Sundargarh district has been declared as scheduled area and Bonai Sub-division is one of the Sub-divisions and declared T.S.P. area of the district.

Location:

    The Bonai Integrated Tribal Development Project was grounded during the year 1974 with its head quarters at Bonaigarh Sadar (Sub-Dvnl/ Block Hd.qr.) in the district of Sundargarh. It was converted into Integrated Tribal Development Agency in the year 1979 being registered under the Societies Registration Act vide Registration No.15055/ 1899 of 1978-79. The office stands quite adjacent to Sub-Collector's office, Tehsil Office, Sub-Treasury Office and M.I. Office.

Area:

    The area of this ITDA (3356.64 sq.Kms) is co-terminus with the Bonai Revenue Sub-division consisting of 4 blocks namely, Bonaigarh, Gurundia, Lahunipara and Koira all being in rural area.It lies between 84 O 30' E and 25 O 25' E longitude and beween 21 O 35' N and 22 O 5' N latitude respectively and is flanked by the Districts of Deogarh and Angul in the south and South-east, the District of Keonjhar in the east and Singhbhum Disrtrict of Jharkhand in the north, and the Sub-Divisions of Panposh and Sundargarh Sadar in the west.

Topography:

    The south-east portion is covered with forest-clad hills intersected by gargoes and passes in the narrow valleys of river Brahmani and its tributaries. The area is criss-crossed by many hill streams. The east and west of Brahmani valley are flanked by high ranges principal among which are Mankadnacha (3639 ft.), Chhelitoka (3308 ft.) and Bichakani (2964 ft). There is extensive iron ore deposits in Bichakani hill which has acquired importance on account of its yield of millions of tons of iron ore for use in Rourkela Steel Plant (under Panposh Sub-Division) situated hardly at a distance of 100 kms from the Barsuan quarries. The total forest area constitutes 51% to the total ITDA area. There is good vegetative growth throughout the forest area.

Natural Resources:

a) Soil: The soil of this ITDA comes under the red soil group. It is of laterite origin. In some areas, it is highly black cotton. In most of the area, the terrain is rocky.

b) Minerals: There is an extensive iron ore deposit in Bichakani hill.

c) Climate: The climate of the project area is very peculiar characterised by a very hot dry summer and very cold in winter. The monsoon breaks during middle part of June and continues till end of October.

d) Rainfall: The rainfall with an annual average of 1200 mm is fairly uniform in the area. About 85% of the annual rainfall is received during the monsoon months from June to September; July experiencing usually the highest rainfall. There are occasional showers from February to May.

e) Temperature: The nights become cooler from October and in November; there is a drop in temperature both at day and at night. December is the coldest month of the year with the mean daily maximum temperature covering around 30 O Centigrade and the mean daily minimum temperature fluctuates between 10 O to 12 O Centigrade. The mercury thread sometime due to cold wave reaches as low as 40 C or 50 C.

f) Demographic Profile:

Human Resources: As per census data 1991 the total population of the following:

(i) Sundargarh District:

ST: 798481
SC: 188157
General: 636979
Total: 1573617