Berhampur: Various social outfits today observed dawn-to-dusk bandh in Aska demanding a new Rushikulya district. The strike crippled the normal life as vehicular communication came to a grinding halt in the town.
Aska, known as the sugar town, in Odisha’s Ganjam is the home turf of CM Naveen Patnaik.
Schools, colleges, banks, markets and business establishments remained shut during the bandh in the town, but government offices functioned as usual, a district official said.
At least three platoons of police forces were deployed in the town, he said.
There was no untoward incident reported during the bandh,” Aska Police Station inspector-in-charge P Swaroop Kishan said.
The bandh was called by a committee and the Aska Bar Association while several other organisations in the town extended their solidarity to the demand for carving out Rushikulya district from the existing Ganjam district for better administration and convenience of the people.
The erstwhile Ganjam district was divided into two districts – Ganjam and Gajapati – in 1993.
The move came at a time when former chief minister Biju Patnaik created 17 more districts, which took the total number of districts to 30.
“Since then we have been demanding for the creation of Rushikulya district by taking at least nine blocks covering 1,176 villages,” said Rabindra Kumar Sharma, a senior advocate.
Rushikulya Zilla Gathan Samukhys convenor Sameer Pradhan said the number of villages and population of the proposed district would be higher than the existing Deogarh (878 villages and 3.12 lakh population), Subarnapur (963 villages and 6.10 lakh population) and Boudh (1,182 villages and 3.73 lakh population).
To deliver the welfare schemes to the doorsteps of people, the government should create Rushikulya district, he said.
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