Congress leaders taken into custody at Dharna Chowk
The Hindu
‘53.35 cr. people have been burdened with rising fuel taxes’
Several Congress leaders were taken into custody by the police here on Monday for staging a protest against continuous increase in the petrol and diesel prices. Working presidents of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Dr. J. Geetha Reddy and M. Anjan Kumar Yadav, former PCC chief Ponnala Lakshmaiah and former MLC A. Ramulu Naik and others were taken into custody by the police at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park and were shifted to Chikkadpalli police station. Speaking at the protest site earlier, Mr. Lakshmaiah said poor and middle class people are suffering badly with the regular increase of petrol and diesel prices. He criticised the BJP government at the Centre for promising to reduce petrol and diesel prices within 100 days of coming to power in 2014 and but it was simply forgotten. Mr. Ponnala said 53.35 crore people have been burdened with rising fuel taxes since Modi took over and these include farmers, vehicle users and housewives using cooking gas.The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.