Haramani Sarangi had two desires. The first was to meet Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and the other to meet Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
But when Vajpayee arrives in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday next week, he will not meet Sarangi. She quietly passed away on November 10 last year.
The frail woman had extracted a promise from Patnaik that he would facilitate a meeting between her and Vajpayee.
Patnaik, while visiting the flood-hit Dhanmandal area of Jajpur district on August 5, 2001, had come across the 70-year-old woman who said that the two desires in her life was to meet the chief minister and the prime minister.
With one of them fulfilled, as she blessed Patnaik, she was eager to meet Vajpayee. The chief minister also promptly agreed to arrange a meeting with the prime minister when he visited the state.
State government officials frantically searched for the lady as Patnaik recalled his promise made to her about two years ago.
But they did not find her. She had passed away.
Vajpayee is scheduled to arrive here on July 15 next to lay the foundation of the regional centre of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences at New Delhi.
© 2024 Rediff.com -