CPI protests price hike, demands slashing of commercial tax
Lucknow, Jun 11 (UNI) Irate over the recent price hike in petroleum products, the Communist Party of India (CPI) today blocked rail and road routes in several parts of Uttar Pradesh and demanded the state government to reduce commercial taxes to considerable rates.
In Faizabad, at least 53 CPI leader, including Ramtirth Pathak and Ved Prakash, were arrested while demonstrating on railway tracks, whereas in the state capital, CPI activists protested in front of the Vidhan Sabha and also handed over a memorandum to the UP CM, party sources said.
In Sultanpur, CPI workers led by Sharda Pandey blocked the Lucknow-Varanasi highway for about an hour.
In Azamgarh, district minister Hamid Ali and his 500 supporters blocked the Varanasi-Azamgarh highway. Whereas in Gonda, Atraula-Gonda main road was blocked by over 1,000 CPI agitators for several hours to protest the steepest hike in fuel price in recent years.
Similarly, in Agra, Moradabad, Meerut and Kanpur, the CPI workers staged demonstrations demanding 5 to 7 per cent reduction in commercial taxes in diesal and petrol prices respectively.
UNI
PDM
JAS
ATI
GC1802