Pattamundai


Pattamundai is a town and a municipality in Kendrapara district in the Indian state of Odisha, located on the centre of SH-9A from Cuttack to Chandbali along the south end of Brahmani River. It is also the headquarter of Pattamundai Block.

Etymology

Pattamundai derives its name from being the last town on the gate on the Pattamundai Canal and Gobari Canal junction at Alva. and the Gobari canal ends at Gandakia, the present end point of the Gobari river. The Gobari river is still active in some portion. nd there are many theories prevailing on the sources of derivations and we may place those derivations as follows:
01. The earlier name was "PATUMUNDA" and it has been converted to current name through colloquial processes. And the word PATU is an Odia word which means the "Alluvial soil or silt" which is normally flows with the floods in the rivers. And the word "Munda" is head or side in odia. The Brahmani river was earlier flowing through this village long back. You can find now the marks of the river beds between present village "Bangali Diha and Mandapada" and " Kasananta and Balipada"., which I have heard during my school days. The word "Chatara" also means "A wide expansion of plot of the surface of a tank not overgrown or covered with aquatic grass or reeds". The branch was called the Gobari and as the river was dead after the track of the Brahmani changed to a straight link after the village "Balipatana" towards village "Patrapur". When the river Gobari was live, during floods heavy deposits of the alluvial soil was deposited at "chatar" location. Hence the village was called "Patu Munda"
02. The second derivation is from the name "PATAMUNDA" . The theory goes like this. The Rivers do have some unique features like "PATA" and "PALA" on them. The word "PATA" which denotes "Fen; Low and unproductive land; Bog; Marsh; Swamp" and the word "PALA" means "the silted land on the bed or bank of a river". Among many Patas of the area, the biggest was the "BOITALA PATA", which was few kilometres towards eastern direction of the Brahmani and the Gobari river system. And many villages now exists like Taradipala, PenthaPala, Belapala in these river systems. As the village was situated on a side of a larger Pata, the naming also might be justified with the name "PATA MUNDA". And with passage of time it is now Pattamundai.
03..The weaker derivation might be, the name of the town is derived from the word "Pata" which means Canal Gate a reference to the ancient lock on Pattamundai Canal at Alva and "Munda" means head. It is the biggest market-hub in the whole of Kendrapara District due to its position and connectivity to Rajnagar, Aali, Rajkanika & Cuttack.Pattamundai is famous for Durga Puja. It is also referred to as "The Plumbing Capital Of India" as every household as got or knows someone who works as a plumber in some part of India., and now spread over to Dubai and the Arabian countries.

History

Pattamundai is an ancient trading river port. The town came into historical limelight during the Mughal's. No archaeological remains are found although. Scanning the area is almost impossible as for the high density of population that resides over it. Akbar established the land revenue system here in 1515 AD. Mentions can be found when Emperor Aurangzeb imparted financial and manpower patronage to the Madrasa at Pattamundai port to impart education to their children, which even flourishes today. Muslim ruled from 1576-1751 AD. Pattamundai was under the Utikan Pargana and they placed an Amil here for land revenue collection. British forces under Colonel Harcourt marched from Cuttack to Kujang sometime during late October- early November 1803 and Pattamundai fell from the hands of the Marathas unopposed. The Paika Bidroha broke out in the neighboring kingdom of Khurda in 1817 and had spread to Pattamundai in July, where 200 paikas attacked the Thana and killed many. The Pattamundai Thana included 3 influential Zamindar lords - Bhatikona, Ali & Kanika. Mention can be found during Damage Assessment after the floods in October 1848 when it used to be a Taluka under the Utikan Estate, Madanpur. The Cuttack-Chandbali road had to be lowered a number of timer to allow the flood water to pass by so as to prevent abnormal flooding. In the Kendrapara sub-division the great cyclone of September 1885 destroyed 46 villages in thana Patamundai, most of the inhabitants of which were either drowned or succumbed to the fever and cholera which usually form the sequel of such calamities, while those that survived
emigrated to tracts less exposed to the destructive action of storm- waves. In the census of 1901, it was noted that the population of pattamundai was steadily growing after the construction of protective embankments and the offer of easy terms of settlement by the British led to considerable reclamation of land which had been thrown out of oultivation by the salt-water floods of 1885. The Sub-Registrar's office was opened in Pattamundai in 1908. Pattamundai was a part of the Cuttack District until 1994. During the British period it was an important point between the capital city of Cuttack and the estates of Aali & Kanika and the ports of Chandabali and Dhamara. Being a major center of business, markets flourished here along with other places like Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara. Agricultural and hand crafted products were exported to other parts of India like Madras, Bombay, Ceylon, the Maldive islands and European countries.

