The Federation of All Odisha Traders’ Association’s (FAOTA) bandh on Monday protesting the attack on CRPF Jawans in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir received overwhelming response throughout the State.
Notably, the FAOTA extended its support to the nine-hour countrywide trade bandh called by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) from 7 am to 4 pm as a mark of respect to the 49 martyred CRPF jawans.
Shops and other business establishments in major cities and towns like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Brahmapur, Balangir and other places remained closed due to the bandh.
In rural areas too, the bandh was successful as traders voluntarily supported the bandh and downed the shutters of their establishments.
However, petrol pumps and medicine shops were excluded from the ambit of the bandh. However, many petrol pumps also remained closed during the bandh period.
FAOTA general secretary Sudhakar Panda said, “We stand with the Government for unity and security of the nation and the security forces. We had given a bandh call, to which the members responded voluntarily and made it a big success.
The Cuttack Chamber of Commerce has decided to provide an assistance of Rs 50,000 each to the families of two martyred jawans of Odisha Manoj Behera and Prasanna Sahoo.