As the nation sees the price of petrol and diesel skyrocketing at a higher pace, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, today in a unique style of protest against the hike commuted to and from state secretariat Nabanna on an electric scooter. While on way to Nabanna in the morning, Banerjee was seen riding pillion on the battery-powered electric scooter driven by minister Firhad Hakim.
She herself took the driver's seat on way back to her residence in Kalighat area from secretariat in the afternoon. With a placard protesting against the petrol price hike hanging around her neck, helmet-clad Banerjee waved at people on both sides of the road during the seven-km-long journey from Hazra More to the state secretariat in the first half.
She drove the e-scooter till Rabindra Sadan-Exide Crossing when Hakim took it from her again. But, as the scooter entered Harish Mukherjee road, Banerjee was once again on the driving seat till reaching home.
During return she took a different route passing through Vidyasagar setu-A J C Bose Road-Harish Mukherjee Road-Hazra to her home. In the morning after reaching Nabanna following a 45- minute ride, Banerjee slammed the BJP-led government at the Centre saying, "We are protesting against the fuel price hike.
The Modi government only makes false promises. They have done nothing to bring down fuel prices. "You can see the difference in petrol prices when the Modi government came to power and now." She said the TMC will launch a stir against fuel price rise from Friday.
"A middle-class household needs two LPG cylinders a month which they can't afford now. Over 1 crore people in our state also depend on kerosene which they are not getting now," she said. The chief minister was trailed by security personnel on other two-wheelers and two hired yellow taxis as other vehicles followed her a little distance away.
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