12 hours Bandh of congress passes peacefully

The 12-hour bandh call given by students’ congress threw life out of gear in western part of the state on Monday as rail and road traffic remained severely affected. Train movement was hit in the Sambalpur division for over more than six hours as congress activists stopped trains in various stations. The rail authority had to cancel 3 trains originating from Sambalpur on Monday Morning. Plying of buses was also stopped in view of the Bandh. Schools colleges, offices both private and government, banks, commercial establishments were closed down due to the picketing of the party workers. BJP workers and Bar associations of various places come forward in support of the Bandh.

According to the railway sources 3 trains including sambalpur-Puri intercity, Sambalpur-Rayagada intercity and Sambalpur-Rourkela DMU were cancelled and another 8 trains were detained on the route in view of the bandh. While Sambalpur-Nizamabad was detained in Sambalpur station, , Amritsar-Visakhapatnam Hirakud express got detained at Brajarajnagar station. Howrah-Keraput express was detained at Jharsuguda and BBSR-LMT express got detained at Boinda. The Ispat express was also detained at Hirakud station. “Train service was resumed at noon when all detained trains were allowed to run” an official of the division told.

“It was spontaneous as every one supported the Bandh”, District congress president Sureswar Mishra told. According to him though it given by the student congress against the police excesses on Bolangir students killing two of them, district congress with the help of various associations including bus owners, truck owners and merchant made the Bandh successful.

On the other hand looking to the bandh heavy police arrangement was made in various districts. While northern division IG Yogesh Bahadur Khurania was stationed at Bolangir, DIG (western) Lalit Das was stationed at Sambalpur to handle the situation. “It was quite normal in Bolangir. Except office of collector, all other offices remained close due to Bandh. About 18 platoons of police forces were deployed in Bolangir”, IG Khurania told.

Police arrested 87 persons in Jharsuguda and 31 persons in Bargarh during Bandh but no arrest was made in Sambalpur. Congress workers blocked roads on various places with burning tyres which restricted movement of private vehicles. However no unto ward incident was reported in any place of the region. “We deployed 18 platoons of police forces in Sambalpur, 3 platoons in Jharsuguda, 6 platoons in Bargarh and a platoon in Sonepur to tackle the situation. However thing passed peacefully every where in the region” DIG Lalit Das said.

The student congress on the other hand expressed gratitude to every one for the success of the Bandh. ‘It was possible because of the support of several organizations and association’, the president of the district Chhatra congress Debashis Dash told. We warn the government not to play with the sentiment of the students. “We demand a compensation of Rs. 20 lakhs to each deceased students in place of Rs. 5 lakhs”, Dash added.