MARGAO: Around 70 Congressmen led by Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar and former chief minister and Margao MLA Digambar Kamat on Monday marched to the various petrol pumps in Margao and distributed pamphlets which compared the prevalent prices with that during its regime.

The Congress had called for a “Bharat Bandh” on Monday and the Goa unit thought it prudent to have a protest march in the wake of the coming festive season.

As the Congressmen marched to all the petrol pumps in Margao and later to Fatorda, the party’s mahilas were spotted at the junction near State Bank of India distributing pamphlets to the people crossing the Margao Municipal Garden.

Digambar Kamat expressed surprise over the fact that not many people were visiting the petrol pumps due to the high price. 

“The petrol pump owners have told us that there is a decline in the sales and this is going to be bad,” he said.

Girish Chodankar accused the BJP government of looting the poor of the country to the tune of Rs 11 lakh crore and added that the common man is feeling the heat due to the hike in petrol prices.

“Where is Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s promise not to allow the petrol price to go over Rs 60 per litre?” he asked while terming the Rajasthan government’s move to reduce the VAT as a gimmick to hoodwink the voters as the state is heading for elections.

South Goa District Congress Committee president Joe Dias pointed out that the BJP government has increased central excise on petrol from 9 per cent to 17 per cent and demanded that the same be immediately reduced. 

He also demanded that the VAT on petrol be reduced.