Assam Congress protests against price rise, demands women’s reservation

Guwahati, Aug 10 (IANS) The Assam Congress on Saturday staged a protest against the rising prices of essential commodities in the state. It also demanded the early implementation of the 33 per cent reservation for women in the Assembly and in Parliament. President of the Assam Pradesh Mahila Congress Mira Borthakur told IANS that the “BJP has promised to give 33 percent reservation to women across all political platforms. We have demanded early implementation of this promise. Society requires more women representation and the Congress party will continue to put pressure on the ruling party on this issue.The opposition leader said that they also protested against the skyrocketing prices of necessary commodities in the state.“Prices of almost all necessary commodities have seen a sharp increase. However, the government is not interested in easing the burden of the general population. We are requesting the BJP government to give preference to solving the people’s issues,” Borthakur said.State Congress chief Bhupen Borah said, “Our party has planned to launch a statewide protest against price rise. This is a very important issue concerning the people. Congress workers will hold protests in every district headquarters against price rise.”He criticised Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for blaming private universities for the recent flash flood in Guwahati.“A few private universities around Guwahati have been imparting good education to the students. Even the Chief Minister runs private educational institutions and therefore he has no right to criticise other private players operating in the education field,” Bora stated.The Congress leader said, “I guess the Chief Minister might have demanded some land beside that private university and since it was not given, he began criticising the varsity authorities for the flash flood in the city.”On Friday, Sarma argued that the large-scale deforestation near Jorabat area was the root cause of the flash flood in Guwahati which added to the misery of the city’s inhabitants.He said that analysing the satellite images of the last several years, it was noticed that huge deforestation took place in Jorabat Hills due to the establishment of institutions like the University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya and Delhi Public School.–IANStdr/bg