Congress launches agitation over price hike on petroleum products

Puducherry: Former Chief Minister of Puducherry and senior Congress leader V Narayanasamy and different wings of the party held a demonstration here on Wednesday against the hike in the price of petroleum products.

Narayanasamy cycled to a petrol bunk where the protest was organised.

The lone member of Parliament from Puducherry V Vaithialingam was among those who participated in the agitation.

The agitators wanted the Centre to roll back the increase in price of fuel as the hike has affected people already reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic.

The protestors collected signatures from the consumers at the bunks to condem the rise in price. Slogans condemning it were raised.

Tension prevailed at a petrol bunk on the East Coast Road here with a section of Congress workers and employees indulging in a clash.

The employees of the bunk protested against the gathering of the partymen who were collecting signatures from the vehicle- owners. Police intervened and restored normalcy.

Meanwhile, the large contingents of farmers have started arriving at protest sites in preparation for their agitation Thursday against fuel price hike, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) said on Wednesday.

"At the call of Samyukt Kisan Morcha, protests will be organised across India tomorrow (July 8) from 10 am to 12 noon for two hours against the hike in diesel, petrol and cooking gas prices," the umbrella body of over 40 farm unions said.

The protestors will reach designated public locations with any means of transport including scooters, motorcycles, tractors, cars, buses, trucks and also with empty gas cylinders, it said.

On Wednesday, the petrol prices in Delhi as well as Kolkata crossed the Rs 100 a litre mark.

The SKM has demanded that the fuel prices be halved with immediate effect.

It has also appealed to the protestors to keep the demonstration peaceful and on the roadside, without blocking any pathways.

This is an issue that affects every section of the society, and SKM appeals that farmers, labourers, youth, students, women, employees, shopkeepers, transporters, traders and others be part of these protests everywhere, the body said.

The SKM has also planned fresh rounds of protests during the monsoon session of the parliament scheduled later this month, when 200 protestors will agitate everyday outside the Parliament building reiterating their demands of repealing the three farm laws and a legal guarantee for Minimum Support price (MSP).

Over the last seven months, thousands of farmers from different parts of the country have been protesting at Delhi borders against the new farm laws which, they claim, will do away with the MSP system and leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

The government, however, has been protecting the laws as major agricultural reforms.

Further more, the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at the government as petrol prices crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Delhi, charging that the Modi government runs on "tax extortion".

Petrol prices crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark after fuel prices were increased in line with firming international oil trends.

"Your car may run on petrol or diesel, Modi government runs on tax extortion," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi, using hashtag 'TaxExtortion'.

In Delhi, petrol now costs Rs 100.21 a litre and diesel is priced at Rs 89.53 per litre.

Delhi is the last of the metro cities to see petrol rising above the Rs 100-a-litre mark. Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune already have prices above that mark. Kolkata also saw petrol prices climbing over Rs 100 per litre on Wednesday.

Also, the Rajasthan Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Wednesday took on the Centre over the issue of inflation, alleging that it is not bothered about people's problems and robbed them of their savings.

Pilot said people are stressed due to price rise but the Union government has failed to control it.

During the coronavirus period in other countries, money was put into people's pockets so that they could run their homes whereas the Centre robbed people of their savings, the former Rajasthan alleged addressing a sit-in organised by the Mahila Congress here.

"We will continue to agitate till the Centre does not take steps to reduce inflation," Pilot said, adding that the government is acting stubborn and has nothing

to do with the problems of the common people. The state Congress is holding protests against the Centre from July 7 to 17 over the issue of inflation in the country.