the goan I network
MARGAO
Continuing its protest over the steep rise in the prices of LPG cylinders, Mahila Congress workers led by President Pratima Coutinho descended at the entrance to the Margao Municipal Council building to prepare tea and rotis
with the help of a chullah and firewood.
Even as the Mahila Congress demanded an immediate roll back of the price of LPG, party president demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant subsidize the rates and give relief to the common man.
Raising anti-BJP slogans, the Congress mahilas recalled that the party’s central minister Smriti Irani had hit the streets when the UPA government had hiked the price of LPG cylinders by just Rs 20, while demanding to know Irani’s silence to the Rs 145 hike.
“This exorbitant and unnecessary increase is demoralizing crores of women, striving to lead a happy and comfortable life. This is the sixth straight hike in LPG cylinders in the past sixth month since Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power. This is a phenomenal price increase, which is clear punishment to the people who elected you,” the Mahila Congress head said in a memorandum which will be forwarded to the office of the Prime Minister through the district collectors.
“We mahilas find that what goes under the pot now costs more than what goes inside it. This price rise is contrary to the needs of environment protection as it forces women to revert to the good old days of procuring firewood from forests, which will not only decimate forests, but the powerhouse of evolution and disturb the ecology in the long run,” the memorandum added.
