BHUBANESWAR: As part of the nationwide demonstration demanding the repeal of three farm laws, the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Friday gheraoed the Raj Bhavan here to show solidarity with the protesting farmers. A delegation led by OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik submitted a memorandum to Governor Ganeshi Lal requesting his intervention and necessary steps for withdrawal of the Farm Acts. Alleging that the Narendra Modi government appears to have adopted a policy of tiring out the agitating farmers without agreeing to any of their demands including repealing of the Acts, the memorandum said several rounds of talks have so far yielded nothing.
The memorandum alleged that the government is profiteering from the misery of farmers and the common people by raising the price of diesel and petrol to an all time high.
Stating that the Centre has increased the excise duty on petrol from `9.2 per litre in 2014 to `32.98 per litre now and on diesel from `3.46 per litre in 2014 to `31.83 per litre, it alleged that it is the highest in the last 73 years.
The Centre has collected an additional `19 lakh crore from excise duty on petrol and diesel alone, they stated and added that all this is having an adverse impact on the finances of farmers as well as the common people. An OPCC release claimed that the Governor assured the delegation to draw the attention of the Centre in this regard.