THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state will witness a dual hartal - called by both the UDF and LDF against skyrocketing fuel prices - on Monday. Though there were reports that the state could be exempted from the nationwide hartal in view of the devastating floods, both political fronts made it clear on Friday that there won’t be any change in the hartal call.
The nationwide hartal called by Left parties from 6 am to 6 pm should be observed without affecting flood relief activities, said LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan. In a statement issued on Friday, the LDF urged the people to support the hartal call in protest against the “Centre’s policies that has led to back-to-back fuel price hikes”.
“Uncontrolled hike in fuel prices, coupled with the exchange value of rupee going down, has made normal life miserable. Fuel prices have been steadily going up for the past two weeks. The Centre has not been taking any steps to control the price hike of petrol, diesel and LPG. On Friday, petrol prices in the state touched Rs 83, while diesel is being sold at Rs 76.72 per litre. The constant price hike has added to the crisis in the agri sector. The price hike has come as a major blow to the state, which is already reeling under the flood,” said the LDF statement.
UDF hartal
T’Puram: State Congress president M M Hassan said the UDF will conduct a dawn-to-dusk hartal on September 10 to protest against sharp rise in fuel prices in the country. He said the 6 am to 6 pm hartal will not cause any trouble the people in the flood-affected areas. Hassan said he was never against hartals, but always campaigned for regulating them.