If one looks at the map of population centers in Orissa, Ganjam district seems to have the maximum number of urban centers.

The following is with respect to the 2001 cesnus.

As per the 2009 estimate the urban areas of Ganjam with a population of more than 7500 are:

1 Brahmapur 210 418 307 792 402 672
2 Hinjilikatu 17 676 21 347 24 229
3 Chatrapur 17 952 20 289 21 892
4 Bhanjanagar 17 122 19 748 21 641
5 Polasara 16 854 19 568 21 553
6 Aska 19 363 20 739 21 478
7 Kavisuryanagar 13 938 16 094 17 652
8 Sorada 13 268 14 648 15 525
9 Buguda 10 664 13 257 15 383
10 Purushottampur 12 904 14 249 15 105
11 Kodala 10 187 12 345 14 049
12 Khalikote 9 071 10 958 12 441
13 Rambha 9 213 10 716 11 819
14 Ganjām 10 847 11 317 11 488
15 Digapahandi 10 032 10 890 11 395
16 Chikitigarh 10 005 10 802 11 256
17 Belaguntha 8 838 9 962 10 727
18 Lochapoda   9 240 10 123
19 Golabandha   8 549 9 366
20 Arjyapalli   7 768 8 511
21 Sundarpur   7 601 8 328
22 Suvani   7 424 8 134
23 Gopalpur 5 451 6 663 7 633
24 Mardamekha   6 955 7 620
25 Bhatakumarada   6 900 7 560

Ganjam is the only district in Orissa to have two Lok Sabha constituencies named after its towns/cities: Berhampur and Aska.

Based on the above the state, district and city planners should plan on creating larger urban agglomerations so that they can get more funding and infrastructure. In particular, the larger the urban area, the more is the funding from the urban development ministry.

In particular, the Berhampur area should be planned to grow radially:

  • To the North east on NH-5 towards Chhatrapur, Rushikulya river and Chilika lake
  • To the east to Gopalpur
  • To the North on NH-217 towards Hinjilicut (the second largest urban area of Ganjam and the CM Naveen babu’s constituency)
  • To the west towards Digapahandi
  • To the southwest towards Chikiti
  • To the south towards Andhra border

An initial start in this direction has been made. But the area needs to be made bigger. See below.


If one looks at the map of roads in Orissa, Ganjam district seems to be the most dense with roads. Looking at the above map an initial metro area bounded by Berhampur, Hinjilicut, Chhatrapur and Gopalpur would be good. The Rushikulya river frontage and the beach areas could serve as scenic demarcations.

In terms of other developments, the Future Berhampur blog lists the various development taking place in Berhampur. Some of the notable ones are:

This is a good core to start with. With proper planning and attention the Berhampur area could become a Tier-II metropolitan area of India. Its distance to the Bhubaneswar area is similar to the distance of Pune from Mumbai and Mysore from Bangalore.