local BJD MlA Dr Raseswari Panigrahi is working tirelessly for full scale development of Sambalpur. Belonging to a family of rich political legacy, Panigrahi, a former Head of Gynaecology Department of VIMSAR, has not fully left his old profession, despite her busy schedule. Even today, she sits up at her clinics for treating patients free of cost.
After her retirement from the VSS Medical College at Burla (now VIMSAR) as professor cum HoD, she continued her medical practice from her Shanti Nagar residence in Sambalpur city and the flow of patients was worth seeing. But her service to the region and the State as a whole was further remarkable. She never charges any fee on the poor and parentless patients. As she is a native of Bargan village of Dhama area, the patients from the region were always treated free of cost throughout her career.
Before diagnosing a patient, she also tried to have knowledge about his/her financial condition to know if she would charge any fee. And this quality made her popular much before she entered into politics, admit the people of the region. ‘She was never money minded,’ said the people of Sambalpur. Tapaswini Tripathy, a lady from Baudh, who came to her frequently for her daughter, is all praises for her.
‘I take pleasure in looking after the patients. Moreover, the old parents prefer me as their physician as on today and I don’t want to harass them,’ says Panigrahi.
Talking about her entry into politics, Panigrahi says, ‘Immediately after my retirement from VSS, there were many offers from different national parties to enter politics, but I declined earnestly. But looking at the sorry state of affairs of Sambalpur for last few 15 years, I made up my mind to enter politics for the development of Sambalpur and the region as a whole.’
‘My constituency now consists of three major townships of the State-Sambalpur, Burla and Hirakud that control the entire western Odisha in different fronts as all the administrative offices of the division, all educational institutions and mega industries are situated here. Hence, my responsibility to fulfill the need of the people has increased manifolds and I have also done my best during these two and a half years to stand up to the expectations of the people,’ says the MlA.
‘Politics is a best platform to serve people and a true politician cannot only change the fate of a region but of the entire nation. He (a true politician) can solve any problem of the citizens and the area. There is no dearth of fund for this at present. But there are people who are looking into their vested interest more than the welfare of the State or country,’ laments the veteran doctor -turned -politician.
‘At times, a few politicians stoop very low that I am unable to bear with since I am not a professional politician. But no one can change the way of my life or my ideology since I have come from a different background,’ she boasts.
She also narrated the sincerity of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for uniform development of the State for which so many projects have come up in western Odisha and Sambalpur, in particular. So far as Sambalpur constituency is concerned, there has been a sea change during the last two and a half years with a modern planetarium, upgradation of all educational institutions, autonomous status to VIMSAR, VSSUT, second mega bridge on river Mahanadi, GM University, Odisha State Open
University, and many others. ‘But my journey will end when I myself will feel satisfied with my work and the development of my constituency and this region,’ the MlA says. ‘Only I need the cooperation and blessings of the people with healthy criticisms from media,’ she adds.