The dawn-to-dusk Orissa bandh call given by the Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee to protest the police attack on its workers at the party’s Thursday rally evoked total response on Monday, even as the police arrested hundreds of protesters in different parts of the state.
Business establishments downed their shutters and the attendance in government offices, including the state secretariat, was very thin. Most of the school and colleges suspended their classes fearing violence by the agitators.
Public transport system was totally stalled as over 1,200 private buses, nearly 1,000 government buses and auto-rickshaws remained off the road.
In Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Rayagada, Bhawanipatna and many other places Congress workers stopped trains. Passengers were stranded on the platforms waiting for the train services to resume in the evening.
In Bhubaneswar, the police arrested senior Congress leaders Suresh Kumar Routray and Narasingha Mishra while leading the agitation and AG Square.
OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik claimed total success of the bandh and said the people’s support was spontaneous.
“People are dissatisfied with the corrupt Naveen Patnaik government. Today’s huge response to our peaceful bandh call proves that they now want a change and we will fulfil their aspirations in 2014 elections,” said Mr Patnaik.
OPCC vice president Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra and former Banki MLA Debasis Patnaik were also seen leading the protests at Master Canteen Square.
The protesters damaged a Maruti SX4 and a set a college bus on fire at Ram Mandir Square. The fire was immediately extinguished by the fire brigade officials. No one was injured in the incident.
The Congress called for the bandh alleging that its workers were brutally assaulted by the police at the instance of the ruling BJD during a “peaceful rally” in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.