GUWAHATI, Sept 16 � Various organizations including student and trade union bodies today decried the steep hike in the prices of petrol and demanded that the Centre immediately rescind the decision.
The All Guwahati Students� Union (AGSU), which held a demonstration near the Planetarium today, burnt effigies of Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy. It said that hiking the prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene was a policy of the UPA Government and it was subjecting the masses to the worst possible situation.
The All India Central Council of Trade Unions, Assam State Committee, while calling for immediate rollback of the hiked prices, said that such a situation could emerge due to the complete deregulation of the oil sector.
The Communist Party of India (CPI), Assam State Council traced the root of the repeated hikes in petroleum products to the neo-liberalization policies of the Centre, and said that its policies never had the interests of the commoners in mind.
