Activists of Left parties on Wednesday staged a demonstration, protesting the surge in the prices of onion and the hike in RTC bus fares here.
The protesters took out a rally from Maddilapalem to Automotive Junction. The leaders and activists of CPI and CPI (M) staged a rasta roko on the National Highway-16 for a while before they were dispersed by the police.
Additional burden
Addressing the protesters, CPI district secretary B. Venkataramana and CPI (M) city secretariat member R.K.S.V. Kumar said that the common man was already overburdened by the economic recession and the spiralling prices of essential commodities.
“Daily wagers are not in a position to make both ends meet due to lack of work. The shortage of sand for the last five months had hit the construction industry hard and left workers in the lurch. The exorbitant prices of onion and hike in RTC bus fares are adding to their burden,” they said.
The economic recession has rendered many autorickshaw drivers, mutha workers and pushcart vendors jobless. Though the government is supplying onions at ₹25 a kg, not everyone is getting their quota in view of the shortage. The delay in distribution of stocks, is resulting in onions getting spoilt even before they reach the consumers, they pointed out.
‘Stocks being hoarded’
“Interestingly, the quality of onions that are being sold in the open market is good. This is giving rise to the suspicion that traders are hoarding stocks. The government must take action to check black-marketing of onions,” said Mr. Venkataramana.
Referring to hike in the RTC bus fares, the protesters said the government was burdening the commoners who depend on buses to commute to work. They demanded immediate reversal of the hike in the fares.
CPI (M) leaders V. Krishna Rao, R.P. Raju, and their CPI counterparts M. Pydiraju, A. Vimala, Sk. Rehaman, A. Devudamma and P. Govind took part in the protest.
