Bhubaneswar: Normal life was partially disrupted in parts of Odisha Wednesday due to a 12-hour bandh called by a farmers’ rights outfit over alleged large-scale errors in textbooks used in government schools, officials said.
Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed at several places in the state in the wake of the bandh call by the Naba Nirman Krushak Sangathan (NNKS) and Nabanirman Yuva Chhatra Sangathan (NYCS).
Vehicular movement was impacted in some areas of Khordha, Bhadrak, Baleshwar, Jagatsinghpur and other districts as protesters blocked roads and burnt tyres, the officials said.
Most offices, however, functioned normally and train services were largely unaffected, they said.
Essential and emergency services were kept out of the purview of the dawn-to-dusk bandh.
Security has been tightened across the state to prevent any untoward incident during the shutdown, the officials said.
The NNKS has demanded the resignation of School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond over the “errors” in textbooks used in government schools.
The outfit’s members have been observing a relay hunger strike since August 20 over the issue.
NNKS national coordinator Akshay Kumar said the bandh was called “as the state government did not take accountability of the text book errors”.
Among the errors cited by the organisation were a reference to Niyamgiri Hills as being located in Jharkhand and a picture of the Karnataka assembly being published in place of the Odisha assembly. Scientist Isaac Newton was also described as a pilot in the textbooks.