The Congress on Wednesday announced to stage gherao of the Raj Bhavan here and all district Collectorates on August 5 in protest against the escalating prices of essential commodities, including petrol, diesel, cooking gas,, unemployment, Agnipath scheme and imposition of GST on common foods of poor people like puffed rice and flattened rice.
Addressing a Press conference here, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Sarat Pattanayak said a country-wide agitation called by the AICC against the failure of the Governments on multiple fronts would be highlighted during the agitation to create public awareness.
He said the Modi Government, which came to power at the Centre in 2014 promising ‘Achhedin’, has, in fact, burdened people with burgeoning prices of commodities. It has doubled the prices of petroleum products including cooking gas, which rose up to Rs 1,080 from Rs 410.
Pattanayak slammed both the Modi Government and the Naveen Patnaik Government for imposing 5% GST on flattened and puffed rice, pencil, curd, paneer, notebooks, VAT on petrol, diesel rather than relieving people from the stress of Covid pandemic.
Former OPCC president Prasad Harichandan also lambasted both the Governments on the unemployment front. He questioned while the Modi Government had promised two crore jobs every year, the Patnaik Government also had promised two lakh annually, but nothing has happened. Rather than providing jobs, the Central Government started a short-term Agnipath scheme to hoodwink youths and the BJD Government has leased out jobs to private agencies in the form of contract and outsourcing.