Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association (KHRA) and All Kerala Caterers Association (AKCA) staged a protest in Kochi on Wednesday, demanding withdrawal of a hike in the prices of LPG gas cylinders.
G Jayapal, State General Secretary, KHRA, said, "We are demanding that petroleum products be included in the GST and that the unjust price hike on LPG be withdrawn. Recently, the price of LPG was hiked by Rs 266 in one go. In the last one year, it has increased by more than Rs 1000. This is not affordable. A hotel uses three LPG cylinders in a day. The catering sector has been in crisis for the past two years."
He further said, "Despite requests to the government to waive off GST, it has not taken any action. We will march towards parliament with the entire organisations related to the food industry in the country."
"We have very limited options. Either we have to hike the price of food or close the shop. We demand the government should immediately roll back the LPG price hike and include petroleum products in GST. The strike will continue until the demands are met," he added.
On November 1, the petroleum companies hiked the price of commercial Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinders by Rs 266.
With this, commercial cylinders of 19 kg cost Rs 2,000.50 in Delhi which was costing Rs 1,734 earlier.
( With inputs from ANI )
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