The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada News : CPI(M) demands rollback

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 06, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

CPI(M) demands rollback

By Our Special Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA, NOV. 5. Widespread resentment was witnessed in the city on Thursday over the hike in the prices of petroleum products. The Communist Party of India (Marxists) organised a rasta-roko on the National Highway No. 9, near Krishnalanka fire station, demanding rollback of prices with immediate effect.

Party activists went in a procession from Sundaraiah Bhavan and squatted on the road near the fire station. They raised slogans demanding withdrawal of price hike. The rasta-roko by CPI(M) activists brought the traffic in the city to a grinding halt with hundreds of vehicles remaining stranded. People also joined the rasta-roko and raised slogans against the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.

Blow to the poor

Addressing the gathering, the CPI(M)'s district secretary, V. Umamaheswara Rao, termed as heinous the hike in the price of petroleum products by the Congress, which came to power by making several promises to people. He said that the hike would have a serious bearing on the poor and middle class.

Mr. Rao also said that it was unfortunate that the UPA Government was also treading the path of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government, which enhanced the petroleum prices whenever there was an increase in the prices in the international market. The CPI(M) was opposed to dependence on imports and levying of burden on the people.

`No oil policy'

He said that the Government was not allocating sufficient funds to exploit oil reserves in India and it had no specific policy with regard to this. Instead, the Government had always been depending on import of petroleum products. Though the CPI(M) had suggested alternative measures, the Congress party `ignored them', he alleged.

Stating that the CPI(M) would not tolerate the `anti-people' policies of the Government, though the party was extending outside support to the UPA Government, Mr. Rao said that the party would continue its agitation till the prices were rolled back. The burden of the price hike would naturally get passed on to the railways, RTC and other sectors in a cascading effect.

The party's city secretary, Ch. Babu Rao, said that the UPA Government was not proving to be different from the erstwhile NDA Government. The prices of petrol and diesel were increased thrice so far. The Government, which was collecting Rs. 1 lakh crores through taxes, was unable to find alternatives and instead was passing on the burden to the people. He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which paved the way for increasing the prices of petroleum products in accordance with the international prices, had no right to demand their rollback.

Appeal for protest

He appealed to the people to participate in the agitation until the prices were brought down. The city committee members -- R. Raghu, Donepudi Kasinath, Muzzaffar Ahmed, Vellanki Krishna Mohan Rao, and others participated in the rasta-roko.

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