Bhubaneswar: The hike in diesel price by Rs 5 has invited sharp reaction from every political party including the Biju Janada Dal (BJD) in Bhubaneswar.
The BJD supremo and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik termed the hike as a faulty economic policy of UPA government. He said the hike will affect lives of people from every section especially poor masses as the price of basic commodities would be flared up due to hike in diesel price. The transportation and travel expenditure would be a big burden on common people, he said, demanding immediate roll-back of diesel price.
The BJD workers staged a demonstration protesting the hike of diesel price in the capital city. Hundreds of activists took out a rally from Sishu Bhawan square to Rajmahal where they burnt effigies of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
Similarly, CPI (M) also criticized the centre's policy on diesel. The party members led a rally from the Party office culminating at Rajmahal square. Likewise, Cuttack district CPI (M) also staged demonstration outside the petroleum depot at Sikharpur. Hundreds of members led by District Secretary Subash Singh demonstrated demanding roll back.
On the other hand, OPCC President Niranjan Patnaik, in his reaction, said the State Government should reduce the sales tax in order to lessen the burden on people.
Notably, the price of diesel was hiked by Rs 5 from last mid-night. Similarly,the government restricted the supply of subsidised cooking gas to 6 cylinders per household in a year.
According to decision, each household will get 6 cylinders of 14.2-kg per annum at the subsidised rate of Rs 399 and any requirement beyond that would have to be procured at the market rate of Rs 746 per bottle.