Sambalpur 'bandh' went peacefully

The 12-hour bandh call given by students’ mass threw life out of gear in Sambalpur on Wednesday as rail and road traffic remained severely affected. Plying of buses was also stopped in view of the Bandh. Schools colleges, offices both private and government, banks, commercial establishments were remained closed due to the picketing of students. But railway sources revealed that train movement became normalized till noon. Heavy police forces were deployed in the town in view of the Bandh call, but barring few normal incidents, the ‘bandh’ was peaceful.
According to the sources, the Western Orissa Students joint action committee (WOSJAC) had given the call against the government apathy on the region on every field espicially on education field. The demands of the student-mass include central university status to Sambalpur University , deemed University status on VSS Medical college and High court bench in western Orissa.. The action committee took such a decision after state government could not take appropriate step before the ‘deadline’ sets by the students
“We had given the government an ultimatum of Feb. 5th to fulfill our demands. When government fails to initiate any action we decided to go for Sambalpur ‘Bandh’. If the government continues to neglect on our demands we will bring out a massive agitation making the situation worst in coming days”, co-convener of the action committee, Saurav Mahapatra told.
The Bandh call given by student forum was supported by various organization and political parties including Sambalpur lawyers association and BJP. Lawyers and BJP workers joined in the picketing directly in support of the students. Members of the Bar Association closed down all judicial courts and were seen picketing in various places of the town during Bandh. The shops and commercial establishments remained closed as several merchant associations of the town were also extended their support to the students “We supported whole heartedly to the students for their cause and our members joined the agitation and helped the students mass to make the ‘Bandh’ successful”, Pradeep Bohidar, president of the Sambalpur lawyers association told.
Sambalpur-Puri intercity and Sambalpur-Rayagada intercity were delayed in running from Sambalpur station as activists did not allow trains to run in the morning. But looking to the plight of the train-passengers students activists resumed train services. “Train service was resumed with in few hours after students activists let the trains back to the tracks” an official of the division told.
“Bandh was spontaneous as every one supported it. We remained thankful to the organizations and individuals who joined in our agitation to make it successful,” the secretary of the WOSJAC Padmanav Mishra
On the other hand, situation of Gangadhar Meher College was tensed for few hours as the agitators went amok and rampaged chairs kept inside the college pendal as preparation was going on for the ensuing visit of the BJD MP Prarimohan Mahapatra to the college, who schedules to visit the college to attend annual function on Thursday. But later the matter was solved amicably by the students.
“We deployed 17 platoons of police force in the town to maintain law and order situation. Situation of GM College was tensed for sometimes but latter it was settled by the students themselves. No other untoward incident was reported”, SDPO (Sambalpur) Dilip Kumar Deo said.