Opposition parties: roll back hike in prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas
Opposition parties on Saturday protested the steep hike in the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas. Demanding its rollback, the parties charged the Congress-led UPA government with dealing a blow to the common man in whose name it came to power.
Street protests erupted in various parts of the country and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties raised slogans demanding a rollback. Demonstrations were held in Orissa, Lucknow, Noida, Jammu and Srinagar, among other places.
The BJP said the measure reflected the insensitivity of the government to the plight of the people and said it would push the rate of inflation into double digit.
Party spokesman Shahnawaz Husain said the statements by Union Ministers justifying the rise in prices showed that the government was more concerned with the health of oil companies than the people who were already groaning under the impact of high prices of essential commodities.
The BJP, he said, was seeking to wake up the government and caution it not to joke with the people. On her part, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said this was the 10{+t}{+h} hike in the prices of petroleum products since the UPA government came to power. “The victims are housewives, farmers and the poorest of the poor.”
Condemning the decision, the Left parties demanded that the hike be withdrawn and asked all their units to immediately conduct hartals, demonstrations and other protest actions.
In a joint statement, general secretaries Prakash Karat (Communist Party of India-Marxist), A.B. Bardhan (Communist Party of India), T.J. Chandrachoodan (Revolutionary Socialist Party) and Debabrata Biswas (All-India Forward Bloc) said the UPA government struck another cruel blow to the people by increasing the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas at a time when the people were reeling under all-round price rise and the inflation rate had crossed 9 per cent.
The diesel price increase would push up transportation cost and affect farmers as well. The increase in the price of kerosene by Rs. 2 a litre would be an added burden to the poor. The Rs. 50 increase for a gas cylinder would also burden the common people.
“The withdrawal of 5 percentage points in customs duty on crude oil, which was imposed last year, shows how such taxes are levied by the Centre to raise revenue and this is the main cause for the high prices of petroleum products,” it said.
Keywords: diesel price, fuel price hike
Petroleum products are the highest taxed products in India,compared to other devoloped countries.This is a milch cow both for the state and central goveernments.Government also shouls remember that we produce about 25% of our requirement.There should be a rational price fixation limiting the tax not more than 30% of the cost of production at a single point only.Now the world price of the crude is much less than $100 and our govt. raises the prices.The so called loss is not loss but less to their targeted profits!The cascading effects of the rise is ignored by the Govt.God save our motherland.
This is really a good issue for opposition parties, but very bad for a common man. Price hike in kerosene oil is bearable upto some extent but giving 50 rupees extra per cylinder will create extra pressure on budget of a common family.
This oil price hike might be a strategy adopted by the UPA govt to divert the attention with regard to the LokPal Bill!
The Opposition parties of India ought to be given the Nobel Prize in Physics this year.They seem to have found a way to grow crude oil on trees.This is truly spectacular,they ought to monetize it. This will help reduce India's Fiscal Deficit, Trade Deficit, Revenue Deficit and every other deficit known to mankind.
However,until they do that,being a net importer of crude India will have to live with the global oil prices.Yes,the extremely high taxes and duties imposed on petroleum products can definitely be looked into.But people need to be realistic,the government cannot do away with these taxes all of a sudden.We need a wholesale tax restructuring.Given the evidence with GST and DTC ,that is not going to happen anytime soon.
The hike in prices of petroleum products is unacceptable. Justifing that the oil companies are under loss and global price hike is just an eye wash. The main purpose of taxation by goverment is only for giving basic needs such as electricity, gas and food products for common man at concessional rates and giving subsidy to oil companies. Goverment has to lay roads but the four way road lines are contracted to private agencies and they are now collecting huge fares via toll gates. All these burdens make the common man suffer.Then where is our tax money is a big question now.
Govt. had no option but to increase the price. Those who are opposing this move should keep in mind that India imports most of its crude needs. And then they should look at the price spike at international market. Living beyond the means is not sustainable. It eventually collapses.
The hikes are actually normal when compared to countries like US, UK and Russia in their daily usage. Even another 100 Rs increase is very beneficial for the country.
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