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Bengal

Centre needs to act on fuel price hike: Mamata

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Centre on Monday over fuel price hike and asked it to act immediately, questioning the lack of measures taken by the government to curb the soaring prices.
"Fuel prices are increasing again and again. All are being badly affected: agriculture, transport and common people are being forced to bear the burden. In spite of the grim situation, why isn't the Central Govt taking any serious steps to find a solution? They need to act," her post on Twitter read.
The prices of petrol and diesel continued to rise for the 15th consecutive day, creating immense inconvenience for people in major cities of the country.
It may be recalled that Banerjee was first to raise her voice when the Centre started to increase the fuel price without assigning any particular cause.
Trinamool Yuva Congress and its affiliated organisations will stage a sit-in demonstration from 12 noon to 5 pm to on Tuesday to protest against the Centre's failure to reduce the price, Partha Chatterjee, secretary general of the TMC, said on Monday.
The main speaker at the meeting will be Abhishek Banerjee, the party's MP and president of the unit.
It may be mentioned that following the instruction of the Chief Minister, meetings and rallies have been held in all the districts for the past one week. The leaders of the party including Abhishek Banerjee, Partha Chatterjee, Subrata Mukherjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya participated.
Chatterjee said the failure of the Centre to cut the fuel prices has affected people from all walks of life. It is going to increase the price of essential commodities as well. "Common people are the worst affected. The prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed and the Centre is looking the other way. Despite repeated requests from the TMC no efforts have been taken to reduce the price of fuel."
He said the Transport sector is the worst hit. Because of the hike in the price of diesel, trucks carrying essential goods have been badly affected. The fishermen who go to the deep sea on trawlers are feeling threatened because of the price hike. "The Acche Din of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has turned into kala din," he said.
Asked why the state government is not bringing down the cess on fuel and VAT, he said: "The Centre should do it. It is deducting money from the state's income as part of the loan repayment. The Centre is anti-people and has brought down the interest on PF as well," he remarked.
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