The ministry is set to propose to Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai Thursday morning subsidies of Rs 10 on every liter of kerosene for the poor of rural areas and Rs 200 on every cylinder of cooking gas for students at community and government schools and colleges living in rented quarters. [break]
Prime Minister Bhattarai had called Minister for Commerce and Supplies Lekha Raj Bhatta to his residence at Baluwatar Tuesday and directed the ministry to come up with a concrete program of relief for students, workers and farmers from the recent fuel price hike.
“We will present our proposal to the prime minister and it´s up to him to decide how to tackle the issue,” Minister Bhatta said. He further said the prime minister and the coalition partners should form a common position and tackle the problem together.
“Personally, I also don´t subscribe to raising fuel prices but the international price of petroleum products forces our hand,” he added.
Bhatta also urged all the political parties to rise above petty politics and come up with their positions regarding petroleum product prices. “We are already facing problems supplying fuel. If we don´t raise the price we cannot supply it at all and that will ultimately cripple the whole country,” he argued.
He claimed that there was no alternative to raising fuel prices other than the unpleasant one of diverting the development budget to fund fuel subsidies.
The student unions of 13 political parties, including the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), and eight youth wings have been agitating against the hike in fuel prices. They have demanded that the recent price hike be withdrawn and 50 percent concession in the rate existing before the hike provided to the poor and to students.
“We will wait till 11 on Thursday morning to see if the government withdraws its decision. If it doesn´t, we´ll meet immediately to decide on more stringent agitations,” Vice-president of UML-affiliated All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) Navaraj Paudel said.
Describing Wednesday´s Valley ´banda´ as overwhelmingly successful and peaceful, he claimed that the general public showed they are with the agitating students through their spontaneous support for the strike, and warned the government of dire consequences if it kept ignoring public sentiment.
Banda cripples Valley
Normal life has been hit hard by the Valley Banda called by students and youth wings of political parties on Wednesday to protest the fuel price hike.
No public or private vehicles were seen plying the roads till 5 p.m., when the strike was called off, and shops, offices and educational institutions also remained shut.
Students said one student from Tri Chandra College was injured in a scuffle with police at Bhrikuti Mandap while police said eight vehicles were vandalized across the country including three in the Valley, three in Dhanusha district, one in Sindhuli and another in Chitwan. Police also said seven banda enforcers were held from the Valley and later released.
Meanwhile, seven agitating students and a sub-inspector of the Armed Police Force (APF) were injured in a scuffle at Piradi Chowk, according to our Janakpur correspondent.
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