GUWAHATI, Nov 20 � Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) today staged a statewide demonstration at the offices of the Deputy Commissioners, Sub-Divisional Officers, Block Development Officers and Circle Officers demanding checking of the spiralling price rise of essential commodities, universalising the Public Distribution System (PDS), providing 35 kgs of rice at Rs 2 per kilo for every family, cleansing the ration system of rampant corruption, and ensuring one ration card for every family.
The stir by the picketers hampered normal functioning of the offices and some of the agitators were arrested, the CPI (M) claimed in a statement.
In the city, about 200 protesters took out a procession to the Kamrup (Metro) Deputy Commissioner�s office and squatted at the entrance and prevented people�s entry to the office.
CPI (M) Kamrup (Metro) general secretary explained the objective of the demonstration there. Police later arrested the picketers following which they took out another procession to the Panbazar police station shouting slogans. Several leaders, including Deben Bhattacharya and Ajit Das, addressed the meeting in the police station campus, calling for checking price rise and streamlining the PDS.
Demonstrations were held at four centres in Kamrup district, i.e., Rangiya, Hajo, Goreswar and Koyan, where the agitators voiced strong concern over the anomalies plaguing the PDS and the unprecedented price rise.
The CPI (M) Assam State Committee, while thanking the people for making the protest a success, lambasted the State Government for its apathy and insincerity in initiating measures at curbing price rise and ridding the PDS of widespread corruption.
�The State Government has remained totally inert even after the price of onions had reached Rs 40 a kg. Equally deplorable has been its apathy in addressing the widespread corruption in the PDS and ration system. We will launch a more vigorous agitation in the coming days,� it said.
The CPI (M) Kamrup (Mahanagar) district committee, in a statement, decried the role of the Centre and the State Governments in the matter of price rise. It also criticized the State Government for the arbitrary and irrational hike in bus fares and for the proposal to hike power tariff.
