The CPI (M) city unit has asserted that it will organise ‘militant’ agitations until all the problems faced by the people are addressed. The party, however, did not elaborate what the militant agitations were. “Picketing etc would be organised as part of the protests. The party was chalking out plans to carry forward the power agitation etc. The agitation plans will be disclosed as soon as they were finalised,” said party city secretary Ch. Babu Rao.
Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Mr. Babu Rao said people poured out their woes at the ‘poru baata’ (the agitation path) launched by the party. The power tariff hike, steep rise in LPG cylinder price, fuel surcharges, and problems in booking of refill LPG cylinders were some of the problems faced by them. The power cuts have resulted in loss of jobs. The construction activity came to a grinding halt due to sand scarcity, he said.
The rise in prices had a cascading effect on essential commodities as well. The stairways in hilly areas, streetlights, in ordinate delay in establishing the super specialty hospital, repair of roads, and construction of flyovers/bridges were some of the issues that came up during the padayatras. The party would agitate until these issues were resolved, he said, adding, a picketing would be organised in front of the Sub Collector's office on December 11.
Mr. Babu Rao said the party had completed the ‘poru baata’ in all 59 divisions covering a distance of 506 km in three Assembly constituencies in the city. Not just common man took part in the 282-hour padayatra, industrialists and businessmen also took part. “Unlike earlier instances, the padayatra was carried out with total participation of the people,” he added. CPI (M) city secretariat members Donepudi Kasinath, Ch. Jogi Raju, D. Vishnuvardhan, U V Ramaraju, M. Sridevi, M. Venkateswara Rao and others were present.
