Bhubaneswar, Jul 15 (IANS): Protesting against price hike in fuel and other essential commodities, the Left parties along with Congress on Thursday observed a 6-hour Odisha bandh on Thursday.

The CPI, CPI (M), CPI (ML) and Forward Bloc workers staged protests at various places of the state from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. The Left party supporters were also seen picketing at the various major junctions and appealing to the public to cooperate with the bandh.

The protesters blocked national highways and rail services in few places including capital city Bhubaneswar. The protesters blocked the railway track at Bhubaneswar station disrupting train services.

The traffic in the national highway was also disturbed as the activists blocked the road here. However, the traffic movement in the cities has not been affected as much. All essential shops remained open. Only a few shopping malls and big shops remained closed to avoid any untoward situation.

Similar protests were also carried out in other places including Cuttack, Berhampur, Khurda and Jeypore.

"With the hike in prices of petrol and diesel, the cost of daily use commodities has also been raised accordingly. We appeal to both the Centre and state government to immediately withdraw the taxes and cess imposed on the petrol and diesel," said CPI leader Rama Krushna Panda.

"We don't worry about the impact of the bandh call. As a political party, we are doing our moral duty. The people who are feeling the price hike, supported us," said State Congress president Niranjan Patnaik.

During the bandh, no major untoward incident was reported in the state. The petrol price is Rs 102.36 per litre and diesel is currently sold at Rs 97.95 per litre in Bhubaneswar.