Thiruvananthapuram, Friday, June 25, 2010: The LDF leadership has decided to stage hartal as a protest against the Centre’s decision to hike the fuel prices. The hartal would be held from morning 6am to 6 pm in the evening.

The PSC last grade exam scheduled to be held tomorrow has been postponed to October 9th. Hospitals and milk have been exempted from the hartal.

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.