The 24-hour bandh called by Maoists in Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Wednesday passed off peacefully without any untoward incident.
Although Maoist activity has increased in the district in the recent past, the bandh did not create much impact.
However, security personnel remained alert throughout the day. Till evening, no untoward incident had been reported from any part of the district. Vehicular traffic remained normal and all business and government establishments remained open across the district.
The Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh division of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) had given the bandh call to protest the killing of five ultras in an encounter near Sudrukumpa in the district on May 13, 2018.
On Tuesday, Maoists had cut down a tree to block the Barkhama-Sudra road near Baliguda and pasted some posters at the spot informing the public about the bandh.
In these posters, the Maoists had threatened locals to refrain from taking up the posts of forest watchers claiming that they were being used as police informers. They also opposed a proposal to establish police camps in remote pockets.