Normal life was thrown out of gear in this western Odisha town today during a bandh called by Balangir Chamber of Commerce in protest against alleged deteriorating law and order situation.
Government and private offices, banks, insurance offices and business establishments remained closed during the dawn-to-dusk shut-down. Commuters faced difficulties as vehicular traffic was paralysed, police said.
Schools and Colleges remained closed due to the Christmas vacation.
The bandh call was given by the chamber which accused police of failing maintain law and order in the town. Congress has lent support to the bandh call.
It may be noted here that two businessman were attacked and looted in the town in the last one week. But police was yet to arrest the criminals, President of Balangir Chamber of Commerce Tripurari Panigrahi said.
Panigrahi alleged that the behavior of the police towards the common public is very bad. He thanked the people of Balangir for their support to the bandh.
Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Balangir Narayan Naik said the bandh was observed peacefully. "There were no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere", he said.
