Condemning the unprecedented price hike of commercial liquefied petroleum gas cylinders and the delay in the distribution of the commercial and domestic LPG cylinders, the Left parties and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi jointly organised demonstration here on Monday.

The protesters said the price hike of commercial LPG cylinders by the Union Government had hit hard the common man after the restaurants and even the roadside eateries had increased the prices of the dishes they serve. Moreover, the migrant labourers relying upon these cylinders had been seriously affected even as the prices of essential commodities had increased manifold in the past two years.

Hence, the Union Government should roll back the increased price of commercial LPG cylinders and urged the government not to hike the fuel price any further, the protesters said.

They said the delay in distribution of LPG cylinders by the oil companies was a classic proof for the “agonizing failure” of Ministry of Petroleum which did not foresee the problems arising out of the war in West Asia.

They also condemned the Ministry of Railways’ decision “to cut 29,000 jobs in Indian Railways” in the guise of manpower rationalisation to improve efficiency. The decision to “surrender or redistribute the 29,508 jobs” of Indian Railways, which was 2% of the entire workforce of Indian Railways during the current fiscal, would badly demoralise the qualified unemployed youth, they warned.