I was born in the year 1933 in Astarang block of Puri district. The name of my village was Adikandapur. My father was a primary teacher in in Macchagaon Highschool of Cuttack District. He was teacher to Late Sriram Das. My village was very underdeveloped and lack basis resources. My father was drawing Rs 12 rupees per month. My grand father was the president of an union( Union refers to a group of villages under one boundary for administrative purposes). He was assigned the task of coordinating between chokias and report to police about law and order from time to time. My father was having four sisters. He has started his career from 1924 and he was a good teacher. We are four brothers and two sisters. I have four sons and two daughters. They are working in different offices in India.
I started my schooling in my village for first four years. Then I come to Kakaktapur I studied for two years there. Later, I joined Collegiate School of Cuttack and passed my Matriculation. Soon after matriculation I joined Allahabad university and continued my education in agriculture sector. I also got Govt. scholarship for this. In 1954 I joined Govt of Odisha in a Govt job. My first salary per month was Rs 120/- per month. I went on leave to complete my masters and came back to join OUAT. In 1964 we went on to complete Few more degrees from USA. I retired from OUAT in 1992 and since then I am leading my retirement life. I lead many associations and organizations and helping then out in social service.
I joined Bhubaneswar in 1959 for the frist time and by that Bhubaneswar was not completely developed. The road at places were made of red top soil only. From Vanivihar to Unit one there was no single house. We purchased this plot in 1966. I got this plot when I became a member of a cooperative society and I paid Rs 360 to buy this plot of 3600 sq ft. This plot is given in 90 years lease. The rate of Intrest was 5% then. There was no private housing finance scheme available. We took credit from Govt and managed to develop this plot.
There was not much avenues available for relaxing. Raj Mahal Square and old bus stand are two major areas which were developed a little. But Others were not. Prices of vegetables were quite cheap. We brought Patato by paying Rs 5.00/per Kilo and Janhi by paying Rs 1.25 rupees per Kilo. Tamato was also cheaper. A live chicken cost less than 20 rupees.
People were engaged in Govt Jobs. Some even tried private jobs while few of the people are also into business.
Bhubaneswar was brilliantly planned but later politicians and some corrupt officials spoiled it. Babus’ allowed to develop construction and house building at locations which was not even allowed. This has resulted in large scale water logging and now due to slightest of rain, the Bhubaneswar streets are flooded.
People in Old Bhubaneswar donot have much dream. They were doing small jobs and enjoying their life. Going to relatives and receiving relatives were happiest things people used to do.
Yet, Kali Puja and Durga Puja were celebrated with pomp and joy. Ashokastami was perhaps biggest of all events. People from nearby villages come to oldtown to witness the festival.
Hand pulled Rickshaw and Cycle Rickshaw were very popular in those days. They were major means of transportation from one place to another within Bhubaneswar. People also had cycles and by cycles during that period of time. From OUAT to Market building rickshaw’s used to charge one rupee per person per trip.
Bhubaneswar had never seen any communal fight. Students politics was there and students agitation at times turned violent. When I used to work in OUAT, there happened one students uprising as students vandalized assembly and secretariat. But other than this the city has not seen any such major debacle.
Biju Pattanaik, Nabakrushna Choudhury, Biren Mitra were very popular leaders. Samaj was very popular. Matrubhumi and prajatantra were very popular too. Later Jhankar and other magazines came up.
Football was very popular. But Cuttack was much better than Bhubaneswar in terms of organizing sports events. Cuttack has the advantage of having Big Barabati Stadium, which helped them to come up with more opportunities to organize events.
The pace of development of Bhubaneswar quickened after 1962. Many educational institutes came up one after another and many people from outside the state came to permanently settle in Bhubaneswar. This has increased the land value and opened the opportunity for the people and city grew sooner and quicker.
Old Bhubaneswar was full contrasts. While old Bhubneswar was developed due to Lingaraj temple other places were not at all developed. Now other places have developed, whereas old Bhubaneswar lacks planned development.
Old Bhubaneswar was not cleaned properly. But now situation has changed a lot. But we still need more development. Water logging issues need to be handled carefully.
Telegram was available in GPO only and people need to go there to do telegrams. The climate of Bhubaneswar was cool and there was used to have adequate wind just after 3 pm. Due to expansion of City and large buildings the radiation has increased and it has resulted in more tempreture.
Doctor’s were important part of the city. Dr. Gadadhar Mohapatra was very popular in the town. He used to charge Rs 5.00 per patient where others charge Rs 10.00 per patient. SCB was small hospital there.
I believe slums should not be allowed in the city as it is congesting the city and many criminals are hiding. Freebies should be stopped as this is demotivating people to work.
To me Biju Pattnaik was a great visionary. At first he wanted to develop plan for each village and he always wanted to target the marginalized and poorest of the poor separately. I have applied these two theories in two villages and have been successful in removing the poverty. The landless and marginalized people are most benefitted out of this innovation.
I believe that all the IAS and OAS officers should adopt atleast one village and take up developmental work in that village. The things would improve in no time just not only for Odisha but also for other part of India too.
