A deserted street in Balangir. Telegraph picture

Balangir, Nov. 19: Life was thrown out of gear because of the dawn-to-dusk bandh protesting against the alleged indifferent attitude of the Odisha government towards the educational institutions of Balangir.

Commuters faced difficulties as vehicular traffic was paralysed while business establishments of the town downed their shutters. All government and private offices and banks also remained closed.

Schools and colleges of the town remained closed owing to the Prathamastami festival.

Balangir unit of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad had given the bandh call, demanding immediate posting of lecturers in the colleges of Balangir. The students’ outfit also demanded establishment of proposed medical college in Balangir, which has been a demand for the residents.

In the morning, the parishad activists were divided into a few groups and blocked all roads leading out of town by burning tyres on the roads. They later thronged the different government offices and prevented the employees from entering the premises. All the government offices, including those of district collector and sub-collector, were forced closed by the activists. However no untoward incident was reported from anywhere.

“My nephew had informed me that he would come to Balangir on Saturday to appear the Utkal Bank recruitment test on Sunday here. But, he couldn’t arrive as buses were not plying and there was also rail roko for some time. He will have to come early tomorrow morning to appear the test,” said Ranjit Dash, a town resident.

State joint secretary of parishad Hitesh Sahu said that though the students and other students outfits had been demanding adequate posting of lecturers in the colleges of Balangir, the government was not giving a heed to their demands.

“For more than one year now the parishad and other students’ outfits in Balangir have been demanding posting of lecturers in the colleges. The Vidya Bhusan Sanskrit college is almost closed and the Government Ayurvedic College is also going to meet the same fate if the government doesn’t do anything to fill up the posts of teachers and improve infrastructure of the college,” said Sahu.

“The bandh has been a success despite the district administration trying its best to disrupt it. The district administration didn’t give us permission to use public address system to inform people about the bandh call. It was the BJD minister of the district who instructed the administration to see that the bandh fails. But, people supported us making it a grand success,” Sahu said.