સુન્દરગઢ

**સુન્દરગઢ** ભારત દેશમાં   આવેલા ઓરિસ્સા રાજ્યમાં આવેલું મહત્વનું નગર છે. સુન્દરગઢ સુન્દરગઢ જિલ્લાનું મુખ્ય મથક છે. 

**Sundergarh** (), also spelled as **Sundargarh**, is a city in Sundergarh district of the Indian state of Orissa.

## Geography
Sundargarh is located at . It has an average elevation of 243&nbsp;metres (801&nbsp;feet).

## History
Sundargarh was the capital of princely State of Gangpur till 1948 and became the district headquarter of Sundargarh district from 1948. It is understood that, in ancient times, Sundargarh was under the rulers of South Kosala. However, divergent views are available regarding the origin of the ruling family. The present royal family of Gangpur belongs to the Parmar dynasty. This ex-state was under the suzerainty of Sambalpur which formed part of the dominion of the Maratha Rajas of Nagpur. This was ceded to the British Government in 1803 by the Maratha Chief Raghuji Bhonsla of Nagpur under the treaty of Deogaon(near Rourkela). But this was restored to him by special engagement in 1806. This was finally ceded in 1826. In 1905, this princely state along with Bonai was transferred from the control of the commissioner of Chhotanagur to that of Orissa Division and a separate Political Agent was appointed.

## Demographics
 India census, Sundargarh had a population of 40,943. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Sundargarh has an average literacy rate of 75%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 69%. In Sundargarh, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age. 6.23% of the total area with 43% of its total area under forest. It has a total population of 18,29,412. Tribal people constitute 50.69% of the population and 65.22% of the entire population lives below the poverty line.
Health and sanitation facilities are not adequately developed in this area. There are 45 primary health centres for the entire district and the infant mortality rate is 62 per 1000 live births.
As per 2001 census, total literacy rate is 65.22% with the male literacy rate at 75.69% and female literacy rate at 54.25%. The 1991 census found that the tribal literacy rate stood at 37.34%. 
People are dependent on forest and agriculture for their livelihood. The total area of cultivable land is 3,36,000 hectares with 1.55 hectares as the average size of operational land holding.
The district consists of vast inaccessible forests, river valleys and mountainous terrain. Due to the undulating hilly and sloping landscape, the area is often subject to floods and drought.

## Festivals
Nuakhai is one of the most important festival of Sundargarh.
Ramnavami is also celebrated grandly

## Politics
Current MLA from Sundargarh Assembly Constituency is Jogesh Singh of [INC], who won the seat in by-elections in 2006 after Sushama Patel who won the seat by election  due to death of her husband and seating MLA Sankarsan Naik who won the seat in 2004 General Election. Previous MLAs from this seat were Kishore Chandra Patel who won this seat representing INC in 1995 and in 1977, and also representing INC(I) in 1980, and Bharatendra Shekhar Deo who won this seat representing JD in 1990 and representing JNP in 1985.
Sundargarh is part of Sundargarh (Lok Sabha constituency).

## Sports
A new synthetic (polygrass) hockey turf has been laid at the SAI Sports Complex in Sankra, Sundargarh. This is the third synthetic hockey turf in the district of Sundargarh. The other turfs are at Panposh (Panposh Hockey Hostel) and Rourkela (Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium). The Sports Authority of India (SAI) had approved the Rs. 2.25 crores project in 2007. The base work for the turf began in 2007, and was completed by May 2008. Then began the wait for synthetic turf, which arrived only in November 2008, and subsequently laid by February 2009.

## References
શ્રેણી:Cities and towns in Sundargarh district
શ્રેણી:ઑડિશા