7 caused serpentine queues of vehicles on both sides of the highway and road contact with other districts including Narsinghpur, Chhindwara, Mandla and Jabalpur was snapped, police tried to forcibly remove the agitators. A clash ensued.

The agitation was held under the aegis of 'Janmanch' which was constituted Thursday by the local citizens of Seoni and politicians to protest the union minister's alleged move and stage a shutdown.

Janmanch claimed it had the support of commercial establishments, lawyers, chemists, traders, teachers, transporters and politicians cutting across party lines.

All commercial establishments, markets, government offices, academic institutes and all small shops also remained closed.