Congress calls for seven-hour Odisha bandh on February 15 over rising fuel price

The Congress gave a name for a seven-hour Odisha shutdown on February 15 to protest in opposition to the rising costs of petrol and diesel.

Blaming each the Centre and the Odisha authorities for the rising gasoline costs, state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik mentioned on Tuesday that the shutdown would start from 7 am and proceed until 1 pm.

Automobiles will keep off the roads, retailers and different enterprise institutions may even stay shut in the course of the interval, he mentioned.

Patnaik mentioned that his occasion is conscious that individuals will face varied inconveniences because of the bandh however there is no such thing as a different to protest in opposition to the federal government’s “behavior” of climbing gasoline costs.

Searching for the assist of the general public for the bandh, Patnaik mentioned the state authorities ought to cut back tax on petrol and diesel with a purpose to give some reduction to the people who find themselves already sustaining hardship because of the pandemic.

He alleged that each the Centre and the state authorities are imposing unreasonable taxes on petrol and diesel, resulting in a steep hike in gasoline costs that in flip resulted in improve within the costs of different important commodities.

“The 2 governments have to be held accountable. Solely a pointy discount in gasoline costs will give reduction to the widespread man,” he mentioned.

Patnaik mentioned the Congress may even increase the problems of the border dispute between Odisha and neighbouring states, the Mahanadi water dispute and political killings within the state.

“Below the BJD authorities, ‘jal, jungle aur zameen’ (water, forest and land) are at risk in our state. In recent times, killings have develop into rampant. Our moms and sisters usually are not secure on the streets. We have to increase our voice. I enchantment to the individuals to assist the bandh,” he mentioned.