Left-backed Protest wants rollback of fuel hike

New Delhi, Jun 13: A bandh-like situation in Kerala, roadblocks, rallies and demonstrations marked the All-India Protest Day, called by the Left parties today to demand the UPA government to roll back the ''unjustified'' hike in prices of petroleum and diesel.

The Samajwadi Party activists also joined the protestors at some places in Uttar Pradesh and the TDP workers in Andhra Pradesh, Left leaders told UNI.

CPI leaders A B Bardhan and Shamim Faizi said thousands of Left activists took to streets in West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country.

The Left-affiliated Trade Unions, CITU, AITUC, HMS and others, also participated in the protests demanding rollback of hike of Rs 4 per litre in petrol and Rs 2 in diesel.

The issue will also come up in the UPA-Left Coordinaiton Committee meet scheduled for June 15, they said, adding that it was highly deplorable that the Manmohan Singh government had chosen to hike the prices of petrol and diesel by brushing aside their alternative suggestions to reduce the tax component in the customs, excise duties and other taxes on fuel imports.

While the Congress-ruled states -- Maharashtra, Delhi and Andhra Prasesh -- and Tamil Nadu, where Congress has given outside support to the DMK government, have reduced the sales tax, the Left and the BJP-ruled states have yet to follow the suit.

They insist on reduction in central excise and custom duties to bring down the costs of petrol and diesel.

In the national capital, a rally was taken out from the Copernicus Marg to Jantar Mantar which was addressed by CPI(M) leaders Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, RSP leader and MP Abani Roy and Forward Bloc General Secretary and MP Debvrat Biswas.

According to CPI(M) Parliamentary group leader in the Lok Sabha Basudev Acharya, a huge rally was organised at Kolkata. Similar protests were held at other places also.

A near-bandh like situation was witnessed in Kerala as the vehicles went off the road. The Private Transporters Association have also joined the strike.

In Hyderabad, rally, organised near the state secretariat, was addressed by Left leaders, CPI Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Sudhakar reddy, CPI state secretaries K Narayana and Raghuvaloo.

The rally was also joined by TDP workers.

Out of total 36 districts in Maharashtra, reports of rallies and demonstrations had been recieved from Nasik, Amravati, Nanded, Jyotmahal, Nagpur, Kohlapur, Malegaon and Dhulia.

In Chhattisgarh, protestors made attempts to block roads at Dantewada. Jagdalpur, Raipur, Bhilai and Durg witnessed mass rallies.

In Madhya Pradesh, agitationists jammed traffic at Bhopal, Anupnagar, Indore and Gwalior.

In Uttar Pradesh, SP activists also joined the protestors at some places in Mau, Azamgarh, Allahabad, Gorakhpur, Bijnore, Ghaziabad and other places.

In Bihar despite the counting of votes for the Zila parishads and Panchyat elections at several places like Bhagalpur, Debusarai, Madhubani and Darbanga, reports of protests were received.

In Punjab, the protestors attempted to break the police barricades at the National Highway. Similar reports had been received from Amritsar, Jalandhar, Bhatinda and Hoshiarpur.

UNI