Balangir: Normal life was crippled here in Odisha on Thursday due to a 12-hour bandh call given by the Congress party demanding immediate construction of bypass road outside the town.
The bandh was called following the death of a college student in road accident here on yesterday.
While vehicular traffic on the roads came to a grinding halt in the town due to the dawn-to-dusk bandh, educational institutions and business establishments remained closed today.
Congress activists also held a rally and resorted to picketing and road blockade in important junctions in the town.
Members of truck and bus owners’ associations also extended support to the strike.
Sources said, a few other local bodies including Balangir Joint Action Committee have called for a bandh tomorrow as well protesting frequent road accidents in the town.
A Plus Two girl student was mowed down by a speeding truck at Satyanarayan Pada on Wednesday morning, while she was going to college on a bicycle on NH-26.
Soon after the incident, students and political activists had staged a road blockade by keeping the dead body on road.