to be operational with daily flights to state capital Bhubaneshwar and Raipur in the coming month of September by private air service provider Air Odisha under UDAN scheme by Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt. of India. Another one, Lanjigarh Airstrip (FR44733)() is private airstrip conducting VIP and chartered planes. Swami Vivekananda Airport at Raipur, Chhattisgarh is away. Biju Patnaik International Airport in the state capital, Bhubaneswar is 427 km away by road and 631 km by rail. Rail Bhawanipatna railway station was inaugurated on 12 August 2012. It is situated on Lanjigarh-Junagarh rail line. Currently there are 3 trains (1 express and 2 passengers) running from Bhawanipatna to Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Sambalpur. Road Highways connecting Bhawanipatna to various cities: NH-26 - Bargarh - Bolangir - Bhawanipatna - Nabarangpur - Koraput - Vizianagram - Natavalsa SH-16 - Bhawanipatna - Khariar - Raipur SH-6 - Bhawanipatna - Chhatiguda - Ambodala - Muniguda SH-6A - M.Rampur - Narla - Chhatiguda SH-44 - Bhawanipatna - Gunupur - Thuamul Rampur - Kashipur - Tikri Bhawanipatna Bus Stand is one of the biggest bus stand in Odisha present on NH-26. Both Private and Govt. buses are available from here. Bhawanipatna is one of the division of Odisha State Road Transport Corporation (O.S.R.T.C.) that runs Govt. Buses from Bhawanipatna to Bhubaneshwar, Vishakhapatnam, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Cuttack, Jeypore. Private Buses (A/C Sleeper Coaches) provide transportation facility to different cities in Odisha and Raipur, Durg etc. in Chhattisgarh. Newly added taxi facility and auto facility including Biju Gaon Gadi throughout Bhawanipatna and villages nearer to it, is adding an advantage to the transport facility. Demographics According to the 2011 census Kalahandi district has a population of 1,576,869, roughly equal to the nation of Gabon or the US state of Idaho. This gives it a ranking of 317th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 17.79%. Kalahandi has a sex ratio of 1003 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 59.22%. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 18.17% and 28.50% of the population respectively. Language At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 95.22% of the population in the district spoke Odia, 3.40% Kui and 0.85% Hindi as their first language. The language spoken by the people of Kalahandi is Kalahandia, a dialect of Odia. Minor languages of