Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Aug, 19
JKPCC Vice President Raman Bhalla Thursday hit out at the government over the hike in prices of LPG cylinders, accusing it of being insensitive and distorting the budget of every household. He urged the government to bring down prices of LPG cylinders to provide relief to the common people in the country.He said that the government has initiated the very steep hike on LPG cylinders by raising it by Rs 25 per cylinder, which is now being sold at Rs 860 per cylinder in J&K and is touching almost Rs 1000 in various parts of the country.He demanded Govt to bring some respite to people, think about the plight of people and bring down prices of LPG cylinders. This is anti-women and anti-people and due to high prices people are forced to go back to using cow dung and firewood,” he said.”We do hope that an insensitive government intoxicated on power will pay some attention and bring some respite to people. This is absolutely immoral and there is no word to describe this,” he said. In the last eight or nine months alone, prices of LPG cylinders have gone up by Rs 265, which is almost 44 percent, he said.
Former Minister was listening to grievances of aggrieved people of Bage-Bahu area of Gandhi Nagar constituency on Thursday. Prominent among those present on the occasion include Block President Jatinder Singh Chib, Ward President Latish Sharma, Ward President Diwan Chand, Panch Bral, Mulakh Raj, Sahil Shavotra, Tara Chand, Pawan Chalotra, Kundan Kumar, Arjun Gandhi, Desh Raj Chalotra, Rufi Panjgotra, Mangat Ram, Pantu Sagotra, Nek Ram, Bhagyavati, Babli Devi, Chaman Lal, Garu Ram, Gulami Veru, Kartar Chand, Rakesh Verma, Rani Shavotra and others
Bhalla also alleged that the government is not paying any subsidy on LPG cylinders and there is no difference between the market and controlled prices.On the much-touted Ujjwala Yojna, he said the reality is that beneficiaries of the scheme cannot afford a cylinder at Rs 800 at a time when 97 per cent of people are earning less than what they were three years back and 23 crore people have gone below the poverty line.”At what stage will the government realise that during the economic crisis, when people have lost jobs and their wages have gone down and when people are looking for employment opportunities, they should not distort their home budgets,” he said.Bhalla charged that the government’s “collection scheme” is flourishing by increasing prices of LPG every month. “On July 1, Modi government increased the price of LPG by Rs 25 and on August 17 again increased it by Rs 25.By showing the dream of Ujjwala, the ‘collection scheme’ of the BJP government is flourishing by increasing the prices of LPG every month,” he said.It would be better if 11 women ministers meet Prime minister Modi and tell him to bring down prices of LPG, he said, alleging that the government is trying to divert the attention of the people by raising non-issues.
Bhalla further said that inflation, even in a normal time, would be intolerable. The present is not a normal time. A pandemic is raging across the country. The pandemic has resulted in jobs being axed, unemployment rising to 8.1 per cent and incomes/wages being cut for millions of working people. In such a situation of widespread distress, inflation has broken the back of the people, and we hold the Central government directly responsible for the high inflation.
Let me caution the government, the issue of high inflation will not go away if you pretend it does not exist.He said, food inflation , Pulses inflation, fruits inflation, transport inflation have increased considerably what to talk of Fuel inflation and oils & fats inflation. The Congress leader also accused the Central government of not only picking pockets of the citizens but also taking away their livelihood.”The prices of vegetables and other edible commodities are getting out of reach of the common man. What will the poor eat when vegetables, oil, pulses and flour turn expensive.The poor are not even getting employment due to the economic recession. The BJP government has not just picked the pockets of the poor but also kicked on their stomach,” said Bhalla.
Bhalla demanded BJP Govt to lay a roadmap for tackling inflation. He also accused Modi of indulging in politics of hatred and division, and urged him to focus on the development of the country. “We demand that the PM come forward and convene a meeting of all parties and present a roadmap for tackling prices of essential commodities,” he said.Since coming to power, the BJP-led government has raised rail passenger fares and freight charges besides hiking petrol, diesel and LPG rates that have cascading impact on prices of other commodities, the Congress leader said.BJP and Modi’s 6-month election campaign was centered around price rise and Congress and UPA leadership was criticised for being oblivious to the plight of poor, he said.”If Congress did not know poverty and if BJP leaders had better knowledge, then why did they provide for back breaking prices rise in country,” he asked.Even during world economic crisis, we did not stop spending on infrastructure,” he said, adding the BJP rule has seen all round price rise.
Accusing BJP government of not fulfilling promises to curb inflation, Bhalla disagreed with BJP leaders’ contention that they inherited a legacy of steep prices and said it was not a relay race for which they were handed over the baton.
High prices are adding salt to injury especially during an unprecedented pandemic as people battle both the dreaded virus and the Modi government’s callous mismanagement of the Indian economy – which has rendered crores jobless, reduced wages and left many impoverished. Instead of putting money in the hands of people, this insensitive government is forcing them to pay higher prices for basic things,” Bhalla said.We demand substantial reduction in fuel prices, review of import duties and rationalisation of GST rates,” she added. He stated that while the UPA government pulled 27 crore people out of poverty, the BJP regime pushed 23 crore people below poverty line. “People have less money to pay and its immoral to make them pay higher prices for basic necessities. It isn’t just the prices of petrol, diesel or LPG that have risen sharply. Prices of basic commodities like edible oil, pulses, tea, coffee, shampoo, soap etc too have witnessed steep hike,” he added. Bhalla explained that high inflation is not the result of high demand, or too much money in the hands of people, on the contrary private consumption is down and wages / money in hands of people has reduced. “This rise in high prices is due to the greed, exploitation and gross economic mismanagement by the Modi government. Over the last 7 years this government has refused to share the benefits of low crude prices with people and has chosen to profiteer instead, with 13 excise duty hikes in the last 7 years, making a whopping Rs 23 lakh crore,” he elaborated.