Geography

Pattamundai is located at 20.57°N 86.57°E. Pattamundai is located 22 km from the Bay of Bengal in the Utkal Plains, at an elevation of 6 m from sea level. Pattamundai is a flat, low-lying delta region in the Lower Mahanadi River basin. The Brahmani river divides it from the Aali Block. The Pattamundai Canal running from Cuttack to Alva Lock constructed by the East India Company during the mid 19th century, is a major irrigation canal passing through the city.
The river Brahmani is passing by the side of this municipality and flood water of this river has been inundating over 50% geographical area of this municipality every year. This municipality also comes under the purview of cyclonic zone. So the residence of this municipality suffers a lot due to natural calamity every year.

Climate

Pattamundai experiences a tropical wet and dry climate. The summers are much rainier than the winters in Pattamundai. This location is classified as Aw by Köppen and Geiger. The average annual temperature in Pattamundai is 27.0 °C. Precipitation here averages 1502 mm.. The summer season is from March to June when the climate is hot and humid. The temperature around this season is 35 °C to 40 °C Thunderstorms are common at the height of the summer. Rains brought by the Bay of Bengal branch of the south west summer monsoon lash Pattamundai between June and September, supplying it with most of its annual rainfall of. The highest monthly rainfall total,, occurs in August. from the South West Monsoon. Temperatures are considerably lower during the rainy season, averaging around 30 °C. The winter season from November to February is characterised by mild temperatures and occasional showers. The winter months feature chilly northerly winds which bring down the temperature to around 15 °C, though the bright sunshine helps maintain the pleasant weather. Temperatures may exceed 45 °C at the height of summer and may fall below 10 °C in winter.

Floods

Due to the proximity to coast and being located near the delta of some great river systems, cyclones and floods are a permanent feature of this region from the Bay of Bengal. The rivers that flood Pattamundai are Brahmani, Kani and Gobari. Some great floods recorded after the advent of the British Raj are in 1855,1866,1892,1896, August 1907, August 1920, August–September 1926, August–September–October 1955, Aug-Oct 1971, 1977,1979,1982, 1991,1992,1994,1995,1997,1999,2001,2003,2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013. Besides. Tsunami, drought, crop loss, cyclone, sun-stroke, lightning
etc. are the natural calamities faced by the district which has impact on the economy of the district.

Cyclones

Some great recorded cyclones occurred in 1445, 1823, 1831,1832,1835,14 to 16 October 1842,1865,22nd Sept 1885, June 1890,22nd Sept 1892, storm of 1893 & 1908,1936, 09th September1967,29 October 1971, 3 June 1982, Super Cyclone of 1999, October 2013, 2014. The United Nations Development Programme reports that there is "very high damage risk" from winds and cyclones. The 1999 Odisha cyclone caused severe damage to the town claiming many lives.
Crocodiles escape from the Bhitarkanika National park during flood times and roam free around the region.

Heat Wave

In May 1998, the heat waves caused sun-stroke which blew over coastal Odisha including Pattamundai. During this period, the temperature of Pattamundai was between 45-48 degree Celsius. 15 people died of sunstroke in Kendrapara district in 1998.
Flood and Cyclone are a perennial phenomenon of Pattamundai. The main cause of concern is the geographical location of the town and the rivers system netting in the region. The Bureau of Indian Standards places the city inside seismic zone III on a scale ranging from in order of increasing susceptibility to earthquakes.

