Normal life was paralysed in Titlagarh town on Thursday because of the dawn-to-dusk bandh called by the District Action Committee over the demand of district status for the sub-division.
All Government and private offices including banks remained closed while commuters had a hard time as buses and auto-rickshaws went off road. Even a train was detained for more than four hours.
In the morning, the members of the District Action Committee blocked all roads leading out of town by burning tyres. They later thronged the Government offices and prevented the employees from entering the office premises.
All the government offices, including those of Sub-collector, Tehsildar, Treasurer, block and colleges were closed by the Committee members. However, no untoward incident was reported from anywhere.
Talking to mediapersons, Committee convener Kishore Chandra Panda said the demand of the people of Titlagarh is genuine as they face a lot of problems with district headquarters situated at a long distance.
"Titlagarh sub-division has a tribal dominated population and is under-developed. Therefore, formation of a new district is the only solution to the problems," said Panda.