The big problem Rourkelaties faces today is the odd time of Sambalpur Express. To go Balangir, you need to wake up at 3AM, go to railway station and notice that the train is late by 3 hours. While coming from Korpaut side, your whole night is wasted waiting for the arrival of the train. Why can't we have a pair of train with suitable time connecting Rourkela and Titilagarh?

We had a really tough summer this year. In the past fortnight, it was unbearable. What was commendable was that we never problem with electricity. Since last 2 -3 days it is raining, creating a humid weather which is much worse than intense summer. On top of this, we have acute problem with electricity. Two hours of scheduled power cut has been introduced. On top of this, we have several cuts for the whole of the day. Today, the power was never there for more than 45 minutes till 6PM. After this it has stabilized a bit. It is really painful to see your working hours being wasted in such manner.

Hi Everyone. It has been a long time since my last post. Much has happened in the city.

The most that concern all of us is the checking of helmet and seat belt by police in Rourkela. There has been a strict checking for the head gear for two wheeler rider since last few months. I did pay a penalty on more than one occasion.

The most important and visible change during this drive was the honesty by the department. You can not get away without paying a fine.

This also raises a very important and fundamental question. Do we need these checking on the streets where the speed can not be more than 20 kms. in the busy main road of the town. Also no one checks for these in the main high way. Also some one was quoting statistics to make a point that there has been very few cases of road accident in the city. Most of the accident takes place in the highway. However, these checking has seen the bank balance of the police dept. soaring.

Without question, the move is good for the citizens, it should be ensured that the checking should be done on the highway and also other law relating to traffic is enforced such as light condition, polluting vehicle etc. Only then we will have the true benefit of such rules and their enforcement.

Cheers. The central Govt has decided to set up two IIT in the State of Orissa. This is really commendable after the assuranace by the PM that a NIS will be set up in Bhubaneswar very soon.

Only afraid, when these development will be reflected in the maps of Western Orissa which is lagging far behind in all respect.

It was a long overdue visit to Indra Gandhi Park in the evening this Sunday. The sound and light musical fountain put up by SAIL is really good and enjoyable. Unfortunately, I forget to take my camera and further left my mobile in the car. Hope to visit soon again to capture some photo and publish it on the main web site too.

Living in Rourkela for the past two weeks have been extremly difficult. There were no power for three nights. During day time it is highly irratic. The working hours has reduced considerably.

No power means no computer, no fan, no water and no work.

The late eveing storm and the power failure has become a routine.

It is sad, industrial town such as Rourkela should have such kind of fate. I failed again and again on many committments. It is really shameful. Why WESCO can not orgainse things better ???

Polish missionary dies in Orissa

Bhubaneswar: Polish missionary Marian Zelazek, who spent over half a century in Orissa and cared for thousands of leprosy patients, has died at the age of 78.

Zelazek, who was short listed for the Nobel peace prize twice and had won the hearts of millions of people in the state through his dedication and service, died Sunday afternoon from a heart attack, officials said Monday.

The Christian missionary, who had arrived in Rourkela in the state in 1950, complained of cardiac pain in the afternoon at Karunalaya (literally, abode of mercy), the leprosy home he set up at Puri, 56 km from here. He died on way to the local hospital.

Zelazek, who was born on Jan 30, 1918, joined missionaries of the Gymnasium of the Divine Word charity and was sent to work in Rourkela. For the next 25 years, he worked as a teacher and a priest in the adjoining Sundargarh district in western Orissa, providing education to poor tribals and serving them in other ways.

He set up Ishopanthi Ashram and Karunalaya in 1975 on the outskirts of Puri and was serving leprosy patients.

He was short listed for the Nobel peace prize in 2003 and 2003.

He never tried to convert people residing in his ashram. He instead built Hindu temples inside his ashram to allow its residents to practice their own religion.

"We feel like the sky has fallen on us," said leprosy patient Satrughan Hota, 70, who has been living at Karunalaya for the last 24 years.

Finally we are in the grip of summer. Late evning rains and cloud brings some relief. But it is really hot in the afternoon.

Power supply is manageable but there are significant drop in the voltage specailly in the evening hours. This make it difficult to Run Ac. The thin tube light does not light up. Surprisngly, the thick the old model of TV goes on well. I do not know the exact reasons but it appears it is wise to buy the old type of tube light.

Speaking about internet connection, i remember making a post about Cable connection. I applied for one and also downgraded by Dataone connection.

One fine morning, my son complained that when he opened google it is directed to google hongkong site and not India site. I was surprised to hear that. I found that ip is not registered in India and hence google takes the connection as orignating from Hongkong.

There were several issues with the connection. I hope they solve it rather quickly.

Recently, I was assigned a professional job which made me travel to not less than four districts of Orissa. I visited Jharsuguda, Bolangir, Boudh, Sonepur and Phulbani district.

The status of development in these areas were really shocking. Even in Bolangir, I observed that buying capacity of people has not increased much. There has been some development in Boudh and SOnepur by way of construction of Govt. quarters. Roads has been improved. The bridge connecting boudh with Sambalpur has made a difference in the life of the people.

What was shocking is the status of Phulbani. Even in the district headquarter, you can not get a decent place for sit and dine. The basic infrastructure is simply not available. There are no adequate lighting in the bus stand. The reasons is not served by Railways. Some times it is difficult to get even a bottle of genuine mineral water.

Although, Phulbani has been in news for many years, the status of development of a head quarter which is a very old town was an eye opening and equally shocking.

God give governement some thought for development of the area.

For the railway budget, I missed one thing. It has provision for doubling the line between Sambalpur - Titlagarh (148 km) which should go a long way to ease traffic congestion on the route.

It has been a long time since I made a posting. Just busy in work.

Railway budget is one of the most watchful happenings in Orissa. It gives you an insight of new train which are mercilessly very few in this are. This year was no exception. For Rourkela, this means very few additions, only extension of Puri-Sambalpur passenger to Rourkela, and MAY be newly announced TATA-Yaswantpur and Howrah Mumbai express may go via Rourkela. An increase in frquency of Hatia-LTT to two days in a week.

So there is not much to cheer about the railway budget, as usual.