Angul: Road and rail traffic between Dhenkanal and Angul were paralysed on November 2 with hundreds of school and college students resorting to a rasta roko programme to protest the Centre's decision to privatise National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), official sources said.

Traffic on NH 42 linking Cuttak with Sambalpur came to a halt in the 65-km stretch as the students, belonging to NSUI, erected blockades at Dhenkanal, Talcher and Angul.

Several trains were also stranded at the Meramandali and Budhapanka railway stations. The trains included the Delhi-bound Hirakud Express, Sambalpur-Bhubaneswar Inter-City Express and Puri-Sambalpur passenger.

Students in Angul and Talcher had boycotted classes on November 1 demanding withdrawal of the government's decision on NALCO. They later went in a procession to the office of the sub-collector at Angul to submit a memorandum.

NALCO's smelter plant and 960-mw captive power plant are located at Angul.

The district collectors and superintendents of police in Dhenkanal and Angul districts had been maintaining vigil though no untoward incident had been reported from anywhere, the sources said.

PTI