The Statewide 12-hour Hartal by the BJD to protest the negligence of the Centre towards Odisha passed off peacefully at Sambalpur and most other parts of the western region including Jharsuguda, Deogarh, Bargarh, Balangir, Bhawanipatna, Sundargarh and Rourkela.
At early morning, the BJD workers led by Sambalpur district president Rohit Pujari stopped the Sambalpur-Puri intercity express and the Sambalpur-Rourkela DMU train.
These trains left Sambalpur almost three hours late. Sambalpur Development Authority Chairman Bijay Mohanty, Sanjay Baboo and Basanta Mishra were among the senior party leaders present at the Sambalpur railway station.
At Ainthapali Chowk, the main entrance of the town and the connecting point of NH 6 and SH 10, the BJD party workers stopped the movement of trucks and buses. Trucks lined up for miles in all directions.
However, schools and colleges functioned normally but with thin attendance. Businessmen and shopkeepers downed their shutters in order not to enter into controversy with the ruling party.
Similarly, all banks and commercial organisations remained closed.
Production in all the mines under the MCl at Brajarajnagar was paralysed. Similar was the situations at Deogarh, Bargarh and other parts of the region.