CPM to launch stir against oil price hike

As oil companies increased the price of petrol and diesel yet again, the CPI(M) yesterday said it would protest the increase. The protests are likely to begin today.

Senior party leader Prakash Karat told reporters here after a meeting of the party's central committee that the party would lead a countrywide agitation on the issue.

"We will chalk out a programme to oppose the price hike in petrol and diesel," Karat said adding the party had given some suggestions to the government for not imposing burden on the people on a continued basis. "However, the government has not taken our suggestions," he said.

The CPI(M) had asked the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to rationalise the existing duty structure, especially the import duty structure.

"The 10 per cent import duty on crude oil and 20 per cent notional import duty on petroleum products have brought about an anomalous situation, which increases the burden on the people," the party had said.

Before announcing price bands, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had discussed the move with the Left parties. That they have resolved to start and agitation indicates that they are compelled to address their own constituency.

The party's trade union wing, the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (Citu), has at its three-day meeting at Nasik in July, already resolved that it will start an agitation on all the "anti-people" elements in the Budget.

While not rejecting the Budget in its totality, Citu is particularly concerned about the effect that higher FDI caps in insurance will have on the workers' movement in the insurance industry.

The report of CITU General Secretary ... noted the "positive pro-people commitments in the National Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the UPA government as also the negative reflections of its maiden budget in the form of a steep hike in FDI cap in telecom, insurance and civil aviation sectors, de-reservation of 85 items listed for small scale industries, move to reduce further the interest rate on Provident Fund etc".

The meeting flagged interactions between the central trade unions for joint action programmes, "sometime during the next phase of the budget session of parliament, which reconvenes on August 16", a report in the latest issue of the CPI M party organ, People's Democracy said.

"All CITU units should be prepared for joining such action programmes in a big way. The CITU should also take initiative to involve the employees' federations in Bank, Insurance, Telecom, Aviation, Defence, state and central government and other sectors in the above programmes" the report said.