The Jai Bheem Ghasi Samaj (JBGS) and the Jagran Manch including other organisations here called a 12-hour bandh on Saturday demanding 24x7 medical service in the old building of the Jharsuuguda District Headquarters Hospital at Mangalbazar.
The protestors picketed at various strategic places in the town. Shops, business establishments and majority of the schools of the town remained closed while attendance in Government offices was normal.
Public transport remained off the roads in most parts of the town. A number of loaded trucks, including ones with perishable goods, remained stranded in the major junctions due to the bandh.
Commuters have been badly affected as all the means of transport came to a halt.
“In spite of assurances by the District Administration and the Health Department to make the DHH operational from its old buildings at Mangalbazar, nothing has been done. On the other hand, poor patients and their relatives are facing difficulties after the hospital was shifted to a new seven storied building at Malimunda,” said JBGS president Umesh Behera.
Police said three platoons were deployed and 93 protesters were arrested. Apart from a few stray incidents, no untoward incident was reported from any part of Jharsuuguda, the SDPO said, adding that the administration had made elaborate arrangements to ensure security of people during the bandh.