The call for the Bharat Bandh against rocketing fuel prices evoked a good response with activists of various political hues agitating in novel ways in the district.
Activists of Left parties, Jana Sena Party and the Congress turned the usually busy APSRTC bus station into a play ground.
They exhibited their cricketing skills by confining State-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) buses to depots. APSRTC staff extended their support to the stir as high diesel price had pushed the public transporter deeper in the red.
In Chirala, former Union Minister Panabaka Lakshmi rode a bullock cart and said people had no option but to switch over to animal-powered vehicles as petrol and diesel prices had shot up.
When crude oil price was $148 during the UPA II regime, the price of petrol was only ₹ 61 and diesel ₹ 53. But now, their prices had shot to about ₹80, said Ms. Lakshmi, who was the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas during the UPA II regime. “There is no valid reason for the high price of fuel,” she said, urging the Narendra Modi government at the Centre to reduce high tax rates on fuel.
‘Excise daily revision’
Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) women activists pulled a car with ropes on the arterial Trunk road here to register their protest against the revision of fuel prices on a daily basis.
Activists of Arunodaya, a cultural organisation, were the cynosure of all eyes as they performed a skit during a protest organised by the CPI (M-L) New Democracy in front of the Prakasam Bhavan. They took a dig at the alleged corporate-friendly Narendra Modi government which, they contended, made the lives of common people miserable.
