Balangir, Aug. 11: Koshal State Co-Ordination Committee has decided to observe a 12-hour bandh in western Odisha on August 26 demanding a separate state status for Koshal region.

The committee consists of representatives of 42 organisations of 10 western Odisha districts.

The committee resolved to intensify the movement for separate Koshal state and fight together forgetting all differences.

Members of 42 organisations from ten districts from western Odisha met here yesterday to form the Koshal State Co-Ordination Committee to fight for the separate state as a unit.

Informing about the proposed bandh call, chairman of the central committee of the Koshal Kranti Dal Pramod Mishra said the bandh call was the first of a series of agitations that the committee was taking up.

“We are intensifying agitation for a separate Koshal state. We will urge people of the Koshal region to extend support to the bandh. During the bandh, all establishments, offices, banks, schools and colleges will remain closed. We will also paralyse vehicular movement in the area and will stage rail roko,” Mishra said.

Mishra said: “Let the legislators and parliament members of the Koshal regions come and support the separate state issue. We will like to see that they lead the movement.”

The meet also urged various constitutional bodies of the region such as the gram sabhas, gram panchayats, municipalities and other important bodies such as merchant associations, bar associations, citizen’s committees and civil societies to pass resolutions in support of the separate state.

Mohan Sahu, who came from Bargarh, said people from some districts of the Koshal region had a sceptical attitude towards Sambalpur district.

“I have observed that people of some districts of the region are not convinced that people of Sambalpur are with them. They believe that people of Sambalpur always walk away with the cake. This is a dangerous mindset and we will have to change this,” he said.