BHUBANESWAR: Criticising the BJP-led Government at the Centre for its failure to control the petrol and diesel prices, which have reached all-time high during the last four years, the BJD on Monday announced that State-wide protests will continue till the prices are rolled back. The Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) and Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) demonstrated against the petrol and diesel price hike. BJD general secretary Sanjay Dasburma alleged that the BJPled government has raised excise duty nine times between November 2014 and January 2016 to shore up finances as global oil prices fell, but then cut the tax just once in October last year by ` 2 a litre.
Dasburma alleged that the enhanced prices of petrol and diesel will affect the prices of essential commodities and will hit the common people hard. While a litre of petrol costs `72.57, the price of a litre of diesel is `69.28 in the Capital. Former minister Pushpendra Singhdeo, Mayor of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Anant Narayan Jena, BJD MLAs Priyadarshi Mishra and Bijay Mohanty, BJD State secretary Bijay Nayak, BYJD president Amaresh Patri and BCJD president Rana Pratap Patra participated in the demonstration among others.