A protest was held in Mysuru on Monday against the continuing rise in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG.

The protest comes on the day the prices of LPG were hiked by ₹50 while the prices of petrol and diesel continued to rise.

Former MLA M.K. Somashekar, who led the snap protest at RTO Circle in the city, said the price of petrol and diesel, which had been constantly increasing, went up by 25 paise and 35 paise respectively while the increase in LPG cylinder price by ₹50 on Monday adds to the ₹25 already increased about 10 days ago, making a cylinder dearer by ₹75.

He lamented that the price of petrol had reached ₹92 per litre under the BJP government at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He recalled that the price of petrol was around ₹65 per litre when the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power even though the prices of crude in the international market hovered around $ 110 to $120 per barrel.

Despite the prices of crude remaining at $45 per barrel, the BJP government at the Centre has not brought down the prices, he bemoaned.

Mr. Somashekar also sought to point out that the price of a LPG cylinder, which used to be available at ₹350, now costs ₹774. This difference between the LPG cylinder available during the UPA regime and BJP regime is more than ₹400, he said.

The runaway trend in the prices of fuel will impose an additional financial burden of ₹1,500 to ₹2,000 per month on each family, he regretted.

The rise in prices of fuel has had a cascading effect on the prices of essential commodities, which will lead to an increase in a family’s budget by ₹2,000 to ₹3,000 per month. This additional expenditure by a family comes at a time when people are reeling under the impact of COVID-19, which had not only led to a substantial decline in income of most people, but also caused widespread job losses.

The protesters made a sarcastic reference to Mr. Modi’s “Achche Din” slogan and wondered whether the difficult times the people were enduring was what the Prime Minister had promised.

MCC corporators Shobha Sunil and J. Gopi, besides Congress leader Veena, Srinath Babu, K.S. Shivaram and a host of others participated in the protest.