Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 9: The Minority Department /Cell of Jammu Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) today held strong protest demonstration near 4th Tawi bridge, at Bhagwati Nagar Chowk, in connection with price hike in petroleum products and other household utility items.
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The protest was organized by JKPCC Minority Cell chairman Gurdarshan Singh and led by JKPCC vice president Raman Bhalla, chief spokesman Ravinder Sharma, general secretary Manmohan Singh, Distt Jammu Urban president Yogesh Sawhney and others. The protesters tried to head towards Governor House but were stopped at Canal road by heavy deployment of Police.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said through protests, we want to raise the anger among people against the rise in prices. We will continue to raise our demand, and our agitation for raising the voice of the common man. He alleged that Modi Government has earned at least Rs 21 lakh crore in the last over six years by raising prices of petrol, diesel and LPG.
Bhalla said on one side, the Government is reducing the burden of the rich by reducing taxes of big Corporates, on the other, it is putting more burdens on women, middle class and common people. Every commodity, including food articles is becoming expensive.
Terming the rise as unjust, former minister said the highest ever petrol and diesel prices were followed by hike in grocery items, cooking oils, construction material such as iron and steel. He expressed concern over the rising expenses as income of most households has already taken a hit after the Covid outbreak. However, common man everyday expenses have been witnessing a rise every week.
Ravinder Sharma claimed that with almost no fiscal stimulus, the economy is struggling to get back on track, but the Government is ignorant and blatantly incompetent in controlling inflation. He said while the Government should be exploring avenues to provide support to the people and boost consumption, it is on a lookout to “extract as much from the common man and leave them helpless.
Yogesh Sawhney and Manmohan Singh said that rising vegetable prices, LPG, transport costs and house rents are slowly squeezing household budgets forcing families to cut down on their food budgets and leaving them with virtually nothing to save. They said due to increase in the prices of petrol and diesel there has been rapid increase in the prices of the food products and other essential commodities.
Prominent among those present on the occasion include Ved Mahajan, OBC Chairman Suresh Kumar Dogra, Dr Ramankant Khajuria, Michael Wazir and others.
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