TRIVANDRUM, 4 September — Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony yesterday deplored the violence unleashed allegedly by the opposition parties in protesting the power tariff hike in the state.
"The damaging of government offices, buses and public property, which has been happening state-wide for the last few days, is totally undemocratic and the opposition parties should stop this forthwith," said Antony in a statement released here.
"The government is fully committed to reviving the Kerala State Electricity Board and that is why the tariffs have been increased. We will not succumb to the violence unleashed and we will not tolerate it," he said. Replying to the point raised by opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan that the whole issue could have been avoided, had the government collected the nearly 40 billion rupees worth of dues from various public and private sector electricity users, Antony said that all the dues were accumulated during the previous regime and blaming the present government was not fair.
On the second day of the "jail bharo", or "court arrest" agitation launched by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), work in several government offices all across the state was paralyzed.
More violence was witnessed in north part of the state, considered the citadel of the left parties and in Hosdurg in Kasaragod district, where police had to fire rubber and plastic bullets to disperse violent mobs damaging government offices.
Five people of were injured in the firing, one of them seriously, and were admitted to various hospitals. The CPM has called for a general strike in Kasaragod district today against the firing.
