Bhubaneswar: The BJD on Wednesday announced to stage peaceful demonstration in all the 314 blocks from May 28 to 30, protesting against "record rise in prices of petroleum products".

Announcing the party decision, the ruling party's general secretary and former minister Sanjay Das Burma said: "People have been badly hit because of the sharp rise in the petroleum prices. They are bearing the brunt However, the Centre remains blind to the crisis. The party will intensify its agitation against the central government."

The BJD's general secretary alleged that the consumers were facing price rise every day because of the Centre's faulty policy.

"In February 2015, petrol was selling at Rs 56.49 per litre and diesel at Rs 46.01 a litre. The diesel price is now Rs 73.26 per litre and petrol Rs 75.98," he said.

The BJD leader alleged that the excise duty on petroleum had been hiked by 110 per cent. "The excise duty on petrol had been Rs 9.2 per litre in July 2014. But, it leapfrogged to Rs 19.48 per litre by February 2018. Similarly, the excise duty on diesel has increased by five times. The excise tax imposed by the Centre has jumped from Rs 3.46 per litre to Rs 15.33 per litre during the same period," he said.

The party also alleged that the price of petrol had been increased by Rs 19.37 and diesel by Rs 26.83 per litre since 2016.

The BJP and the Congress, on the other hand, have been demanding that the state government should reduce value added tax (VAT) on petroleum products, so that the fuel prices could come down.

But, the state government has rejected the demand.

"The value added tax levied on the petroleum products in Odisha is quite less, compared to other states. Let the Centre reduce the excise duty first to give relief to the consumers," said finance minister Sashi Bhusan Behera.

On Tuesday, the Congress organised a protest rally on the issue and burnt effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan blaming them for the fuel price hike.