Sambalpur, May 11: The 11-day-old agitation by lawyers in this town was called off today after the district collector regretted the unsavoury incident involving her and a group of lawyers on April 23. The lawyers will resume their work from Saturday.

The compromise between the two groups was brokered at a meeting convened by the revenue divisional commissioner, northern division.

The lawyers had started a ceasework from May 1 accusing district collector Mrinalini Darswal of misbehaving with them. The collector, on the other hand, had said that the lawyers had abused her.

The spat between her and the lawyers had led to the ransacking of her official residence. Lawyers from all over Odisha, including the ones working at the high court, had gone on a day’s strike last week demanding the collector’s arrest and dismissal from the service.

Revenue divisional commissioner Kishore Chandra Barik had called a meeting of the two sides to resolve the deadlock. While Darswal regretted the incident, the lawyers agreed to call off their agitation. “Both the sides agreed to withdraw cases lodged against each other,” said Barik.

Darswal said: “ I express my regret if anybody’s sentiment has been hurt during the whole process of the unfortunate incident on April 23.”

“We are ready to work out an amicable settlement for the greater cause of maintaining peace and harmony in Sambalpur,” she said.

Eighteen lawyers were arrested based on her complaint.

All the lawyers of western Odisha had called for a bandh in the region on May 8 supporting the cause of the protesting advocates. In a retaliatory move, the state government employees had rallied behind the district collector and demanded stern action against the lawyers. They had also threatened to launch an agitation. A delegation of IAS Officers’ Association of the state had met the chief minister and demanded action against the lawyers.

The state government found itself in a tizzy because of the deadlock owing to lawyers agitation. Yesterday, Sambalpur Bar Association decided to continue their agitation till May 19 demanding the arrest of the district collector.

“The revenue divisional commissioner proposed for an amicable solution. Considering the problem faced by the people because of our strike, we decided to call it off,” said president of Sambalpur Bar Association Pramod Rath.