Culture

Pattamundai has a religious brotherhood and people from all religions celebrate festivals together. It was in March, 2017 when a Muslim girl named Firadus from the neighboring village of Damarpur won the Bhagwad Gita recitation contest.
The place has some minor population of Muslims. There was some misunderstanding with Hindu community with a stray incident of a Kartikesar Puja. But later it was resolved amicably. The Christianity is almost nil..

Festivals

All the other regular Indian festivals like Ratha Yatra, Raja, Ganesh Chaturthi, Vasant Panchami, Holi, Diwali, Id, are celebrated here.

Cuisine

The place has complete Odia culture, hence the cuisine is no different. Pattamundai is an agricultural center and is famous for dalma-bhata, bara-Aludam, dahi-bara of which all the ingredients are home grown. Apart from this, Chaat, Gupchup and samosas, aloochop rule the streets. The people eat rice as their main staple food. Chakuli pitha is eaten during the breakfast. It is made from rice batter using a tawa. Traditional Oriya food such as Dahi-Pakhal is considered as a body coolant, accompanied by Badi chura or saga are consumed during months of April–June.

Demography

Population

census of India Pattamundai NAC has a population of 36,528 of which 18,549 are males while 17,979 are females. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 4024 which is 11.02% of total population of Pattamundai. In Pattamundai Female Sex Ratio is of 969 against state average of 979. Moreover, Child Sex Ratio in Pattamundai is around 910 compared to Odisha state average of 941. In population of Pattamundai in 1991 & 2001 were 28,220 & 32730 respectively.
Literacy rate of Pattamundai city is 86.93% higher than state average of 72.87%. In Pattamundai, Male literacy is around 92.64% while female literacy rate is 81.09%. Pattamundai Municipality has total administration over 7,174 houses to which it supplies basic amenities like water and sewerage. It is also authorize to build roads within Municipal limits and impose taxes on properties coming under its jurisdiction.
Pattamundai is a Revenue Tehsil & a Block and consists of 30 Gram panchayat's and 153 village's with a combined population of over 1.82 lakhs.
Around 94% of the city's population are Hindus while Muslims account for 5.40% and the rest constitute less than 1% of the total population.

Languages

is the primary language used in the city, besides which Hindi is also spoken and understood. There are people who also speak Bengali, Urdu, Most of the banners are written in Odia, and English.
There also exists a significant populace of Bengalis here, who work in the construction field & and sometimes few groups of the tribal's of Keonjhar District are also seen who work as migrant laborers, during the non-agricultural season. As the refugees of erstwhile East Pakistan were settled near Gunthi village and later many refugees from Bangladesh have managed to be residents at coastal area of the District. Those population are gradually come to the town to settle.

