Orissa: Maoists declare bandh today

Bhubhaneswar: In Orissa, it's the state-wide bandh call given by Maoists on Republic Day that has kept the state police on tenterhooks especially after the ultras blew up a jeep killing 4 civilian passengers and a number of mobile phone towers in Koraput district on Saturday.

Public transport has been badly hit in 6 South Orissa districts already because all buses are off-road in view of the Maoist bandh call.

There has been a heavy deployment of paramilitary forces especially in districts bordering Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh.