Baripada: Life in the town and its neighbouring areas was affected and vehicular movement on the national highway was disrupted for hours following a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk strike observed by the Mayurbhanj Adivasi Revolutionary Youth and Students' Association (Marysa) in support of their demand for either establishment of a Santali university or a special board to propagate the language.

The agitators picketed near Murgavadi on the national highway. As a result, hundreds of trucks were seen stranded there. Normality prevailed around 11am after police took the key agitators into custody and held discussions with their representatives.

Baripada town inspector-in-charge Ashok Nayak said 15 activists were taken into custody, and no untoward incident had been reported.

The strike received a mixed reaction. While government offices, courts and other private establishments remained opened, shops were closed. Barring a few, most of the schools and colleges in and around the town remained open.

"As it is, Baripada market remains closed on the last Tuesday of every month. The strike call coincided with that and trading activities were totally closed," said a local resident.

Marysa working president Dharamraj Hansda said: "We want establishment of a Santali university in Baripada or at least a separate board for the propagation and research of the language. Although in 2009 a resolution had been passed in the district to have a separate building for imparting Santali, nothing happened so far. We need a separate building for the purpose of teaching Santali, which has been done from the building of DIET, Baripada, since 2012."

On Monday evening, the organisation organised a bike rally to gather support for their cause.