Kashmir Government employees protest against price rise

Srinagar, Apr 21 : Employees of Srinagar Government staged a street protest against the sharp rise in the prices of essential commodities here today.

The protest was organised under the aegis of the Employees Joint Action Committee (EJAC) in which thousands of government employees including women took part.

Chanting anti government slogans, the protesters began their march from Deputy Commissioner's office and concluded at the historic city centre, Lal Chowk.

"Today we have only one demand from the government to do something about the price hike. It is very difficult for us to survive if the prices keep on rising. We want to tell the government that industrialists and the bureaucrats are cheating the government and not letting the poor live in peace," said Abdul Rashid, Secretary of the Employees Joint Action Committee.

India witnessed a galloping inflation rate accelerating to 7.41 per cent in early April said to be the highest in more than three years following some measures taken by the Government inflation came down to 7.14 per cent late last week.

One of the steps was the raising of the Cash Reserve Ratio by 50 points by Reserve Bank of India.

The Governor of the RBI YV Reddy said that it wanted to keep inflation close to 5 per cent by the end of the fiscal year 2007/08 and its medium-term aim is to contain inflation to 3 per cent.

ANI