Kohima, July 11 (MExN): The Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) on Sunday extended support to the ongoing nation-wide protest against unprecedented rise in prices of fuel and essential commodities, called by the Congress party.
In a press release on Sunday, the NVCO appealed consumers to come forward and extend support so as to bring down the prices of essential commodities and petrol-diesel in the country and the state of Nagaland in particular.
It said that during the later part of 2020 when the state government imposed COVID-cess on fuel and motor spirits, the NVCO had asked government to rollback the said tax as common people were suffering with skyrocketing of prices. At the time, the NVCO alleged that the state government did not have an effective mechanism for price regulation and its agencies were performing poorly in price regulation. It also said that the new tax on petroleum products was not be the right way to create revenue and that “the state government could save its budget by removing ‘non-government employees enjoying government’s monthly salary’ at the rank of cabinet minister, PROs, PS, media officer, commissioner & secretary/joint/deputy secretaries attached to politicians and top offices, non-legislators holding the posts of advisors, party workers and defeated candidates holding posts of chairman with minister’s status, etc.”
The NVCO would not remain ‘silent spectators’ over the issue which contributes to price rise in the state markets be it continuous hike in fuel prices or illegal and unauthorised taxation, etc, it added.
Meanwhile, NVCO President Kezhokhoto Savi said that besides the protest of the Congress party at the national level and Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee in the state of Nagaland, farmers have also been protesting the recent price hike of petrol, diesel and cooking oil, demanding that the rates be halved with immediate effect.
Stating that India is a democratic country where, “government is for the people, by the people and of the people” and every state has to function as a welfare state, the NVCO appealed the government to listen to the voice of the people.
