The bandh call given by the Koshal State Coordination Committee for a separate State comprising the western Odisha districts and Athamallik sub-division of Angul passed off peacefully on Tuesday. The police at Sambalpur arrested 14 persons during the 12-hour bandh.
Only two-wheelers and bicycles were seen moving on the roads of the city. Educational institutions, banks, business establishments and Government offices remained closed in Sambalpur. Bandh activists also picketed at several places. The activists too staged Rail Roko and stopped the Sambalpur-Puri Intercity Express for half an hour at the Sambalpur railway station.
Similar situations also prevailed in Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sundargarh and other parts of western Odisha.
Sambalpur district president of the Koshal Kranti Dal Upendra Mahapatra said, “The bandh evoked spontaneous response. People from all walks of life extended support to the bandh for a separate Koshal State. A separate Statehood is the only solution to all the problems of this neglected region.”
“We appeal to the lawyers who have been agitating for a permanent High Court Bench in western Odisha to come forward and take the leadership of the agitation for a separate Koshal State,” Mahapatra said further.
The bandh was called demanding separate State status for the 10 western districts and Athamalick sub-division. The ongoing agitation of the lawyers for a High Court Bench in western Odisha, in fact, made the Koshal Bandh a big success.
However, frequent bandhs by different organisations have put many including the poor labour class to acute troubles. Normal life in Balangir was also badly-affected on Monday due to the 12-hour dawn-to-dusk Koshal Bandh.