Jeypore: Residents of this town in Koraput district had a surprise in store Thursday when they got an opportunity to greet a few unexpected visitors.
The guests were the kin of RCS Bell, the first Collector of Koraput who was a British national and a stretch of the town was named after him as a tribute to his pro-people initiatives.
Bell’s daughter Alex Turner, son-in-law David Turner and granddaughter Mai Turner along with another guest visited Jeypore where the former had spent a lot of time as district magistrate.
The visitors first took a walk from Bell Road to Indira Chhak where they were received by municipality chairperson R Padma, vice-chairman Suryanarayan Rath, councilor Nabin Patra and other locals. The citizen committee also felicitated the successors of the first Collector at Sandhya Function Hall in the evening.
Overwhelmed by the hospitality, Alex said her father was strongly influenced by the tribals, their lifestyles and culture, geographical location and climate of Koraput. He described his Koraut experience in a book. Inspired by the book, she had to come to the workplace of her father, Alex added.
Alex was interested to pen a book on her father’s 20-year-stay in India, it was learnt.
PNN