Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president G.A. Mir was briefly detained in Jammu on Feb. 28 along with over a dozen party workers during a protest against the rising fuel prices, police said.
The police acted after Mr. Mir, along with senior party colleagues and former Ministers Raman Bhalla and Yogesh Sawhney, tried to take out a rally against the price hike of essential commodities, especially petrol, diesel and LPG at Janipur locality of the city, the officials said.
Accompanied by a large number of party activists and supporters, the Congress leaders earlier staged a sit-in and raised anti-government slogans for its alleged failure to check the hike in the price of essential commodities.
“The protest is part of a 45-day programme chalked out by the Congress against the increased fuel prices,” Mr. Mir told reporters before being detained by police along with the two senior party colleagues and several other activists.
He said the Congress has launched a protest campaign from February 15 to March 30 to invite the attention of the government towards the people’s worsening plight amid the rising prices of essential commodities.
“We will take this campaign to every nook and corner of the Union Territory and force the government to provide relief to the people,” he said.
Mr. Mir also criticised the Jammu and Kashmir administration for proposing property tax and said “every now and then, a gift is given to the people in the shape of new taxes to make their lives miserable.” “We are facing tax terrorism and will agitate any move to impose the property tax. They have already imposed taxes on the people for using roads, water and electricity,” he said.
