Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Protest against hike in fuel prices

Photo: S. Gopakumar

Up in arms: The Centre's announcement of a hike in diesel and LPG prices fuelled strong protests in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Activists of the Kerala Mahila Sangh taking out a march to the Accountant-General's Office. —

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid State-wide protests against the hike in prices of cooking gas, diesel, and kerosene, Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan on Saturday demanded immediate roll back of the hike.

While Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) activists blocked trains in Kannur, workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), All-India Youth Federation (AIYF) and other organisations took out marches and staged sit-ins to protest against the price hike.

In Thiruvananthapuram, BJP activists took out a march to the General Post Office (GPO). Similar marches were taken out by the AIYF and other Opposition youth and student organisations to various Central government offices.

The Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) burnt the Central government in effigy before the Accountant-General's office here.

In a statement here, Mr. Achuthanandan termed the price hike a ‘cruel' measure which would aggravate the misery of the people who were already reeling under a sharp increase in the prices of essential commodities. There was no justification for the hike. The Centre should immediately order a roll back of the price hike and restore the State's kerosene quota, he said.

The Leader of the Opposition pointed out that the prices of petroleum products were being hiked indiscriminately following the removal of the administered pricing mechanism on the basis of the Kirit Parekh Committee report.

The Centre had also allowed corporate companies such as Reliance to rake in massive profits by granting oil and gas exploration licences indiscriminately.

The prices of petroleum products were being hiked even as shocking reports about scams relating to all these were coming to light. The cutback in taxes after raising the prices substantially was intended only to hoodwink the people, Mr. Achuthanandan said.

In a separate statement, the CPI(M) State secretariat called upon all sections of society to register their protest against the Central policy of strangulating the people with frequent increases in petroleum product prices. It pointed out that the price of petrol was hiked by Rs.17 after the price decontrol came into effect last year.

The oil companies, it said, were having a field day after the decontrol decision was taken.

The latest hike in the prices of cooking gas, diesel, and kerosene was nothing short of a challenge to the people of the country, the CPI(M) leadership said.

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