Bhawanipatna is a town and the headquarter of Kalahandi district in the state of Odisha, India. Bhawanipatna has numerous temples dedicated to different deities of the Hindu pantheon.
Bhawanipatna is located at . It has an average elevation of . It is located in the center of large mountains and plateaus, with the mountainous Eastern Ghats in its eastern frontier.
Bhawanipatna has a tropical wet and dry climate, and temperatures remain moderate throughout the year, except MarchâÂÂJune, which can be extremely hot. The temperature in AprilâÂÂMay sometimes rises above . The summer months have dry and hot winds, and the temperature can go up to . The city receives about of rain, mostly in the monsoon season from late June to early October. Winters last from November to January and are mild, although lows can fall to .
As of the 2011 India census, Bhawanipatna had a population of 69,045, or 83,756 including its suburbs. The population of children 6 years old or under was 7,407, which was 10.73% of the total population. In Bhawanipatna Municipality, the female sex ratio is 945 against the state average of 979. Moreover, the child sex ratio in Bhawanipatna is around 911, compared to the Odisha state average of 941.
The literacy rate of Bhawanipatna city is 85.00%, higher than the state average of 72.87%. In Bhawanipatna, male literacy is 90.95%, while the female literacy rate is 78.72%, according to the 2011 census.
The current MLA from Bhawanipatna Assembly Constituency is Pradipta Kumar Naik of BJP, who won the seat in the State Legislative election of 2019.
Bhawanipatna is part of the Kalahandi constituency, currently held by Basanta Kumar Panda, and before that by Arka Keshari Deo, who was the grandson of Maharaj Pratap Kesari Deo of Kalahandi.
Utkela Airstrip (VEUK) is present near the city () which was scheduled to be operational in August 2023 with daily flights to the state capital Bhubaneshwar by private air service provider Air Odisha under UDAN scheme by Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Lanjigarh Airstrip () is private airstrip conducting VIP and chartered planes. Other nearby airports are Swami Vivekananda Airport at Raipur, Chhattisgarh ( away), and Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar (427 km away by road and 631 km by rail).
Bhawanipatna railway station was inaugurated on 12 August 2012. It is situated on the LanjigarhâÂÂJunagarh rail line. Currently there are 4 trains (1 express and 3 passenger) running from Bhawanipatna to Bhubanneshwar, Raipur, Visakhapatnam and Sambalpur.