Dehradun: Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat sat on a token fast and dharna here today in protest against the hike in PDS prices of rice and wheat for APL families.
He asked people to prepare themselves for a sustained fight over the next five years against the injustices to which they were being subjected to.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rawat said ever since the PM’s “double engine” had begun to work in Uttarakhand, prices had been touching the skies.
“Our government had ensured APL card holders getessential foodgrains at affordable prices through the PDS. We brought APL families under the ambit of the food security law and made wheat available to them at Rs 5 per kg and rice at Rs 7 per kg in our time.
“Ever since Modi ji’s double engine has been put into operation prices have been skyrocketing. Electricity, water, LPG, petrol and diesel have all become costlier. Now even foodplates are being snatched away from the hands of the poor,” Rawat said.
Wheat price for APL families through the Public Distribution System has been increased from Rs 5 per kg to Rs 8.6 while the price of rice has been revised from Rs 9 per kg to Rs 15 per kg.
A host of party leaders including Pradesh Congress president Kishore Upadhaya, former state assembly speaker and MLA Govind Singh Kunjwal, Mamata Rakesh, former minister Dinesh Aggarwal, Matbar Singh Kandari and Mantri Prasad Naithani also participated in the dharna.
—PTI