Biju Mahila Janata Dal members on Thursday staged a demonstration in front of the IOCL Regional Office here in protest against the hike in price of non-subsidised LPG and corruption in selection of beneficiaries under the Ujjwala scheme.
The members under leadership of women wing president Pramila Mallick shouted slogans against Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Mallick said the BJP-led NDA Government has arbitrarily hiked the price of cooking gas at least for 22 times since 2014. She also termed the Ujjwala scheme a failure in the State as people who have got connections under the scheme are not turning up to refill their LPG cylinders.
She also alleged that the beneficiaries of Ujjwala schdeme are selected by the BJP leaders and many free gas connections have been given to ghost beneficiaries.
Among others, Minister Ashok Chandra Panda, MLAs Priyadarshi Mishra, Bijay Kumar Mohanty and Rajashree Mallick and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena and Deputy Mayor K Shanti were present.