(Top) Ambulances parked on Capital Hospital campus and (above) BJP workers protest against petrol price hike at Master Canteen Sqaure. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 24: Twenty-nine-year-old Minati Rana, referred to SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack, by doctors at Capital Hospital here had to wait for three hours to find an ambulance as all these emergency vehicles had decided to stay off the road today protesting against the hike in fuel price.

More than 1,500 private ambulances took part in the protest demanding rollback of the petrol price hike announced by the Centre yesterday. “The petrol price hike will result in commensurate increase in ambulance fares. Considering the fact that ambulance service is an emergency one, we demand that all the ambulance operators should be provided cards ensuring that they get petrol at subsidised rates,” said vice-president of Odisha Ambulance Mahasangha Ganesh Das.

Apart from various political parties, commoners also hit the streets protesting against the steep hike in petrol prices. All the petrol pumps in the city were forcibly shut down by BJP activists today.

The BJD youth wing today organised a protest meeting near the Raj Bhavan. Later, the ruling party submitted a memorandum to the country’s President through governor M.C. Bhandare.

BJD youth wing president Sanjay Dasburma said: “The agitation will be taken to block and village levels. It is complete betrayal of people’s interests by the UPA.”

CPI and CPI(M) members burnt tyres on NH-5 leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded on the highway. “The people’s anger will singe this government,” said CPI(M) state secretary Janardan Pati.

SUCI activists also staged a protest meeting near Master Canteen Square. “One cannot expect anything better from a government that is on the downslide in every sphere of governance,” said Bhabani Hota, former MP and president of All India University Employees’ Confederation.

Meanwhile, the state government said it would not be possible to slice the Value Added Tax (VAT) rates on petroleum products.

“We have already lowered the VAT from 20 per cent to 18 per cent. The state’s development will be affected if we slash it further. Our VAT rates on petroleum products are one of the lowest in the country,” said finance minister Prafulla Ghadai.

The argument of the finance minister notwithstanding, the man on the street looked distraught. “There can be nothing worse than this hike as it will affect our lives badly. Either the hike should be rolled back or the state government should find a way of bailing us out,” said Mitali Pradhan, a teacher.