Civic Administration

This Urban Local Body was constituted on 8 December 1988. The ULB was declared as a municipality by the Government Of Odisha in February 2014. The geographical area of this Municipality is 24 km2 having 37527 population as per census 2011.
This ULB is subdivide in to 20 Political wards having 17 revenue villages for providing better administration to the public. This ULB is governed by Municipality under the chairmanship of Smt. Baijayantimala Lenka since 30th Sept 2014.
The river Brahmani is passing by the side of this ULB and flood water of this river has been inundating over 50% geographical area of this ULB were inundating before formation of NAC. This ULB also comes under the purview of cyclonic zone. So the residence of this ULB suffer a lot due to natural calamity every year.
The basic information relating to this Municipality is as follows:
1 Total No. of Holdings 7276
2 No. of Government Hospital 1
3 Total No. of Wards 20
S.C. representative 6
S.T. representative 1
OBC/SEBC/B.B.C. representative 6
Unreserved representative 7
4 Length of Road under NAC 289.5 km.
5 No. of Slums 21
6 BPL Population/Holding 18052/4513
7 No. of Slum Householders 1,696
8 No. of Educational Institutions 35
Nodal Primary School 24
Public School 5
High School 4
College 2
9 No. of Homeopathic Dispensary Nil
10 No. of Sulabha Souchalaya 1
11 No. of Major Industries Nil
12 No. of Medium / Small Scale Industries 1
13 No. of Bank 12
14 No. of Police Station 1
The entire ULB area is situated over 17 Revenue Villages consisting 20 nos. of Council Wards as noted below:
Ward NoWard NamePopulationLiteracySex Ratio
1Sandhapalli1,25676%1,039
2Sandhapalli1,51663%982
3Tanupur1,18786.2%975
4Tanupur2,35474.9%1,038
5Kasananta1,62283.5%995
6Kasananta1,30377.5%1,042
7Balipara Baladevnagar1,72282.5%1,108
8Balipara 1,93986.3%903
9Nuagaon, Kakudipalli1,61167.3%922
10Pattamundai1,87577.4%990
11Pattamundai2,02170.6%916
12Baktarpur1,86078.4%931
13Praharajpur, Pokhariapara 2,17580.5%947
14Pokhariapara 1,70084.2%908
15Alva1,68875.9%1,110
16Matia 2,26977.7%941
17Matia 1,57365.3%944
18Tatana, Dakhinidia1,63077.9%976
19Baltal 2,20082%918
20Beltal, Bandhapara3.02777.7%929

Politics

INC, BJD are the major political parties in this area.
Pattamundai Tehsil comes under multiple assembly constituencies. There are total 2 assembly constituencies in Pattamundai Tehsil.
Constituency nameMLA nameParty
KendraparaKishore Chandra TaraiBJD
RajanagarAnshuman MohantyINC

Pattamundai Tehsil comes under Kendrapara parliament constituency and the current sitting MP is Baijayant Panda.
Previous MLAs from this seat were Tapash Kumar Das representing BJD in 2000 and representing JNP in 1977, Ganeswar Behera of INC) in 1995 and in 1985, Radhakanta Sethy of CPI in 1990, and Bishwanath Mallik of INC in 1980.

Economy

The economy is mainly agrarian. Most of the people are still dependent on agriculture as their primary source of income. There is a complete absence of Secondary and Tertiary Sectors, except a few rice mills, banks and schools. One has to become a migrant in some distant part to get a job. A large number of people from Pattamundai, Aali and Rajnagar blocks of the district attribute their prosperity to their expertise in plumbing. Around one lakh people of these areas work as plumbers in different States of the country and other parts of the world, especially the Middle East countries. They pump in money through remittance's which has increased the purchasing power of the people. Pattamundai Bazar, which used to be a weekly market for selling agricultural products, is now a very big market where one can find everything for day-to-day usage. Pattamundai is mainly a market around which people live. More than 0.5 million people of Pattamundai, Rajnagar, Aali, Rajkanika blocks directly or indirectly depend on the Pattamundai Market for their daily needs, making it a first choice of investment. There are a lot of wholesalers in the market who also sell in small or single quantity. Only the end retailer sells at MRP.

Market

Pattamundai has a very big market and the city is settled around the market. The market is divided into many parts/bazaars.

Technical Colleges/Institutions

The town is home to the State Institute of Plumbing Technology, or SIPT, the only institute in the country dedicated to plumbing. Pattamundai's plumbers have migrated not only to most parts of India, but also to many different corners of the world, especially the Gulf countries and West Asia.
Contact No - 8327788335

Graduation Colleges

High schools

In the 21st century, having computer knowledge is a foremost priority. Due to utter negligence of the Government, there has not been any development in the field of education from the Govt. So the private player took the opportunity and computer coaching centers spun up on the College Road.

