The Communist Party of India (Marxist) along with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and other organisations will organise a series of protests, including picketing, across Tamil Nadu during the nation-wide bandh called by them on Thursday against the petrol price hike.
Announcing this at a press conference here on Wednesday, G. Ramakrishnan, State Secretary of the CPI (M), said that there was groundswell of support among people for the bandh as the unprecedented hike had affected the poor and middle class people.
Various trade bodies have extended support, he said and appealed to all sections of people to come forward to support the bandh in a big way. The cadre of CPI (M), along with those from CPI and other organisations, would stage picketing and road and rail rokos across the State.
The hike had no justification as it had come at a time when international price of crude oil was coming down. The slide in rupee value against the US dollar, which was cited as another reason for the hike, had been brought about by the globalisation and liberalisation policies pursued by the Centre. With nearly 45 per cent of the retail price of petrol going towards taxes, the Centre and the State government could have easily averted the hike by reducing the taxes.
On Karnataka's failure to release water into the Cauvery, Mr. Ramakrishnan called for the intervention of the Centre to ensure that Karnataka implemented the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. The Centre, he said, could not escape by merely holding the Cauvery Monitoring Committee meeting. Replying to a query, Mr. Ramakrishnan said that some State leaders of the party would campaign in support of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam candidate for the Pudukottai by-election. The party would highlight issues such as the hike in price of milk, power tariff revision and bus fare increase.
On the continuing strike by contract workers of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Mr. Ramakrishnan supported the trade unions' demand for referring the matter to the Central Labour Commissioner.
