Thiruvananthapuram, June 25 (IANS) The ruling Left Democratic Front has announced a shutdown in Kerala to protest central government’s decision to hike fuel prices.
The shutdown announcement came after Petroleum Secretary S. Sundareshan said in New Delhi that the prices of petrol ‘will be market determined both at the refinery gate and retail level’.
As a result, petrol will now be costlier by Rs 3.5 a litre.
Simultaneously, the government hiked the prices of diesel by Rs.2 a litre, kerosene — known as the poor man’s fuel, and traditionally spared during periodic fuel price hikes — by Rs.3 a litre and cooking gas by Rs.35 per cylinder.
