It is situated about 328 kilometres (204 mi) west of the state capital Bhubaneswar and is surrounded by a range of hills and encircled by the rivers Koel, Sankha, & Brahmani.

The twin towns of Rourkela and Fertilizer Township, as well as their developed periphery, are located in areas that were once covered by dense forests.

India's first public sector steel plant facility was established in Rourkela with the help of German businesses Krupp and Demag.

The mineral-rich zone of Rourkela intersected by the rivers Brahmani, Koel and Sankha from two sides was aptly chosen for the same.

The preliminary survey for the steel plant at Rourkela was started in 1952 and the Government of Odisha issued a gazette notification on 16 February 1954.

In accordance with the notification, the Government of Odisha acquired an area of about 80 square miles around Rourkela for the purpose of Steel Plant.

The German private companies Krupp and Demag came forward to provide financial and technical help for the proposed steel plant at Rourkela.

Krupp built Rourkela Steel Plant drawing from experience from its own works in Essen, Germany.

Later further 11,000 acres (4,500 ha) of land were acquired out of 31 revenue villages for the construction of Mandira Dam, a water embankment.

The construction of the Bondamunda Railway junction required the further acquisition of land which resulted in 20,000 people's displacement from their habitat.

A large part of this population was from coastal and western Odisha who were trained by the German workforce to adapt to the steel plant's technology rigour.

A royal Bengal tiger's lugubrious death in the steel plant's massive blast furnace is a part of the city's folklore.

There were also tales about the disappearance of Germans in the nearby Vedvyas cave and the dread whirlpool of river Koel.

[citation needed] Rourkela is located at 84.54E longitude and 22.12N latitude in Sundergarh district of Odisha at an elevation of about 219 m (719 ft) above mean sea level.

Being situated on the Howrah-Mumbai rail track, Rourkela had an added advantage of the steel plant being set up there.

A small hill range named Durgapur Pahad runs through the heart of the city dividing it into plant area and the steel township.

The name "Durgapur" comes from an old village that existed at the foothills long time ago before the plant was set up.

A number of artistically crafted monuments not only add significant grace to the landscape of the township but also showcase the innovative usage of steel for creating objects of art.

Thirty six percent of the geographical area of the district has semi-evergreen or tropical dry deciduous forest.

Rourkela, with a population of 6 lakhs and the first place in India to house the 1.8-million-ton integrated steel plant, joins the IT world through STPI.

The objective is to promote city that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and apply ‘smart solutions'.

There are a number of daily Bus Services from Rourkela to different parts of Orissa and also, a few, to neighboring states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

city houses many English medium schools which provide CBSE and ICSE certificates to their students.

There are also private engineering & Management colleges like Rourkela Institute of Management Studies (RIMS), DAMITS, Rourkela Institute of Technology (RIT), Kanak Manjari Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (KMIPS), Padmanava College of Engineering (PCE) these colleges come under the jurisdiction of Biju Patnaik University of Technology (BPUT) and the head office is located in Chennd, Rourkela.

Biju Patnaik University of Technology: (BPUT) headquarters in Rourkela came into being in November 2002 through an act of the Odisha state legislature and foundation stone was laid by Dr. A.P.J.

The main objective of university is to ensure a high quality of students coming out of the technical colleges through a common curriculum and uniform evaluation.

Former hockey player and 1972 Summer Olympics Bronze medal winner, Michael Kindo, also happens to be a current resident of the city.

[25] Indian national cricketer Sanjay Raul and the Under-19 world cup representative Chandrakant Barik play from this city.

RSP does promote various different sports like - Cycling, Boxing, Archery, Soccer, Cricket, Football, Basketball and other athletic workout.

These channels broadcast Hindi and Odia film and non-film songs, talk shows and other entertainment programmes.