Major roads and public places wore a deserted look in State capital city Bhubaneswar during the six-hour Odisha Bandh called by the Congress on Monday. Congress workers blocked road on NH at Satsang Vihar Square, thereby disrupting vehicular movement. Hundreds of vehicles remained stranded on both sides of the road.
Passengers at the Baramunda bus-stand suffered as the Bus Owners’ Association suspended bus services across the State from 6 am to 1 pm. As many as 25 platoons of police force were deployed in the city to avoid any untoward incident during the bandh. Senior Congress leader and Jatni MLA Suresh Kumar Routray led party workers in staging rail roko at the Bhubaneswar railway station. A police officer tried to stop Routray from entering the station platform but in vain. “As directed by Pradesh Congress Committee president Niranjan Patnaik, we are observing a peaceful bandh. Prices of diesel, petrol and LPG are increasing rapidly affecting the public, especially the poor. The Central and State Governments should slash the prices,” said Routray.
Though the Congress claimed that the Odisha Bandh was “peaceful”, several party workers were seen forcing an elderly woman to close her shop in Bhubaneswar.
An argument ensued between the woman, who sells snacks on a cart, and Congress workers as they asked her to close the sale. The woman, however, resisted and refused to do so. “Sonia Gandhi and Sura Routray will compensate in the case of any damage to my shop,” the woman, who was visibly upset, said.
In another instance, several party workers thrashed an auto-rickshaw driver and misbehaved with the passengers at Master Canteen Square in Bhubaneswar. They intercepted the three-wheeler and started thrashing its driver for carrying passengers in the vehicle during the bandh.
They also misbehaved with the passengers of the auto-rickshaw and forced them to alight from it. In an unusual scene, Congress leaders and workers offered chocolate candies to commuters at Link Road Square in Cuttack city and sought their cooperation for the Odisha Bandh called by the party on Monday against rising fuel prices. “We got more support from the public than we had expected. The bandh was observed peacefully in Cuttack district. Our workers had been asked not to burn tyres or ransack vehicles duringbandh,” a Congress leader said.