PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
The Congress party held a protest on Saturday against what it claims is a huge increase in the price of sugar due to the promotion of ethanol based petrol by the Union government. Led by the vice president of Uttarakhand Congress, Suryakant Dhasmana, the party workers staged a protest at the Indian Oil petrol pump located on EC Road on the day.
Addressing the protesters, Dhasmana said that due to the flawed ethanol policy of the Central government, people are forced to use ethanol-mixed petrol in their vehicles, which is causing damage to their engines. “Since ethanol is made from sugarcane and due to this there is a shortage of sugarcane in sugar factories, sugar production has decreased and in the last fortnight sugar has become costlier by Rs 20 per kilogramme in the country,’’ he said.
Dhasmana said that due to the inflation the prices are continuously rising in the last five years, but the manner in which every petrol consumer and every person who uses sugar is suffering due to the ethanol policy of the Central government is extremely worrying. “Modi government first snatched food from the plates of every citizen and now it has even snatched the sweetness of tea from the poor’s cup,’’ he said.
Dhasmana said that the Congress party will soon launch a statewide agitation in Uttarakhand under the leadership of Pradesh Congress Committee president Shri Ganesh Godiyal against adulterated petrol and expensive sugar.
