STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Congress on Thursday hit out at the government over the steep hike in prices of LPG cylinders even as it mocked Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s talk of welfare of the poor and asked if these were supposed to be Achche Din.
“Principal objective of democracy and welfare state is the duty towards the last man in the line. The BJP Government is, however, burdening the common man for enriching a handful of its crony friends,” said former Minister and senior Congress leader Raman Bhalla while interacting with women and prominent persons of Gandhi Nagar Constituency here.
“The Central Government has unleashed a three-pronged economic attack on the livelihood of over 60 crore Indians. Truth is that the Prime Minister and the BJP are breaking the ordinary people’s back by overburdening them with a slew of unprecedented taxes,” he added.
Earlier, hundreds of Congress supporters and leaders today staged series of protests at Gangyal and Nai Basti areas of Jammu city against the hike in the rates of essential commodities and slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not fulfilling the promises he had made to the people during the Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said that the price of cooking gas hiked by Rs 4.50 per cylinder on Wednesday was 19th increase in rates since July 2016 when the government decided to eliminate subsidy on it by raising prices every month. The price of non-subsidised LPG or market-priced cooking gas has been hiked by Rs 93 to Rs 742 per unit. Subsidised LPG price has been hiked by Rs 4.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder to Rs 495.69.Since the implementation of the policy of monthly increases from July last year, subsidised LPG rates has gone up by Rs 76.51 per cylinder. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder was priced at Rs 419.18 in June 2016.
Addressing party workers here, Bhalla said that the BJP, which came to power at the Centre by raising hue and cry about price rise and high rate of inflation promising Achhe Din, had completely failed to control the prices of essential commodities, including onion, vegetables and pulses, and the general public is facing hardships in sustaining their livelihood.
He said the BJP Government at the Centre had miserably failed to check inflation in the country and the prices of almost everything had doubled since the party came to power.
“Modi led government’s undue zeal to cut on fiscal deficit at the cost of everyday lives of common man and farmers of the country clearly put down the priority of the BJP and the present government. The government is interested in the benefits of the corporate and not the welfare of the people,” Bhalla said.
