New Delhi, July 8, 2021 (Yes Punjab News)
In response to a call put out by Samyukt Kisan Morcha, there were protests organised in hundreds of locations across India. The protests were against the unjust and unaffordable hikes in fuel prices, affecting the lives of common citizens including farmers. Today, petrol and diesel prices have touched around 100 rupees per litre and this price is higher than the cost of aviation fuel per litre.
In 2014, the excise tax on diesel and petrol ranged from 3.56 rupees to 9.48 per litre; in 2021, it has gone up to 31.80 per litre of diesel and 32.90 for petrol. Similar is the case of unaffordable prices of cooking gas. Recently, there has been a hike of Rs. 25/ per cylinder. There have been 62 number of hikes in fuel prices in 2021 alone!
By the time this bulletin is being released, reports of protests have come in from scores of locations in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Additionally, reports have come in from Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Odisha, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Farmers and others in some places protested by honking their horns. In many places, protestors parked their vehicles and placed their empty gas cylinders and put out their message by holding up placards and banners. In some locations, farmers conveyed their message by pulling vehicles like tractors by a rope. In Punjab, farmers chose to protest bare-chested. Lots of women and youth joined the protests today. These protests also happened at Tikri Border, Ghazipur Border and Singhu Border.
Farmers demanded that prices be halved by the government immediately without any further delay.
The medical camps that will be run every week at Singhu Border (eye camp on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and heart camp on Sunday) has been initiated today. These will run every week till the end of the protests, and will serve local citizens as well as protestors.
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