New Delhi, May 26 -- Rourakela dina raati, gadhai luhaa kete jaati (Rourkela makes steel of all kinds day and night).

This was a famous line in school textbooks in Odia that precisely summed up one of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's 'modern temples' of Independent India - Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) - that was meant to usher in industrial and economic prosperity in the country.

The RSP, a public sector enterprise, was established in 1959 with assistance from German industrial firms. German planners also helped build a township around the RSP, which soon emerged as one of India's best planned urban areas.

The township was divided into 18 sectors - residential areas for employees - having all basic amenities like housing, healthcare centres, s...