Though the Congress-called Odisha bandh was almost total and generally peaceful, violent incidents were reported from several places of the State.Picketers torched and damaged some vehicles in Bhubaneswar, including a Puri-bound tourist bus from Tamil Nadu. There were reports of tourists being beaten up as the driver failed to understand the shouts of the agitating Congress workers. A 69-year-old tourist, Vasudamma, was injured.Armed with bamboo poles and sticks, Congress youths broke several cars and auto-rickshaws and damaged some malls at Patia in the city.Surprisingly, maybe the first time, angry residents thrashed the Congress workers who indulged in vandalism at Sastri Nagar in the city. Irate over the party workers’ coercive approach to close down the shops in the area, local youths beat them up and torched their two motorbikes.
In Nayagarh town, Congress workers attacked a 108 Ambulance and beat up its driver at a busy square. The drivers of four 108 Ambulances parked the vehicles in front of the District Headquarters Hospital on the National Highway and blocked the road demanding action against the attackers.In Jagatsinghpur, protesters went on the rampage in the Biridi Block Office and beat up BDO Rabindra Sabat and clerk Artabandhu Swain. Reports of violence also came from Dhenkanal town, where the municipality and DEO offices were ransacked by Congress workers. Hundreds of party workers were arrested in different places of the State for creating disturbance.