June 7, 2008
FUEL PRICE HIKE FALLOUT
Trains and traffic disrupted by protests across India again
OPPOSITION ANGER: Activists from the Bharatiya Janata Party shouting anti-government slogans during a protest over fuel price hikes in Mumbai on Thursday. Yesterday, a similar protest in the Indian capital was broken up by police. -- PHOTO: AFP
MUMBAI - ANGRY consumers blocked rail tracks and roads and shut down businesses in several parts of India for a second day yesterday, protesting against an increase in fuel prices by the government.Police detained 20 activists of the right-wing opposition Shiv Sena after they disrupted train services in a suburb of Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment capital, said railway spokesman Ashok Singh.
The federal and state governments scrambled to contain the protests. India's federal petroleum minister has cancelled a trip to Japan for the G-8 summit, The Press Trust of India news agency reported.
Several states lowered local sales taxes to lessen the impact of the rise in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
The Indian government increased petrol prices by 5 rupees (15 Singapore cents) a litre and diesel prices by 3 rupees a litre on Wednesday to partially offset soaring international oil prices. Fuel prices vary between states, which also impose their own taxes.
The price of cooking gas went up by 50 rupees per 14kg cylinder.
Some 300 million of India's population of around 1.1 billion live on less than a dollar a day, and millions of others living on the state-set minimum daily wage of about 66rupees cannot afford cooking gas at all.
But for a middle-class family with a combined income ranging from around 5,000 to 10,000 rupees, higher prices of fuel and cooking gas have had a significant impact on household budgets.
Yesterday, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party held a protest in the Indian capital. Police used water cannon to disperse demonstrators.
The worst-hit has been West Bengal state in eastern India, where schools and businesses were closed and several trains were delayed or cancelled for a second day yesterday, said Inspector-General of Police Raj Kanojia.
Supporters of the opposition Trinamool Congress pulled commuters out of taxis to enforce the party's 12-hour strike call in Kolkata, the state capital. They carried placards demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government for increasing fuel prices.
On Thursday, the state's ruling communist parties called for a day-long strike that saw a near-complete shutdown of West Bengal state.
Several parts of southern Andhra Pradesh state were also closed down by angry protesters, and shops and businesses in several areas of state capital Hyderabad remained shut yesterday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
