Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy has urged the Central government to take back the power given to oil companies to regulate prices of petroleum products and vest it with the government to avoid frequent hike in fuel prices.
Addressing presspersons during his ‘Kerala Mocha Yatra' here on Thursday, Mr. Chandy said the frequent price hike in petrol prices had resulted in price rise for all commodities. This had come in the way of the Central government's efforts to control prices of essential commodities, he said.
He said if the State government was sincere in controlling prices, they should not collect their share of tax for the increased price of petroleum products.
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He said steps taken by the Central government had brought down prices of commodities like onion. But the State government had not taken steps to control prices. Instead, they were blaming the Centre for everything. How could the State government blame the Centre for hike in the prices of vegetables? he asked.
Mr. Chandy said the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government had waived a tax amount of Rs.118 crore when prices of petroleum products were hiked by the Centre, This had helped in controlling prices then, he said.
Mr. Chandy demanded the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government to take action on the report of the high power committee headed by the Chief Secretary on the usurping of tribal land by wind mill companies at Attappady.
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He said the government had not taken any action so far. This, he said, was to help multinational companies to retain the tribal land they usurped.
On the high price and shortage of sand in the State, he said the government should bring sand from other States to meet the demand of the people. They should also regulate mining of sand from rivers that affected the ecology of water bodies.