GM College the first government college in Odisha to have Wi-Fi facility on campus

"GM College is the first government college in the state to have Wi-Fi facility on campus. We have already installed the system but today we formally launched it on the 70th foundation day of the institution. We are proud that our students can remain online 24X7," said principal On July 7th.

The principal said a computer hub has also been set up in the college. Students can visit any educational sites to get latest information, he added. "We have also have printing facilities through outsourcing where students can get printouts with a nominal cost of Rs 3 a page," Mishra said. 

Sambalpur all set to get city bus services

Sambalpur population stands at 1,83,383 as per 2011 Census, Second largest population of western orissa . Town bus service was introduced in 1994 by Sambalpur Municipality, it had to be stopped after one year due to traffic problem and bad road condition. The service will be restarted again.

                                                                  With a view to provide mobility and an organised and affordable public transport service to the citizens, the Sambalpur Urban Transport Services Limited (SUTSL) under the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will introduce bus services within Sambalpur and inter-city bus services connecting Hirakud, Burla, Jharsugda and Bargarh.The routes in Sambalpur town have been chosen with an aim of providing connectivity to important centres of the city like railway station, Government bus stand, Ainthapali bus terminus, Budharaja temple, Samleswari temple, Gole Bazaar chhak, Kacheri chhak, residential areas of Budharaja, Nandpada, Khetrajpur, Modipada, Sakhipada besides newly developed residential areas in Dhanupali, Remed and Baraipali.

                                                  Reports said a total of 32 buses would be procured by HUD with State Government funds for the project by coming August.The department will also provide land necessary for parking buses and developing workshops as required.The contract would be on operation and maintenance basis where the selected private operator will have to incur all the expenses for operations including payment of taxes. In return for this, the operator would be allowed to collect and retain fares from the passengers as notified by the SUTSL. The operator will be allowed to utilise the advertisement space on the buses and on the bus stands and will be required to share the revenue with SUTSL.

Sambalpur villager is source of inspiration

Sambalpur's Kechhupani villager  Narahari Pradhan ( 30 )who is visually-challenged, runs a paan shop in the village and has become a source of inspiration. He recognizes various items by touch.

Narahari tried to read but his poor financial condition came in his way. He took the handicap as a challenge and started his paan shop along the village road. "Initially I faced problems but slowly everything fell in place. Now people do not distinguish me from normal persons," Narahari said. He lauded his family members saying they supported him all along.

' Rail Roko ' protest in Sambalpur

By TOI, India 
Protesting against the negative attitude of the railways on the demand of a direct train to Allahabad, members of Sambalpur Nagarik Kalyan Samiti resorted to 'rail roko' agitation at Sambalpur station on 26th Feb 2013 evening.

They blocked the Jagdalpur-Howrah Samaleswari express after it reached Sambalpur station in the evening. The agitators expressed concern as the Railway Budget did not make any provision of extension of the Jammu Tawi-Rourkela express to Sambalpur in spite of their repeated demands for the same.

People of Western Odisha go to Allahabad to perform the last rites of their deceased family members. Since there is no direct train to Allahabad, people face severe difficulties in going there.

Only 46 teachers in GM college, Sambalpur

By The New Indian Express, India
One of the oldest in the State,  Gangadhar Meher (GM) College is reeling under large-scale vacancies at a time when unitary university status is being sought for it.

It has 73 teacher posts lying vacant, out of a total of 119 .Although teachers have been transferred to other colleges, no effort has been made to find replacements or fill up the existing vacancies. Although there is a provision to appoint teachers on an ad hoc basis, the college authorities haven’t been able to do so due to funds shortage.

 While departments of Zoology, Psychology, Sanskrit, Political Science, Hindi and Philosophy have just one teacher each who teaches both under graduate and post- graduate students, in departments of History, Odia and Mathematics there are just two teachers. Similarly, in the department of Physics there are only three teachers against the sanctioned 10 posts, while in the department of English, six posts of teacher are lying vacant against  sanctioned 11. In Botany, five posts are  vacant against the sanctioned seven. In Chemistry and Commerce, four posts each are lying vacant against eight sanctioned posts, while in Geography and Education, two posts each are lying vacant.

 Although 36 teachers have been appointed on contractual basis, courses of studies are far from over even as students are gearing up to appear for their examinations.Interestingly, moved by the plight of the College, some retired teacher like Dilip Panda of the department of Economics, former Principal Sulok Sundar Mohanty, Prasanna Mishra of Physics and Anthony Nag of English are taking classes for free.

 Principal in-charge of the College, Kamadev Sahu, said attention of the State Government has been drawn and teachers on contract have been appointed to manage things.Established in 1944 as Sambalpur College, the name of the institution was changed to Gangadhar Meher College in 1949. From a  strength of 192 in 1944, the college is currently catering to the needs of about 4,500 students from across the region. Being a premier institution of the region, it was given autonomy in 1991.