Patients in most places of this western Orissa district faced acute shortage of medicines on Monday as most of the drug stores remained closed with Kantabanji town observing a bandh for the second consecutive day.

The district is in turmoil for the last four days after the police seized a huge quantity of spurious medicines, including life saving drugs, during a raid at a local manufacturing unit. The owner of the manufacturing unit has been arrested.

“Even the medicine store located inside the premises of the district headquarter hospital remained closed adding to the woes of the people,” said Narahari Sahu, a local resident. Official sources said the situation continued to remain tense at Kantabanji even as district collector R S Gopalan camped there. While businessmen preferred to down their shutters fearing fresh violence, children stayed away from schools and colleges. On Sunday, the agitators had attacked six medicine outlets and set fire to belongings of a shop owner.

Official sources said the situation in other towns in the district, including Patnagarh and Titilagarh, remained peaceful amidst heavy deployment.