Transportation

Road

The roads here are not enough & broad according to the demand. The dense population of the area and rampant temporary and some permanent encroachments of Government land had made the expansion of roads difficult. Pattamundai Canal Bridge is the oldest bridge connecting Pattamundai with Aali & Rajnagar. The concrete bridge was constructed after the wooden bridge was washed away during the heavy floods of 1961. There is a bridge on the Brahmani River at Patrapur which connects Pattamundai with Aali & Rajkanika. The bridge was completed during the 1970s. S.H- 9A which runs from Jagatpur to Chandabali is the lifeline of Pattamundai. One can find buses to traverse either sides along SH-9A every 30 minutes and 15 minutes during peak hours from Pattamundai. Direct buses run to Rourkela, Sambalpur, Raipur and Kolkata from here. Pattamundai is connected to Jajpur via Aali, Singhpur & Binjharpur along the Brahmani River. Pattamundai and Rajnagar are 20 km apart and are connected by the MDR- 16. Pattamundai- Rajnagar Road is the main road route to and in the Bhitarkanika National Park Gupti Gate. Pattamundai is the only center where tourists stop by to collect food & drinks and have meals during their onward visit to Bhitarkanika National Park.

Rail

Thousands of people travel everyday to the state capital or Cuttack to board a train. The Indian Railways is now planning to build a railway station near Kendrapara. The nearest railway stations at present are :-
The nearest airport is Bhubaneswar - 104 km.

Distance from surrounding Towns

There are a lot of buses connecting Pattamundai with nearby towns. The buses are generally offer non-AC and Delux/semi-Delux services. The cuttack-Chandbali route has buses in every 15 minutes.
The Dispensary in Pattamundai was established in the late 19th century. Currently there is a Community Health Center for all the medical problems of the people of Pattamundai. There is a District Medical at Kendrapara for advanced treatment. Casualties are generally referred to Cuttack Medical.
There is also a Veterinary Dispensary.

Nursing Homes

Due to Govt apathy there is complete lack of healthcare facilities in the town. 2,00,000 people cannot meet thir needs from a single Community Health Center with 2 doctors and 9 beds. So here too a lot of private participants have come to limelight and they bring in visiting doctors from big hospitals in the state capital and Cuttack.
Being a predominantly Hindu populated town, the town has temples of different Hindu Gods and Goddesses at every nook & corner. Here is a list of some of them :-
There is an old cinema hall in Pattamundai. Besides, patrapur Bridge over the Brahmani River is also a favorite place for recreation during dusk.

Banks

Being a business town, it is natural to have the presence of banks in Pattamundai. Added to this is the Remittances that come from the people who work in various metropolis of the Country and a lot of them also work in Gulf countries.
Sl NoBank NameIFSC CodeMICR CodeAddress
1Indian Bank IDIB000A081754019004Plot No 125 Mahabir Bazar
2State Bank Of India SBIN0002100754002215Near By Pass Sq
3Allahabad BankALLA0212085ALLA0212085College Road
4Bank Of Baroda BARB0PATTAMNON-MICR1ST Floor, Above Mishra Auto, Vill-Beltal
5Punjab National Bank PUNB0675500NON-MICRCOLLEGE ROAD
6HDFC BankHDFC0002283754240502GAJANAN MARKET COMPLEX NEAR BUS STAND
7State Bank Of India SBIN0016125NON-MICRRAJALAXMI COMPLEX, Pattamundai Bazar
8Federal BankFDRL0002159754049402GAJANAN BAZAR
9Union Bank Of India UBIN0571601NON-MICRGAJANANA MARKET CMLX
10ICICI BankICIC0003279754229402PLOT NO-1329 GAJANAN MARKET COMPLEX
11Axis BankUTIB0002954754211015GR FLR AND FIRST FLR H21 COLLEGE CHOWK
12CANARA BANKCNRB0005928754015402College Road
13Bank Of IndiaBKID0005172Plot No 19693919 Bypass

Telecommunication & Broadband

is the only Landline telecom operator in Pattamundai. Pattamundai comes under Cuttack Telephone Exchange. It is the only broadband Internet Service Provider. All major mobile telecom operators are present in Pattamundai. Television Services are completely digitized in Pattamundai by Ortel.

Notable personalities

The following are a selected notable people who were born or have spend a major part of their life in Pattamundai.