the Indian state of Odisha on 13th April, 1948.
With a population of nearly one million in the BMC area in 2015, the city encompasses an area of 161 sq.kms. In comparison, the Bhubaneswar Development Planning Area(BDPA) is home to nearly 1.3 million people spread out over an area of 1,110 sq.kms.
Bhubaneswar has been bestowed with abundant natural resources in terms of forests, hillocks and rich water resources. The city is home to Chandaka-Dampara Reserve Forest (Elephant sanctuary), Bharatpur Reserve Forest (Bird Sanctuary), Nandan Kanan Zoological Park and substantive green cover acting as natural Carbon Sinks. With presence of rivers Daya and Kuakhai along with numerous other natural water bodies in the city limit, Bhubaneswar is endowed with abundant water resources and is well positioned to ensure adequate water supply to new developments.
Bhubaneswar, also known as city of temples has rich architectural treasures with series of ancient sandstone temples, heritage ponds and water tanks in a complete record of Kalinga architecture spanning over 2,000 years from the 3rd century BC to the 15th century AD. The area, presently referred Old Town, was known in ancient times as Ekamra Kshetra, refering to an 'area' (kshetra) adorned with mango trees (ekamra) forms the centre of this temple architecture.
Ekamra Walks-the guided walks through its water bodies, landscapes, streets and temples will help reconnect visitors with the city's glorious past.
The city is known for its tradition of hosting several national and international festivals like the Mukteswar Dance Festival, Raja Rani Music Festival, Kharavela Mahotsav, Dhauli-Kalinga Mahotsav and more. Bhubaneswar also acts as the gateway for internationally famed Konark Dance Festival, India Surf Festival and International Sand Art Festival.
Bhubaneswar plays an important role as a regional gateway to the Golden Tourist Triangle of Puri, Konark and Chilika Lake. Its strategic geographical location near coast of India, has positioned Bhubaneswar to serve as the gateway to south-east Asia with easy access to existing and emerging ports, petrochemical and steel hubs at Paradip, Kalinga Nagar, Dhamra and Gopalpur. Additionally, a number of new ports are being proposed along the Odisha coast, which will further improve connectivity required for exports.
Today, Bhubaneswar is a fast emerging regional hub for education, health care and information technology. It is the only tier-2 city in the country to host the top five Indian IT companies: Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Mindtree. The city has a dedicated IT SEZ and is also one of the four notified "Information Technology Investment Region" in India.
With over 1 Lakh students, the city has several world class educational institutions including IIT, NIFT, AIIMS, NISER, IIIT, XIMB, XUB, BGU, KIIT etc. The city is also recognized internationally for advancing social equity (Gram Tarang - skill development; KISS- Tribal residential education).
The only major airport in Odisha, the Biju Patnaik International Airport, located in Bhubaneswar connects the city to New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and other major cities of India. Indian Airlines and almost all major private Airlines in India have multiple daily flights to and from the Biju Patnaik International Airport. The airport also operates international flights to destinations like Kualalampur, Dubai etc. and is a modern Airport with night landing facility.
With 1960 sq.km of road network, Bhubaneswar is directly connected to Kolkata, Ranchi in the North and Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Vijaywada in the south. Bhubaneswar is also linked to all majar cities of the state by road.
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is the urban local body governing the city of Bhubaneswar, covering an area of 162.5 Sq.kms 67 wards and 51 revenue villages. Established in 1994, BMC as Bhubaneswar's apex body is the principal provider of services for a better quality of life for its residents. The functions of the BMC include water supply, drainage and sewerage, sanitation, solid waste management, street lighting and building regulation.
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Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) is the principal planning authority for Bhubaneswar constituted in the year 1983 under the provisions of Odisha Development Authorities (ODA) Act - 1982. BDA oversees planning and development of infrastructure, provision of development-related sites and services, the housing needs of its citizen.
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Bhubaneswar Puri Transport Service (BPTS) is a Special Purpose Vehicle to provide and organized public transportation for Bhubaneswar city & Puri town. BPTS monitors day to day operationalization of 55 nos of standard buses (50 for BBSR + 5 for Puri) and 70 nos. On Mini buses (50 for BBSR + 20 for Puri).
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