**Bhubaneswar:** Despite the Bharat Bandh call given by the 10 central trade unions and its impact across the country, the Odisha Secretariat here functioned normally on Friday with usual attendance of the Babus and most of the staff of different departments having turned up to duty.
However, the Secretariat on the day was witnessed sans any footfalls of public visitors as the citadel of State administration is seen bustling and buzzing on other normal working days.
Nevertheless, the quasi-scare of the bandh call was seen swarming on the Odisha Ministers.
While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik entered the Secretariat campus with unusual security bandobast, most of his ministerial colleagues preferred motor-bikes and others preferred cars sans rooftop beacons as if to be safe and sound and in a bid to duck the hawk eyes of protestors.
On the other hand, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Sanjay Das Burma was seen riding the bike without helmet flouting the traffic rule as if giving a damn to safe life and the law of land.
On being quizzed by media persons as to why most of the ministers preferred bikes on the particular day instead of cars like the Babus, Law and Panchayati Raj Minister Arun Sahoo was pat with an ambiguous reply, “We’ve come here to do office work”.
Talking to Ommcom News, Bhubaneswar DCP Satyabrata Bhoi said, “No untoward incident reported till now. Adequate police bandobast has been made to maintain law and order under the direct supervision of senior officers. Most of the road blockades have been lifted. Normalcy has started limping back. Overall, the bandh has passed off peacefully”.
