Bhubaneswar, Dec. 21: Sales professional Sourav Patnaik, 36, a resident of Saheed Nagar, hoped that he would find the banks empty because of the BJP sponsored 12-hour bandh. But his hopes were dashed when he found the Satya Nagar branch of the private bank closed.
"I reached the ICICI Bank at 9.30am. The security guard at the ATM there told me that the branch would remain closed today. I was in dire need to withdraw Rs 5,000. But there was not much help with even the ATM closed," he said.
Patnaik finally managed to locate another ATM at Jharpada and withdrew Rs 2,000 from there.
Most banks remained closed here today to avoid the wrath of BJP supporters. A security guard posted at the Jharapada branch of HDFC Bank said that most employees had arrived by 10am, but they decided not to open the branch to avoid untoward incidents.
"Banking services were affected by the bandh call today. I managed to reach my bank branch unscathed, but the protesters asked us to return home," said P.P. Panda, a State Bank of India official.
At Ram Mandir Square around 12pm, BJP protesters attacked a major eatery and a coffee shop for "daring to remain open".
Businessman P.K. Mohanty, 52, a resident of Chandrasekharpur, was eating at the restaurant when he saw a group of more than 100 BJP supporters sprinting towards the outlet. "I took shelter behind the counter. The protesters broke two display panels. Thankfully, police acted swiftly and prevented them from damaging the eatery further," he said.
An employee of the restaurant said he never thought that someone would attack their shop in the manner the BJP activists did. "We decided to keep the outlet open as we did not anticipate that the protesters would target us," he said. Several other traders across the city also had to experience similar trauma.
Lipak Behera, 26, a general store owner at Patia, said that the protesters did not spare his shop either. "After 10am, some protesters came from nowhere and threatened to ransack my shop if I did not close it immediately," he said.
BJP supported also forced traders at Rasulgarh to close shops. A few traders, who had kept their business establishments open, were in a fix as they were torn between the pressures of BJP and BJD supporters. While the BJP supporters asked them to shut shops, the BJD supporters asked them to stay open.
"Around 10am, some slogan-shouting BJP workers asked me to close my shop. However, an hour later, local BJD workers came to Mahima Club and asked us open our shops," said salon owner Bhima Behera.
Public transport services were also badly hit by the dawn-to-dusk bandh. People were seen looking for buses and autorickshaws to reach places such as the railway station and the airport. Motorbikes emerged again as a favourite mode of transport for those travelling to the city airport.
Sampad Mohanty, 28, a competitive examination aspirant, had a tough time as he had to catch a train to home. "I had my train at 1.30pm. I came out of my room at 12.30pm, but couldn't find any bus or auto-rickshaw to reach the railway station. I had to walk about six kilometres to the station and missed the train," said Mohanty, who lives at Acharya Vihar.
Lalit Mohan, a passenger who had arrived at the airport this morning, had to pay Rs 500 for an eight-km ride to a biker who dropped him at his home in Unit-VI.
"This is for the third time in my life that I faced such a problem. Such bandhs provide opportunity to goons to extort money from commuters. We don't have any other option but to pay whatever money they ask. I can't spend 12 hours waiting at the airport," said Lalit.
