Pankapal is a moderate size village in the district of Jagatsinghpur of Odisha State, India. The history of the village can be traced back to 18th century when two brothers from the Puri region migrated and settled down in the present day Pankapal. The village falls by the side of the Cuttack-Paradeep state highway 12 that branches out from Ompi square at cuttack to paradeep. The village is about 60 km from Cuttack and 30 km from Paradeep. It is situated at 20.30N, 86.44E.
Contents
Map of Pankapal, Odisha 756059
Pankapal has a primary health center which employs an MBBS doctor and several supporting staff. The hospital treats minor ailments and performs minor surgeries.
Economy
The village has a large community of farmers who grow different kinds of vegetables and crops, such as rice and black grams. A village market consisting of about 100 permanent shop and weekly vegetable market in Sunday and Wednesday is running smoothly.
Government
Pankapal gram panchayat (the third level of Indian democracy) is situated in Pankapal village. This panchayat includes many villages like Janapal, Pankapal, Chandapur, Banikunda, Paikesta, . The gram panchayat elects a sarpanch and 24 ward members. Pankapal village comes under Paradeep assembly constituency and Jagatsinghpur parliamentary constituency. Mrs. Namita Parida, Miss Ranjita Sarangi Dr. Damodar Rout, and Dr Kulamani Samal represent the village at gram panchayat, Panchayat sammit Orissa legislative assembly, and Indian Lok Sabha, respectively.
Culture
The culture and tradition of Pankapal village is primarily centered around the Gopinath temple. In the temple, the deities of Gopinath, Radha, Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra are worshiped. The temple celebrates Dola purnima, Jhulan Jatra, Sri Rama Charita Manas, Rahash yatra, Chandan Yatra, snana purnima utsab, Jananmastami Utsab and Nanda Utsab every year. The villagers offer arati (ghee lamps) to the deities every evening. Besides Gopinath temple, the other religious places in the village include Sri Chandrasekhar Temple, and Neelakantheswar temple where Lord Shiva is worshiped and Jagar and Shiva Bibaha are most awaited festival of the temple. Sri Chandrasekhar Temple is the oldest temple of the village. Every year Dushera festival is celebrated by the villagers and many people from neighbor villages comes to visits Maa Durga. After few days Maa kali puja festival was also celebrated by the villagers for 12 times from 2003. After 12 years in 2015 November 12, this festival is not happening more. Since the pankapal include many sub villages, every sub villages has its own individual festivals like Maa Laxmi puja, Basanti puja, Kartikeswar puja, etc.
Education
In Pankapal panchayat, the education facility has increased rapidly after 1990s. Nowadays this panchayat includes many schools (both private and government). But in pankapal village there are six schools. These are lower and upper primary school, and Pankapal High School (established in 1958). Besides these two government run schools there are several private schools such as Gyana vikash, Vidya Bharati (since 2002), Sri Aurobinda Purnanga Sikhya kendra (established in 1990) and Saraswati sishu Vidya Mandir (SSVM). The village also houses a women's college for Intermediate education in Arts subjects. Besides that a block education office and office of the junior engineer RD is running.