Korba, Chhattisgarh

Korba is a city and an industrial area in Korba District in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Korba was part of Bilaspur District before 25 May 1998. It was later designated as a separate district for ease of administration, but is still under Bilaspur Division. Korba is called power hub of India due to its Coal reserves and Industrial base for multiple thermal based power plants from Public sector like NTPC Limited, CSEB from State of Chhattisgarh as well as from private sector apart from Power plants Korba has the Asia's second largest and India's largest open cast coal mine in Gevra area of SECL Korba Coalfield. Korba produces 140 Million tons of coal every year which accounts for 17% of Country's total coal production and 85% of Chhattisgarh Coal production. BALCO Private owned Aluminium producer has its smelter Aluminium Plant in Korba. Here mainly the protected tribal tribe Korwa (Pahadi Korwa) resides. Korba district is blessed by lush green forests from all around, a large population of tribals is found here. The tribals here prefer to live in harmony with the environment in the forest area due to which they have retained their distinctive cultural characteristics and traditional practices.

Geography
Korba is located at 22.35°N, 82.68°W. It has an average elevation of 252 m.  India census, Korba city had a population of 365,253. Korba City is a part of the Korba District which was formed on 25 May 1998. The forest area cover of Korba is 4187.375 km2. There are 17 police stations in Korba and it contains five blocks.

Economy
Korba Super Thermal Power Plant of NTPC is located at Jamanipali area. It receives coal from Gevra and Kusmunda mines and source of water for the power plant is Hasdeo River. Korba Thermal Power Station is owned and operated by National Thermal Power Corporation. There are more small Power Plant near city like Hasdeo Thermal Power Station, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukharjee Thermal Power Station and Lanco Amarkantak Power Plant.

Himadri Speciality Chemical has its manufacturing facility located in Korba. Bharat Aluminium Company has plant which is one of the Asia's largest aluminium production industries. In 2009, chimney under construction by Gannon Dunkerley & Company at the Balco smelter collapsed killing 49 workers and GDCL management have been accused of negligence in the incident.

Government and jurisdiction
Korba is headquarter of Korba district. Korba City has been a metropolitan municipality with a mayor-council form of government.

Korba (Lok Sabha constituency) is a Lok Sabha parliamentary constituency for the city and constituency is composed of the following assembly segments: Rampur (ST) (assembly constituency no. 20), Korba (assembly constituency no. 21), Katghora (assembly constituency no. 22) and Pali-Tanakhar (ST) (assembly constituency no. 23) is part of Korba district. Currently, Jyotsna Charan Das Mahant of Indian National Congress is a member of parliament to the 17th Lok Sabha and Lakhanlal Devangan of Bharatiya Janata Party sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly from Korba (Vidhan Sabha constituency).

Roadways
Korba is well connected with the state and neighbouring states with a network of national and state highways. The major highways are National Highway 149B till Champa and National Highway 130 via Bilaspur till Raipur.

Rail
The nearest railway station Korba railway station, which is connected to Champa, which in turn lies on the Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line. The stations come under the South East Central Railway Zone of the Indian Railways. It is also directly connected to Bilaspur, the divisional headquarter of the railway zone.

Bus transport
Korba is well connected with a bus transport to various cities within and outside the state. Regular bus services are operated by the government and private operators from Korba Bus Station, the main bus station of the city, to cities like Bilaspur, Champa, Ambikapur, Raipur, Raigarh, Jharsuguda, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, among others.

Air
The nearest airport is Bilaspur Airport, located 100 km southwest from Korba. Previously, the Government of Chhattisgarh was planning to expand and develop the airstrip present within the city premises. However, due to restricted amount of space within the airfield and due to the city's extent, the government has proposed to build a new domestic airport at Baikunthpur, 145 km north of Korba.

Schools

 * Delhi Public School NTPC Korba
 * Saraswati Higher Secondary School, Korba
 * DAV Public School, Gevra
 * DAV Public School, Kusmunda
 * DAV Public School,Subhash Block SECL COLONY,Korba
 * Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Korba
 * Govt. Hr. Sec. School, Chhindpur
 * Govt. Hr. Sec. School, Korba
 * New Era Progressive School, Korba
 * Jain Public School, Korba

College

 * Government Engineer Vishweshvaraya Post Graduate College
 * Government Minimata Girls College
 * Gramya Bharti Vidyapith, Hardi Bazar
 * Government Arts And Science College, Dipka
 * Government Polytechnic, Korba
 * Institute of Technology, Korba
 * Jyoti Bhushan Pratap Singh Law College, Korba
 * Kamla Nehru College, Korba