Thiruvananthapuram, Saturday, June 26, 2010: A dawn to dusk hartal has been called by the LDF in the state today in protest against the steep hike in petroleum products. The PSC last grade exam scheduled to be held today has been postponed to October 9th. Hospitals and milk have been exempted from the hartal.

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In a major decision to bring petroleum products in line with market rates, the Central government today freed petrol from all pricing controls and hiked diesel prices by Rs two a litre.

Petrol will cost up to Rs 3.73 per litre more, households will have to pay an additional Rs 35 per cylinder and poor man’s cooking medium kerosene will be dearer by Rs 3 a litre from today.

Reacting to the hike, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said it would have a cascading effect on prices of essential commodities in the state. “People already reeling under the pressure of price rise would be further burdened,” he told reporters.

The veteran CPI-M leader alleged Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was following a policy of appeasing corporates and multinationals in the country.