By IANS,
Bhubaneswar : Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Wednesday said the petrol price hike announced by three oil companies would hit the common man hard even as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties held separate protests against the increase.
“The hike in petrol price is now going to be an additional burden on public,” Patnaik told reporters.
“This (price hike decision) I think is too harsh,” he said.
Several members of the ruling Biju Janata Dal and the BJP also expressed their concern and raised the issue in the assembly.
The BJP and Left parties held separate rallies in different places, including Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, to protest the hike.
The protests come against the backdrop of a decision of the three state-run oil firms – Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum – to hike prices of petrol by up to Rs.3 per litre.
The last fuel hike was June 25, when the government ended state control on pricing of petrol.