PIONEER NEWS SERVICE | Dehradun
The Congress will hold state-wide agitation on Sunday in protest against price rise. The party workers will burn the effigies of the union and the State governments in these protests.
Interacting with the mediapersons at the headquarters of the Congress on Saturday, the vice president (organisation) Suryakant Dhasmana said that the government has raised the electricity tariff in the State by 5.62 per cent. This is a major blow on the general public already reeling under price rise. He said that the Union government had recently increased the price of the LPG cooking gas cylinder by Rs 50 and had levied an additional excise duty of Rs two per litre on petrol and diesel.
Dhasmana said that on the call given by the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Karan Mahara the workers of Congress party will hold protests at all the district and Mahanagar headquarters and burn the effigies of the government.
He said that Uttarakhand is a leading producer of hydropower in the country and it supplies electricity from its many power projects including the Tehri ydropower project. The Congress leader said that it is a pity that the people of Uttarakhand are now forced to purchase electricity at higher prices. He said that after increasing the fare of roadways and raising drinking water tariff, the State government has now loaded people with a power hike.
Dhasmana said that the international price of crude is declining from the last two years but instead of passing on the benefit to the consumers the Union government has increased excise duty on diesel and petrol. The increase in the excise duty will give an additional income of Rs 3,600 crore to the government but the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel will give fillip to inflation, he said.
