Normal life in Balangir town was affected badly on Saturday due to a 12-hour Balangir Bandh called by the Balangir Chamber of Commerce and Industry demanding setting up of a permanent Bench of the Odisha High Court at Balangir.
Shops and other business establishments and banks remained closed and both private and Government buses were off the roads.In a related development, members of te Shramik Eakta Manch led by lalit Nayak and members of the Balangir District Bar Association led by Bhavani Satpathy and Siddhartha Mishra staged a Rail Roko at the Balangir railway station demanding a permanent High Court Bench at Balangir.
The agitators stopped the Sambalpur-Rayagada Express and Passenger trains and the Puri Hatia Express train.The District Bar Association has launched an agitation for a permanent Bench of the Odisha High Court here.
Supporting its demand, the Chamber of Commerce had given the dawn-to-dusk bandh call, to which the residents of the town extended their support.
“We demand a HC permanent Bench here, where it was functioning during the pre-Independence days,” said, president of Balangir Chamber of Commerce and industry Tripurari Panigrahi.