Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, Mar, 14
The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee on Sunday protested against the unprecedented hike in prices of petrol, diesel and other essential commodities across the Union territory, including Jammu city at Dayalachak today. The protest was led by JKPCC Chief GA Mir & JKPCC Vice President Raman Bhalla, Haji Rasheed and joined by senior leaders besides hundreds of party workers. The protest was organized by former MLC Th Balbir Singh. Holding placards in their hands, protesters raised slogans against BJP Govt demanding immediate rollback of hike in petrol and diesel prices. Units of Congress party including Seva Dal, NSUI, Youth Congress, women wing and others were the part of their protest.Prominent among those present on the occasion include Rajnesh Sharma, Girdhari Lal, Pankaj Dogra, Paramjeet Singh, Ravinder pal Singh, Satpal Bhandari, Gurdyal Singh, Kewal Singh, Nirodh Sharma, Kulbir Pathiania, Romy Sharma, Ch. Balbir Singh, Karan Singh, Satish Sharma, Vijay Kumar, Romesh Kumar, Santosh Kumar, Dewan Khajuria, Romesh Verma, Bhajan Lal Saini, Ch. Sultan Ahmed, DesRaj Raina, Jasbir Singh, Raj Pal, Vinod Singh, Sudesh Spolia, Pankaj Sharma, Latish Sharma, Jatin Vishisht, Atul Sharma beside others. After protest demonstration, addressing mammoth public gathering, Mir claimed that petrol and diesel prices directly affected the common people but the Centre had not formulated any policy to deal with the economic slowdown.The Centre passed on the burden to the masses,” he added. He also condemned efforts to implement property tax in J&K.JKPCC Chief said that from day one Congress has launched nationwide protest against the insensitive petroleum hike. Through protest and Dharna in different parts of UT, Congress leaders raising the issue of cruel price hike not only on the roads in the form of dharnas but also an extensive online campaign was also run by the party where all big leaders and lakhs of party workers and members raised the issue on various social media platforms .The Congress has been demanding that tax on petrol and diesel be reduced and the common people given relief in prices of fuel. “The so-called ‘double engine’ BJP governments are fooling the people of country. Mir said that the party hitting streets as the administrative inertia is eating into vitals of the people. This regime is acting brazenly adding to the woes of the people. He urged the government to respond to their demands, as these issues are of immense public importance. JKPCC Chief said that many challenges have been compounded by runaway inflation and an unprecedented rise in price of almost all household items and essential commodities,” . Stressing that fuel prices are at an “historic and unsustainable” high, he said petrol has breached the Rs 100 per litre mark in many parts of the country and the surging price of diesel has added to the escalating woes of millions of farmers.“What baffles most citizens, is that these prices have been increased despite moderate prices of international crude oil. What is equally distressing is that despite being in power for almost seven years now, the government continues to blame previous regimes for its own economic mismanagement, he said. To set the record straight, domestic crude oil production has fallen to an 18-year low in 2020, he said. Mir further said that government is resolute on squeezing money out of the public’s pockets in any way possible, from needless taxes which are swindled in the name of development, to the persistent price hike that has become the reality of today. The fuel price hike has not only hit the traders but also farmers, students, daily wage earners and other sections of the society. Befooling the public into paying high taxes when their hands are already tight because of a slow post-pandemic recovery, is a huge problem. If the international crude oil prices are low, why are the people of India paying such high prices for fuel? On what basis does it decide on the prices of petroleum products every day and what is the explanation for subjecting people to this cruelty? This uncontrolled inflation coupled with a raging pandemic and this government’s crude policies has inflicted a lot of misery upon a lot of sections of people in India. Even at a time when the economy is on path to recovery and the common man is suffering, the government is unwilling to sacrifice even part of their income, added Mir.
Mir said that Since BJP took over in 2014, the miseries of the people of Jammu and Kashmir have increased manifolds. He said that all the promises made to the people prior to the Assembly elections of 2014 remained unfulfilled. Nearly seven years have passed but they have failed to fulfill any of the promises, be it the problems faced by the border residents, be it the problems faced by the farmers, be it the problems of Refugees and Kashmiri Pandits, this government has done nothing to address those problems,” JKPCC Chief said. “The prices of essential commodities have increased and it has become difficult for not only the poor but also the middle class to afford these. The ever increasing inflation is taking a toll on the common masses of this country,” he said. He lambasted the Centre for “decimating” small and medium businesses resulting in millions of job and livelihood losses across various sectors of economy.
