The hike in the price of diesel and petrol twice in the past two weeks was nothing short of a plunder of the common people by the Union Government, Kerala Congress(M) general secretary Joseph M. Puthuserry, has said.
In a statement issued here on Monday, Mr. Puthuserry alleged that the petrol-diesel price hike has no justification at all and the Centre should immediately withdraw it.
The petrol price in India was Rs 75.13 a litre when the crude oil price was $ 115 a barrel in the international market in May 2014. Now, the crude oil price has dropped to $ 66 a barrel and the oil companies have cut just Rs. 2, he said.
Disparity
Mr. Puthusserry alleged that such a high disparity in the pricing of petrol and diesel has exposed the fact that the country’s import parity pricing was not at all systematic or scientific.
Mr. Puthusserry said the Centre should restore the Administered Pricing Mechanism and regulate oil prices effectively.
The Union government may also issue appropriate guidelines to the State governments to rationalise the taxation of petroleum products, he said.
The KC(M) alleged that petrol price in India was the highest in the world.
