Fuel price hike: oxen- ride, cycle protest today

After the Bharat Bandh, the Chhattisgarh Congress plans to take another step on the issue of price hike of petroleum products.

The Congress MLAs are planning to register their protest by going to the State Assembly on bicycles and oxen carts on Wednesday.

A decision to this effect was taken on Tuesday at the special session of the Chhattisgarh State Assembly.

The Assembly on Tuesday expressed condolence for the demise of former Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee and former minister Ramchandra Singhdeo.

The supplementary budget will be tabled on Wednesday, after which a meeting will be held.

For Wednesday, the Congress plans to raise the issues of price hike and dengue deaths in the country, and demand discussion under rule 139.

As part of the bicycle-oxen cart programme, the Congress MLAs will converge at the Congress headquarters at Rajiv Bhavan and then move towards the State Assembly, which is 9 km away. The details of the programme have not been decided.

The government of Chhattisgarh has called a two-day special Assembly session to pass the supplementary budget after Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh announced a bonus of Rs 300 per quintal for the paddy purchased under minimum support price, which is around 15 quintals per acre of land.

It would be purchased from November 1 to January 31, 2019. As the elections are due towards the end of the year, the purchase is being started a fortnight before usual. The payments will be moved directly to the bank accounts of the farmers.