Normal life affected in Odisha due to 6-hour Congress bandh against fuel price rise

    Bhubaneswar, Feb 15 (PTI) Normal life was completely
affected across Odisha on Monday due to a six-hour bandh
called by the Congress in protest against fuel price rise.
    Educational institutions remained closed, train
services were affected and vehicles remained off the roads in
the bandh that began at 7 am.
    No untoward incident, however, was reported from any
district, a Home Department official said.
    Congress activists blocked national highways in
various parts of the state, including in the capital
Bhubaneswar, leading to huge traffic jams.
    Congress members led by MLA Suresh Routray staged a
'rail roko' at Bhubaneswar railway station.
    Air and bus travellers also faced a tough time in
reaching their destinations due to the unavailability of
public transport.
    Travellers suffered at bus terminuses as the All
Odisha Bus Owners' Association suspended passenger bus
services across the state during the bandh hours.
    As many as 25 platoons of police personnel were
deployed in the state capital to prevent any untoward
incident.
    "The bandh has been completely peaceful due to massive
support from the people," Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee
chief Niranjan Patnaik said.
    He said that emergency services, including ambulance,
milk vans and vehicles of media and examinees were exempted
from the purview of the bandh.
    "The bandh was called to mount pressure on both the
state and central governments to reduce tax on petroleum
products which will help in lowering the prices of petrol and
diesel," he said.
    With vehicles remaining off the roads, many government
employees pedalled to their offices across the state including
Bhubaneswar.
    The main gates of state secretariat Lok Seva Bhavan
were closed at 10.15 am to prevent agitators from entering the
premises while employees used side gates for entry and exit, a
police officer said.
    Congress workers offered chocolates to people
venturing on the streets of Cuttack on their private vehicles
during the bandh hours.
    Paradip Port, however, functioned normally and its
loading and unloading operations were not affected by the
bandh, an official said.
    The ruling BJD neither supported nor opposed the bandh
but opposition BJP criticised the Congress for causing trouble
to the people by enforcing the bandh.
    "The Congress is facing an identity crisis and it
called for the bandh to divert people's attention from its
internal squabbles.
    "The state government should also announce a reduction
in VAT and opt for GST on petroleum products to bring down the
prices of petrol and diesel," BJP MLA and the party's deputy
leader in assembly, B C Sethi, said.
    A litre of petrol costs Rs 89.69 in Bhubaneswar and a
litre of diesel costs Rs 86.47. PTI AAM
ACD ACD

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)