The Hindu : Kerala News : Protests mounting against fuel price hike

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 07, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Protests mounting against fuel price hike

Staff Reporter

Bus operators cry foul, demand cut in sales tax on petrol, diesel

KOCHI : Activists of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) on Tuesday took out a procession in Ernakulam, demanding a rollback on the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel.

District secretary of the SUCI T.K. Sudhir Kumar inaugurated the procession. He said that the oil-pool account was `misused' by different Central Governments. The high tax imposed on fuel by the Central and State Governments is another reason for the increased price of fuel, he said. He said the hike would be applicable to petroleum products mined from within India too. The result would be that some private players stand to benefit from the price rise. The Left parties have to take a more aggressive stand against globalisation. The SUCI has decided to observe June 8 as Protest Day to oppose the fuel price hike.

Bus operators' protest

The Kerala State Private Bus Owners' Federation protested against the hike in fuel prices and stated that this would badly affect the private bus sector, which is already facing crisis. Federation president M. Khalid Mundapilly demanded that the sales tax on petrol and diesel be reduced by half, from 28 per cent and 24 per cent respectively.

Another demand is to reduce the road tax of buses by 50 per cent. Mr. Mundapilly said the benefit of fare hike has been nullified by the frequent hike in fuel prices.

The Ernakulam District Private Bus Operators' Association stated that the hike in fuel price would increase the daily expenditure on every bus by an average of Rs. 350. The Association demanded that the sales tax on petrol and diesel be reduced considerably.

The Private Bus Thozhilali Federation (AITUC) said that the price hike would affect the commoner the most. He reminded that the LDF-supported UPA Government had increased fuel price seven times in the past two years.

The CPI(ML) and the Yuvajanavedi too condemned the price hike. They said that the country could ill afford the hike.

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