Srinagar, Apr 8: As part of its country-wide programme, hundreds of activists of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Thursday held protest rallies in Srinagar and Jammu.
 State general secretary, Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami led the party workers and activists in Jammu, party functionaries informed Greater Kashmir on phone from Jammu.
 The protest rallies were led by several party leaders including G N Malik, Muhammad Afzal and others here.
 Carrying banners and placards, the party supporters raised slogans against the price rise.
 Addressing the rally near Raj Bhawan in Jammu, Tarigami said that the prices of the essential commodities mainly of the eatables have continuously skyrocketed in the past few months thus putting common man, working class and low-income groups to grave hardships.
 “It has become impossible for them to make ends meet,” Tarigami said.
 Flaying the proposed Food Security Legislation which suggests a cut in the foodgrains, he, according to party functionaries, emphasized the need for universalizing the Public Distribution System in place of the existing targeted PDS. He said the latter denies availability of ration items to majority of the population.
 Tarigami said the poor in rural and urban areas should be provided with subsidized foods out of the buffer stocks that the government has been maintaining.
 He expressed concern over the growing unemployment in the state. “The increasing unemployment scale is a matter of serious concern. Government should evolve a mechanism to provide employment opportunities to the youth,” he said.
 He said the SK Employment and Welfare Policy was inadequate and couldn’t tackle the menace of rising unemployment. “It has a limited scope of employment for only a small section of youth,” he said.
 The CPI-M leader criticized the state government for invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act against the striking government employees.
 “The issue should be resolved through a dialogue with the striking government employees. Invoking ESMA would only complicate matters for the government,” he said.
 Senior CPI (M) leader G N Malik said a common man was badly suffering due to the price rise. He threatened to intensify the protests if the price rise was not arrested.
 “Government will have to change its policies so that the prices are controlled or else we will intensify our protests,” he threatened.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 8 Apr 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 8 Apr 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 9 Apr 2010 00:00:00 IST