Cuttack, Aug. 12: Purna Chandra Sahu of Angul today faced severe inconvenience in reaching the city that remained out of bounds for several passengers due to a 12-hour strike observed by the Cuttack Nagar Congress Committee in protest against poor civic infrastructure.

The 43-year-old businessman had to abandon his hired vehicle midway and walk a distance of about 3.5km to reach a private hospital to attend his ailing brother. “Only after walking from Madhupatna Square to Bajrakabati Road, I got a lift from a motorcyclist who dropped me at the nursing home at Mangalabag. The agitators blocked the roads by burning tyres,” said Sahu.

Several other passengers were also stranded at Cuttack railway station and Badambadi bus terminus as all kinds of public transport including buses and auto-rickshaws stayed off roads for the dawn-to-dusk strike.

“I had arrived in Cuttack by the Falaknuma Express around 7am and found that auto-rickshaws were not ferrying passengers. I had to come to the city to collect money from distributors,” said L. Murthy, a trader from Andhra Pradesh.
The local Congress unit had called the strike to protest against the state government’s “failure” in undertaking projects and other issues such as “irregularities and corruption in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation”.

All the business establishments at prominent locations, including Badambadi, College Square, Choudhry Bazar, Dargha Bazar, Nandi Sahi, Ranihat and Mangalabag, as well as education institutions remained closed till late in the afternoon.

Litigants suffered as Orissa High Court lawyers stayed away from the court citing “inconvenience”. “Fearing possible inconvenience for the lawyers to reach the court due to the bandh, our general body had resolved not to attend to court work today. The Chief Justice was accordingly informed and was urged that no adverse orders be passed in absence of lawyers,” said High Court Bar Association secretary B.K. Ragada. “However, our absence should not be construed as support to any bandh,” he added.

Tension prevailed at Gopalpur after Congress activists ransacked a bus and few other four-wheelers while staging a demonstration.

“People supported the bandh, and the response shows that the residents are fed up with the poor civic amenities and failure of the civic body in addressing basic issues,” said city Congress president Mohammad Moquim.

More than 200 Congress activists, including party leaders such as Mohammad Moquim and Suresh Mohapatra, were taken into preventive custody by police today to ensure law and order.

“The bandh was by and large peaceful and more than 20 platoons of police were deployed to maintain law and order today,” said deputy commissioner of police Sanjeev Arora.