Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 2: The Congress today hit out at the Government over the steep hike in prices of LPG cylinders even as it mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talk of welfare of the poor and asked if these were supposed to be “Achche Din”.
Principal objective of democracy and welfare State is the duty towards the last man in the line. The BJP Government is, however, burdening the common man for enriching a handful of its crony friends,” said former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla while interacting with women and prominent persons of Gandhi Nagar constituency.”The Central Government has unleashed a three-pronged economic attack on the livelihood of over 60 crore Indians. Truth is that the Prime Minister and the BJP are breaking the ordinary people’s back by overburdening them with a slew of unprecedented taxes, he added.
Earlier hundreds of Congress supporters and leaders held series of protests at Gangyal and Nai Basti areas against the hike in the rates of essential commodities and slammed Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for not fulfilling the promises he had made to the people before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The protest against the failure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP Government to control price rise and corruption in the country was lodged by the Congress under the leadership Bhalla. Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said that the price of cooking gas hiked by Rs 4.50 per cylinder on Wednesday was 19th increase in rates since July 2016 when the Government decided to eliminate subsidy on it by raising prices every month. Also, the price of jet fuel or Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) price has been increased by 2% on firming international rates, the fourth straight increase in rates since August. The price of non-subsidised LPG or market-priced cooking gas has been hiked by Rs 93 to Rs 742 per unit.
Subsidised LPG price has been hiked by Rs 4.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder to Rs 495.69.Since the implementation of the policy of monthly increases from July last year, subsidised LPG rates has gone up by Rs 76.51 per cylinder. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder was priced at Rs 419.18 in June 2016.
Later addressing party workers , Bhalla said that the BJP, which came to power at the Centre by raising hue and cry about price rise and high rate of inflation promising ‘Achhe Din’, had completely failed to control the prices of essential commodities, including onion, vegetables and pulses, and the general public is facing hardships in sustaining their livelihood. The prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed. The present Union Government has made these items out of the reach of the common man”, he said, adding that the BJP had promised to bring down inflation in the country but the prices of pulses like Moong, Arhar Dal had increased by 50 to 70 per cent.”Further, the prices of petroleum products have decreased by 60 to 70 per cent in the international market but instead of passing on this benefit to the general public, the Central Government has instead hiked Excise Duty on crude oil”, he said. The value of the rupee, which is hovering around Rs 67-68 against the dollar, had sharply devalued which is a cause of concern for Indian economy, he added.
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