Bhubaneswar/Cuttack, March 31: Odisha Bidyut Upabhokta Mahasangh's state-wide dawn-to-dusk protest call against power tariff hike turned out to be flop show today even though the Opposition had supported it.

The strike, however, paralysed functioning of Orissa High Court as lawyers did not turn up citing possible inconvenience due to the strike.

Unlike shutdowns in the past, offices, schools, colleges, shops and business establishments were open across the state barring at a few places. The traffic flow throughout the state was almost normal.

Mahsasangh president Panchanan Kanungo admitted that their call did not have much impact. "We could not mobilise the people as the call was given at a short notice. We did not have adequate manpower. We had banked on the political parties, who had pledged support to the call," he said.

Kanungo also said that the announcement of the state government to file a review petition before the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) seeking the roll back of power tariff hike for agriculture and the subsequent announcement of the Opposition to cooperate with the government in the Assembly proceedings had created confusion among the people.

However, Congress state unit president Prasad Harichandan said his party's stand against power tariff hike remained unchanged. "We have staged demonstration at all the district headquarters across the state yesterday. We will be compelled to intensify our agitation if the power tariff hike is not withdrawn in its entirety," he said.

He said the confusion over today's strike could be due to the lack of coordination among the political parties.

Though they had voiced their support to the strike, BJP leaders and workers were busy with preparations for the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Rourkela tomorrow and with the ongoing campaign for the April 7 election to eight civic bodies.

BJP state president K.V. Singh Deo, who was on his way to Rourkela, said: "Yesterday's statement of the government might have created confusion among the people. But our party demands total rollback of power tariff."

In the legal portals, secretary of the High Court Bar Association Bidyadhar Pradhan said: "We decided to abstain from attending court work today as we felt that it may not be possible for members to come and attend court work safely in the face of likely obstructions on the roads and inconvenience due to the strike called by the consumers' association against power tariff hike".

The court could not proceed with the cases filed against the state government's order declaring void the 274 illegal appointments detected in the Cuttack Municipal Corporation.

Hundreds of cases, including large number of bail petitions, were listed for hearing today before different benches of the high court. Several cases in the weekly list drawn up on Monday also faced the same fate.

The court also could not proceed with the bail petition of Bikash Kumar Swain, the owner of an Odia daily who was arrested by the CBI in September last year. The CBI had arrested Swain for his alleged links with Artha Tatwa group, a deposit collection company that had duped thousands of investors in the state.