Kolkata: Using coal for cooking and cows for transport, TMC workers living in the fringes of Kolkata take innovative ways of protest as fuel prices reach newer heights each passing day.
Seeking to draw attention to the problems faced by the common public due to the surge in fuel prices, TMC supporters have adopted newer alternatives to conventional, petroleum-based energy sources.
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To voice out against the LPG price hike, women supporters gathered all their LPG cylinders and gas ovens but lined them up for display only. Instead, they collected two clay ovens that use coal for cooking. With dry hay and newspapers, they ignited the coal in the oven and cooked vegetables over the flame. Wearing masks, they performed their protest outside their houses, stirring the cooking vessels as fumes erupted from the kiln.
Not only against LPG, TMC workers also dissented against the rising prices of transport fuel. With Petrol prices crossing the unprecedented century mark in the city and diesel prices not much behind, the supporters tried to create alternative ways of transport. Tying a car with ropes to a cow, they walked the animal for a few steps as a part of their protest.
The protesters had organised this on a stretch of Eastern Metropolitan Bypass in Saltlake. Some of the protestors carried LPG cylinders on their shoulders, while some carried paper placards. The messages written on the placards read "Are Cow-driven cars making a return?" and "Will we have to go back to clay ovens to cook?"
After crossing the Rs.100-mark on Wednesday, petrol prices are continuing to surge in the city. Diesel prices are not far behind, at Rs. 93/litre. With the upward trend in the rest of the country, petrol pump operators hint at further hikes in the prices. Non-subsidised LPG cylinders, also at the higher range of scales, are priced at Rs. 835.50.