Bhubaneswar, Nov. 4: A sudden hike in the price of petrol has triggered angry reactions from Orissa’s major political parties and the public.
Apart from the BJD, members of other non-Congress parties, including the BJP and the CPI, today staged demonstrations to protest the move.
After the hike, which came into effect from midnight yesterday, petrol is being sold at Rs 68.49 a litre in Bhubaneswar and Rs 68.48 in Cuttack.
“The news is shocking. It is a burden on the common man,” said chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
Finance minister Prafulla Ghadai said the Centre had ignored Orissa’s interests. “The UPA government is more keen on protecting the interests of the oil companies.”
Coming down heavily on the UPA for its failure to revive the economy, Ghadai said: “The Orissa government is not in a position to waive any tax on petroleum products. Now, the state gets around Rs 1,000 crore as tax from petroleum products. It is not enough to meet the needs of the state government.”
Ghadai also said the government had earlier reduced sales tax from 20 per cent to 18 per cent on petroleum products. “In many other states, sales tax is more than 20 per cent. At this point, the government will not be able to reduce the tax.”
The BJD’s youth wing organised a dharna to protest against the hike near Raj Bhavan. BJD youth wing president Sanjay Dasburma said: “The people’s anger will be reflected in the coming poll.”
The state unit of the CPI today staged a road blockade in the city to protest against the hike. “The state unit will participate in a nationwide protest tomorrow against the price hike,” said its zonal secretary Sura Jena.
BJP state unit president Jual Oram termed the decision to hike prices “anti-people”. “The petrol price hike will lead to a further increase in the prices of essential commodities. This has exposed the real face of the Congress, which pays lip service to the aam aadmi,” said Oram, a former Union minister.
Citizens have also reacted sharply to the price hike. Tararanjan Das, a resident of Mahandai Vihar, Cuttack, said: “We don’t know what to do. The government should take steps to check petrol prices.”
