Cong protests against Modi Govt
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 1: Congress continued its opposition to the unprecedented price hike of petrol and diesel by holding series of protests for the third consecutive day today in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir, like other parts of the country.
Today, a large protest was organized by the Block Congress Committees, Jammu West, Block Bakshi Nagar and Krishna Nagar at Maheshpura Chowk, near Govt Medical College which was also attended by senior leaders of PCC and DCC led by Raman Bhalla- PCC vice president, District president Urban Yogesh Sawhney, PCC vice president Kanta Baan, general secretary Manmohan Singh, spokesman Ravinder Sharma, Rajneesh Sharma, SS Shingari, Sanjiv Sharma, Neeraj Gupta, Rajiv Saraf, Ramakant Khajuria, Madan Malagar, Gaurav Chopra, Sharma Parshotam, Varun Magotra, Manu Jamwal, Cameres David, Varinder Manhas, Uttam Singh and others.
Carrying placards they raised slogans against BJP Govt but was stopped by heavy deployment of police. However, they submitted a memorandum to Additional Development Commissioner demanding rollback of hiked prices of fuel.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said that hike in the prices of petrol and diesel for 22 days on a trot resulted in diesel becoming costlier than petrol for the first time ever, and demanded roll back in excise duty by the Central Government and VAT by J&K government. Terming the Modi Government “insensitive” towards the plight of the people as the hike in the oil prices were pushing up the prices of all essential items steeply, including fruits and vegetables, he said that people should be given the benefit of cheap crude oil price in the international market by lowering the prices in the domestic market as well.
“Both the Modi and J&K Governments were coming under the pressure from the oil companies in hiking the prices of petroleum products to help them reap huge profits while the people of J&K were reeling under tremendous stress and strain on account of the fast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
Sawhney said that “unprecedented” hike in petrol and diesel prices has hammered the people at the time of economic hardship imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. He said due to the corona virus crisis, demand for fuel has fallen all over the world. Despite having a full stock of fuel, the Government has burdened the common people by increasing fuel prices continuously for last 22 days.” Such a steep hike has not been effected in 70 years, he said, adding that it is “unprecedented”.
“The poor and the middle class have been severely hit by the recent hikes. Such a situation has not been seen in any other country. All the countries are helping its people during COVID crisis, but the BJP Govt has hammered the people despite economic slowdown,” he added.
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