Normal life was paralysed in western Orissa comprising of nine districts i.e.Balangir, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Jharsuguda, Sonepur, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Nuapada and Kalahandi on Monday and train and bus services hit due to a Congress-sponsored bandh to protest the death of two students at Balangir. Road traffic virtually came to a halt in most places in these districts .
Trains services too were derailed at many places as agitating students and public squatted on railway tracks at Rourkela, Sambalpur besides other places to mark their protest.
Shops and business establishments were closed besides educational institutions and offices. Functioning of courts was also affected as lawyers boycotted work in support of the shut-down in nine districts in the region called by state Congress student wi ng. BJP also backed the bandh in several places including Sambalpur. The bandh was called in protest against the death of two engineering students in Bolangir.
While one died after being knocked down by a police van on Friday at Balangir, another was killed in subsequent violence and police action at Burla Medical College in Sambalpur district. With bandh supporters blocking railway tracks at various places three trains were cancelled in Sambalpur and around five others stranded at Brajrajnagar, Jharsuguda and Bargarh, railway sources said.
A large number of vehicles were also stranded due to blockade of NH-42, NH-6 and other important roads. .
The student agitation of Western Orissa also reflected in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack where a large number of srudents belonging to various educational institutions and students organisations boycotted the classess and blocked the main roads of the cities extending support to the demands of students of Western Orissa.
In the meanwhile Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has ordered for Judicual Probe by retired judge of Orissa, Justice S.K. Mohanty who has been asked to submit the report within three months. Justice Mohanty will probe into the death of both the students and subsequent violent situations .
Though the Chief Minister has announced Rs 5 lakhs as gratitious relief to the next of keens of both the students who have died and also to bear the treatment expenditure of the student who has been admitted into S.C.B. Medical College Hospital, Cuttack, the agitating students and leaders of Congress and BJP have demanded Rs 20lakh compensation instead of Rs 5 lakhs as declared by the Chief Minister.
