Cuttack is one of the coastal districts of Orissa. Dhenkanal, and Jaipur districts, on the south by Puri, Khurda and Nayagarh districts, on the west by Angul and Nayagarh districts and on the east by Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts, bound it on the north. The district headquarters is located at Cuttack.

The district consists of a deltaic plain, stretching inland for about 40 miles. The area is traversed by many large rivers with a network of branches that twist and interlace in all directions. It is a fertile country, though afflicted by frequent floods submerging the standing crops and sand casting the arable land. The rock formations in the district are Alluvium, Laterite, sndstone, Dolarite, Hornblendegranite, Grano-phyre etc.

The district has a population of about 2.0 million (1991 census). There are 964 females per 1000 males. About 87.7% of the population lives in the rural areas, while 12.3% of the population lives in the urban areas. The decennial growth rate of population between 1981-1991 was 18.89%. The density of population is 494 per Sq. Km. Main languages spoken in the district are Hindi, Telgu and Urdu.

Cuttack district has three sub-divisions, 11 tehsils and 14 Community Development Blocks.  It has 7 towns and 1865 villages. (Table-1)

Amenities available in the villages are shown in table-2.

Table 1: Administrative Units in District

Number (with percentage) of villages having one or more amenities in the district as per 1991 census is given in table-2.

Table 2. Villages having one or more amenities in the district (1991 census)

Two of the national highways namely, Calcutta-Madras and Cuttack-Sambalpur pass through the district. Cuttack is connected now with Kenderapara and Athgarh by regular bus services. Many buses run between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, the state capital and all weather bus communication is maintained with important places of other districts like Puri, Berhampur, Baudh, Phulbani etc.

The main railway line from Howrah to Madras in the S.E. railways run through the district from north to south and serves only Jaipur and Cuttack sadar subdivisions. A branch railway line starting from Nergundi, a station on this route also runs upto Talcher in Dhenkanal district through Cuttack sadar and Athghar subdivisions.

The network of rivers in the district may give an impression that the district has good water communication facilities, but it is not so. Enormous flow of water during rains and insufficient flow during summer also make communication impossible.  The little communication available on the rivers Mahanandi, Brahmani and Baitarani are mostly for goods. Ferry services at various places function during the rainy season for crossing the rivers, which cut off communications.  In fair weather season also a few ferries are maintained.

Cuttack is an agricultural district where majority of the people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Most of these farms are paddy seed multiplication farms but in some horticulture is taken up.

There are 32 veterinary dispensaries and 166 stockman centers in the district.  104 Artificial Insemination centers and 74 bull centers functioned in different areas.

There are 103 different kinds of industries in the district. There are 498 small-scale industries in the district

The district has now 10 colleges, seven of which are for general education including science.  Others are a Medical College, a Law College and a Teachers’ Training College all of which are located at Cuttack.   Cuttack town has 7 colleges.  Four of the colleges are under private management and the State Government maintains the rest.

The public health activities and medical administration of the district are under the charge of a District Health Officer and a Civil Surgeon respectively and both of them are stationed at Cuttack.  The district has sixteen hospitals, forty-seven dispensaries and eighteen primary health centers.  1202 beds in all for in-door patients were available in these hospitals and primary health centers and there were 122 doctors and 7 kavirajas in these institutions.  Treatment at the Government institutions is given free. 14 family planning centers were opened in the district. The S.C.B. Medical college hospital, Cuttack is the largest hospital in the State and had total bed strength of 756.  It has facilities for specialized treatment.  The Provincial Pathological and Bacteriological Laboratory is also located at Cuttack.  A Red Cross Mental Institute with 30 beds one Leprosy Home and Hospital with 550 beds and a Red Cross Pediatrics Institute also functions at Cuttack City where patients from all parts of the State are treated.

National Surveillance Programme for Communicable Diseases

Cuttak district in Orissa was included in the programme in year 2000 - 2001. The District Nodal Officer and the District Rapid Response Team has been identified.  District laboratory has also been identified. The training of the district RRT should be taken up by state RRT. The fund for the strengthening of the laboratory has been forwarded by the NICD. The weekly and monthly reports have not yet been forwarded to NICD. Hopefully, after the training of the district RRT by the state, the information will be forwarded to NICD.