Sambalpur, Aug 26: : On Friday, due to the 12-hour bandh in the Western Odisha by the Koshal State Coordination Committee for demanding separate State status for the Koshal region, the protestors did not allow the Sambalpur-Puri Intercity Express to leave the station today morning.
The protestors did not pay any heed to the repeated requests put forward by the passengers of the train and the opponents of the bandh to allow the train to leave the station, which resulted in a violent incident where the passengers burnt the banners put up by the protestors on the tracks.
As per reports, schools and business houses remained closed in Jharsuguda while the people of Sambalpur and Bhawanipatna were against the bandh. Also, the protesters formed a protest group to enforce the bandh in Bolangir.
Pramod Kumar Mishra, Koshalbadi leader of Balangir said that Koshal was merged with the Odisha through a conspiracy of the Odisha political leaders in 1936 and 1948. Now, as per the provisions in Article 2 and 3 of the Constitution, a separate State status for Kushal is being demanded that will help to find solutions to problems like regional imbalance, discrimination in education, employment, industrialisation and development.
