‘Cong govt callously hiked fuel price’

India Bloom News Service published the following news today :

Left parties – Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc (FB) on Tuesday jointly issued a statement to announce a 12-hour All India Hartal to protest the recent fuel hike on July 5.“The Congress-led government has delivered another cruel blow to the people by increasing the price of petrol, diesel, kerosene oil and cooking gas steeply and by deregulating the prices and leaving it to the market,” said the statement signed by statement signed by Prakash Karat (CPI-M), A B Bardhan (CPI), Debabrata Biswas (FB) and T J Chandrachoodan (RSP).“This comes after its refusal to take any effective step to curb price rise of food items and essential commodities which is causing acute suffering to the people,” read the statement.The statement further said: “On top of the food inflation at nearly 17 per cent and the general inflation rate in double digits, the Congress-led government has callously raised the fuel prices making the burden on the people unbearable. The government is putting forth deceptive arguments to justify the hike and refuses to listen to the protests of the people.”The Left parties said the only way for the people is to launch a ‘powerful collective protest’ to compel the government to heed their voice to withdraw the hikes.“The Left parties have consulted other secular opposition parties. Along with the Left parties, the AIADMK, Telugu Desam Party, Samajwadi Party, Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal (S) Indian National Lok Dal have decided to call for a countrywide hartal on July 5. Discussions with some other secular opposition parties to join the hartal is also on,” the statement said. The shutdown will be from 6.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.All essential services like supply of water, milk, electricity, hospital and emergency services will be exempted from the hartal.Meanwhile, India’s main Opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has called for a 24-hour nationwide shutdown (Bharat Bandh) against price rise the same day (July 5).“In order to protest against this unjustified hike in petroleum prices and the total ineptitude of UPA Government to address this problem, BJP President Nitin Gadkari has given a call for a Bharat Bandh on 5th July,” read a BJP statement on Tuesday.Fuel prices were deregulated by the Indian government on June 25, leading to a sharp rise in prices of petrol, diesel, kerosene and LPG cylinders even as the Opposition parties as well as several coalition partners of the ruling UPA severely criticized the hike.
Petrol price was hiked by Rs 3.73 while diesel price is increased by Rs 2. Kerosene prices rose by Rs 3.
LPG cylinders would cost Rs 35 more now on.