What is "hirakud"

Hirakud is a small township located in Sambalpur in Odisha. It was a Notified Area which finally included along with Burla in Sambalpur city to obtain the Corporation tag. It was earlier a village which came to the industrial limelight in 1956 when Hirakud Dam was built and thereby clearing the path for industrial growth in this earlier known rustic small township. Presently, this town is known for being industrialized with a few of the largest companies, to cite as example is the HINDALCO. Hirakud Dam, with its potential for irrigation and production of hydroelectric power, has also been able to attract tourists for it being the largest manmade artificial lake in Asia and one of the longest and largest dams in the world. It has been constructed on the Mahanadi river between the Gandhi Minar in North and the Nehru Minar in the South which connects these two well known hills. The shoreline spans around 640 km.At the base of Hirakud Dam Burla power house present with generating capacity 290MW.