Political parties strongly protest petrol price hike

-- Petrol pump strike by political parties causes more trouble to consumers

BHUBANESWAR: Heat of the petrol price hike goes viral as most of the non-Congress parties came to the street and strongly protested the decision of the Centre here on Thursday. Some parties like BJP called bandh in the petrol pumps, as a result all filling stations in the capital city closed their business for the day and threw the needy consumers to further trouble following steepest-ever hike in petrol prices from Wednesday midnight.

The non-Congress political parties and various organisations of the State here on Thursday staged rallies, dharnas and protest meetings opposing the hike by the Central Government and demanded rollback of the decision.

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), Samruddha Odisha, Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) and India Against Corruption (IAC) strongly protested the petrol price hike.

Thousands of supporters and members of BYJD went in a procession and staged a massive dharna in front of the Rajbhavan here. Later, they handed over a memorandum to the President of India through Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, demanding immediate rollback of the price hike decision.

In the memorandum, the BYJD said without considering the financial conditions of the common men, the UPA Government has been arbitrarily hiking the price of petrol and petroleum products. This has played a cruel joke with the ever-suffering poor and the lower middle class. BYJD president Sanjay Das Burma ridiculed the decision saying the price hike is the greatest reward by the Congress-led UPA Government to the common people of the country in its eight years in power.

The party workers of BJP burnt the effigies of Sonia Gandhi here at the lower PMG protesting the petrol price hike. The youth wing of BJP led by its State president Bibhuti Jena observed bandh in the petrol pumps. Due to strike in petrol pumps, consumers faced more problems. Especially the patients faced problems as the private ambulances charged more due to petrol pump strike in the city. According to the poor patients and their relatives, the ambulance service providers asked more to provide service on the sidelines of petrol pump strike and price hike of petrol.

Similarly, CPI, NCP, Samruddha Odisha, SUCI and IAC staged rallies, protest meetings and dharnas in front of the State Assembly, demanding withdrawal of the petrol price hike. Hundreds of supporters and workers of the parties and IAC came in processions from Master Canteen square to the Lower PMG under their respective banners flaunting placards bearing slogans against the Central Government.

The supporters of CPI (M) led by its Odisha zone secretary Sura Jena also staged a rally at the Rajmahal square protesting the petrol price hike and blockade the road by torching tyre on the road.

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