Burla is a locality in Sambalpur city in the state of Odisha, India. It earlier had a Notified Area Council (NAC) till 2014 after which it was included in Sambalpur city under Sambalpur Municipal Corporation (SMC) It was earlier a small town on the banks of Mahanadi. The communication for this area is excellent. One can reach this place by road with National Highway 6 which is one of the busiest trunk routes in India (currently being converted into four lane expressway) as it connects Hazira to Kolkata. And by train Hirakud Railway Station, which is at one end of the town and a walking distance from the Mahanadi Coal Limited (MCL). Burla is situated in a half an hour distance from Central Sambalpur and 2 hours distance form Bargarh, which are connected by National Highway 6. Burla houses three leading institutions of Odisha: Sambalpur University and the Institute of Information Technology (SUIIT), Veer Surendra Sai Medical College and Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) (formerly called University College of Engineering-UCE). The town is horse-shoe shaped with an artificial lake in the middle and NH6 traversing through one end. The town centre is small and is divided into 'Kaccha Market' and 'Pukka Market' and hosts numerous small stores and stalls, which are mostly family based small business enterprises. The famous grocery stores are the 'Choudhry's' the 'Sindhi's', the 'Acharya's' and some famous wholesale stores like Narayan Saha's (For Poultry), Raghunath Agrawal (Pan Masala) and lots more. Mr Malay Dey's Cycle Store , Subash Day's Burla Ayurvedic Medicine Store.Sanjay Dey's Abha General Store. And the old world charm of 'Rambharose' snack joint serving hot samosas and jalebis underneath the banyan tree in the 'Kaccha Market' typically evokes the images of R K Narayan fictitious Malgudi.The town is bestowed with natural surrounding and beautiful jungle. The main dialect of people is Sambalpuri . Famous author Ravinder Singh is a native of Burla. Achutam is a native of Burla. Hirakud dam is about 2 km from the main town. It is the world's longest earthen dam. The Hirakud Dam reservoir is Odisha's largest water-resource for the purposes of irrigation. The attached hydro-electric power generation units are Odisha's largest source of electric power. The dam is open to visitors. Only official vehicles are allowed to drive on the dam. The dam connects Burla with Hirakud, the town at the other end. Jawahar Minar, named after India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, stands near the dam's main site. The Minar has a plaque in memory to all the workers who lost their lives during its construction. Jawahar Minar provides scenic views of the dam, the forests and the huge lake. Sunrise and sunsets are a treat to the eyes from the Minar. During the monsoon the dam opens its floodgates to control the water and one can witness the power of water when many floodgates of the dam are opened. The Right Dyke stretches for more than 11 km along Mahanadi. Forests stretch all along the dyke and during the winter months they provide good locations for picnics and nature lovers.apart from this there is debrigarh wild life sanctuary which has now govt.guest house you can now stay at night and you sure will remember the experience rest of your life its amazing. The sub-part of electricity production remains in chipilima. A canal having its origin from Hirakud dam feeds the needful water for electricity production. The Ghanteswari Temple is another place of attraction which finds its place on bank of mahanadi at chipilima. It is situated in the river bed of Mahanadi, people offeres bell after wishes is full filled.