Leaders of the Left parties and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have staged protests demanding immediate roll back of the hike in diesel cess, imposed by the AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC).
The activists of the Left parties demonstrated at the Pundit Nehru Bus Station. Headed by senior leaders P. Madhu and Ch. Babu Rao of the CPI(M) and K. Ramakrishna, Kasinath and D. Shankar of the CPI, the party workers walked holding a banner seeking withdrawal of the hike.
They stopped the buses for some time and raised slogans against “anti-people” policies of the State and the Central governments.
They said frequent hikes in prices of essential commodities, electricity charges, bus fares and tax revisions had made the lives of the common man miserable.
The main parties in the State, including the YSRCP, the TDP and the JSP, had been extending their unconditional support to the BJP “misrule” at the Centre, they alleged.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had made tall promises at the time of the elections, raising the hopes of the common man, they said, adding that he had gone back on his promises after coming to power.
They said following protests by the public, the Centre had reduced the rate of diesel, but the APSRTC went ahead and implemented a hike in the cess twice within a short time.
Following a two-day protest call given by the leadership, the TDP cadres staged dharna in 388 mandals. The leaders said the government had imposed a burden of ₹3,000 crore on 65 lakh people who used the public transport.
They distributed pamphlets to people travelling by RTC buses and explained to them about their party’s “Badude Badudu” drive, educating people on how the common man was at the receiving end of the State’s apathy.
They said a steep hike in prices of essential commodities, hike in garbage tax and increase in RTC bus fare thrice in three years, besides other taxes had compounded the woes of the people, the leaders said.
