ever in Odisha until September 2010. The areas of the Sambalpur town on Mahanadi river sides/low-lying areas are prone to flooding. Transport Roads Sambalpur is connected to the rest of Odisha and India by national highway – NH 53/Economic Corridor 1 (EC1), which is a part of Asian Highway-AH46 (Mumbai-Kolkata Highway). NH 55 connects with Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, State Highway 15 connects with Sonepur, State Highway 10 (SH10) connects with Jharsuguda and Rourkela and the new Biju Expressway connects Rourkela-Sambalpur-Jagdalpur. Rail Sambalpur is one of the three railway divisions under East Coast Railway zone of Indian Railways. Sambalpur Junction railway station (SBP) is a major railway station in Odisha and headquarters of Sambalpur railway division. This railway station is the cleanest railway station of East Coast Railway declared by Indian Railway. There are four other railway stations serving Sambalpur: Sambalpur City Railway Station, Sambalpur Road Railway Station, Hirakud, across the Mahanadi and Maneswar Railway Station. Air The nearest airport is Veer Surendra Sai Airport, Jharsuguda () and Biju Patnaik International Airport, Bhubaneswar is located at a distance of (). Other nearby airports are Swami Vivekananda International Airport, Raipur; Birsa Munda Airport, Ranchi Demographics Sambalpur city is governed by a Municipality which comes under Sambalpur Municipal Corporation Area. India census, Although Sambalpur city has a population of 183,383, its urban population is 269,575, of whom 138,826 are males and 130,749 are females; this includes Burla and Hirakud. Sambalpur has an average literacy rate of 85.69%, in which male literacy is 90.30 and female literacy is 80.92 percent. The sex ratio is 942 and the child sex ratio is 882. The total children (0–6) in Sambalpur city were 18,555 as per the Census India report of 2011. There were 9,857 boys while 8,698 were girls. Economy The economy of Sambalpur is basically dependent on trade. Most of the residents are either salaried or self-employed. Forest products play an important role in the economy in terms of contribution to revenue and domestic product. Kendu leaf, Coromandel ebony or East Indian ebony (Diospyros melanoxylon) also forms part of the local economy, with many bidi manufacturing units functioning in Sambalpur. Gole Bazaar is the main merchandising area of the city. It is famous for handloom and other textile products. Other merchandising areas are Khetrajpur, Fatak, V.S.S. marg, Budharaja and Farm road. Budharaja is the central hub of the malls and jewellery shops. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited,