Bhubaneswar, April 25: The ruling BJD is all set to enforce a dawn-to-dusk statewide strike (hartal) tomorrow to highlight central negligence and demand for a special category status to Odisha.

Though the party has urged all to maintain peace, all buses across the state would remain off the roads tomorrow. Similarly, city buses will not hit the roads in the twin cities.

Arun Sahu, BJD general secretary, said: “The party will observe hartal in a peaceful manner. Necessary direction has been issued to party cadres.” To avoid possible inconvenience, management of schools and colleges have advised students to stay at home though the institutions will remain open. All examinations scheduled for tomorrow have been shifted.

Though the East Coast Railway has decided not to stop or divert any train, BJD sources said they would prevent running of trains from 6am to 9am.

All petrol pumps will remain closed from 6 am to 6 pm.

All Odisha Private State Bus Owners’ Association secretary Debendra Sahu said, “ We have asked all our 72 regional offices to decide on the running of buses. But most of the bus owners will prefer not to ply the vehicles. If a vehicle is damaged, we will not get insurance coverage. There is a clear direction from insurance authorities to stop plying buses on such days.”

Though the BJD has called the “hartal”, the government has asked its employees to turn up at the state secretariat by 10am tomorrow as the gates will be shut at 10.15am.

Lawyers of Orissa High Court have also decided to skip court proceedings.

High Court Bar Association secretary Janmejaya Katikiya said: “Members of the association will not attend court tomorrow due to the inconvenience likely to be caused due to the hartal.”

However, the auto-rickshaw association said that they would not participate in the “hartal”.

The Opposition has, however, criticised the BJD for observing “hartal” on the birth anniversary of the first premier of the state Maharaja Krushna Chandra Gajapati.

State Congress president, Niranajan Patnaik said: “BJD has no respect for sons of the soil. We will meet the Prime Minister demanding a special category state for Odisha. We have sought an appointment with him.”

In a damage control exercise, the government has sent text messages to mediapersons that chief minister Naveen Patnaik would garland the statue of Krushna Chandra Gajapati at 9.40am.

“We have not seen such a move by the government in other cases,” said a veteran journalist.