Smart City Issue: 12-Hour Cuttack Bandh affects Normal Life

Cuttack, Aug 3: 12-hour bandh called by various organizations opposing exclusion of Cuttack from the list of ‘Smart City’ today affected normal life here. People stranded at various places in the city due to the strike.

The strike was called by Cuttack Banchao Andolan Committee and Aam Aadmi Party on Monday and, the strike was supported by 20 other organisations.

The impact of the strike was high at prominent place in the city – Badambadi, Madupatana chhak and Link road. Protestors were seen on road disrupting vehicle plying, blocking roads, however, shops were remained closed on the day. Passengers from other places those visited the city were affected most.

School children, college students and office goers were among those stranded on roads as vehicles were not allowed by the protestors to move. The people those supported the strike, expressed their anger over the expulsion of the city from the list of ‘Smart City’, which has been initiated by the union government to list 100 smart cities in the country.

In support to the strike, earlier, lawyers in the city boycotted court proceedings on Thursday. The representatives of High Court Bar Association and other associations called on the chief secretary of Odisha and pressed their demand to include Cuttack in the list of smart cities.

As per the guidelines for Smart City selection, Bhubaneswar and Rourkela lead the list with 70 percent and 61.8 percent respectively. And Berhampur and Sambalpur scored 60 percent each.

It is noteworthy that, people of Cuttack lamented that IIM would be established in Sambalpur, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) would be set up in Berhampur and Rourkela would get listed in Smart City race and nothing for their city.