The people of Sambalpur couldn’t get a chance to send a telegram on the last day of this historic service as a memory. Reason: the Telegraph Office here had been closed two days before the scheduled date.
Quite a number of people, particularly youths, had to return home disappointed at the eleventh hour hearing a negative reply from a single staff “on duty” at the office.
As per the previous notification, 9 pm of July 14 was the last hour for the telegraph service. To keep the day a memorable by sending telegrams to their near and dear ones, many people gathered at the Telegraph Office avail of the last service. But the staff “on duty” informed that telegraph service had been closed two days before. The staff could not give any satisfactory reply about the premature closure of the office.
People contacted the engineer in charge of the service, SK Patel, who came forward with an apparent irresponsible reply that due to two days of holidays for second Saturday and Sunday, they closed the service earlier. But the same officer forgot that telegram service is one of the essential services of the Government and was opened for 24 hours and 365 days.
It is to be mentioned that telegraph service in Sambalpur started in the year 1855, five years after it operated in the important towns of the country. At the first phase, it began in the office of the district Collector. The service played a vital role during the Second World War, freedom movement and also during the construction of the Hirakud Dam Project and for many other important occasions.
The service operated with 25 staff and the number of the employees gradually thinned out to a mere three. And on the last day, there was only one staff available in the office who provided ‘no service’.