The Left parties have criticised the Central government for imposing huge burden on people in the form of steep hike in prices of petroleum products.
At a time when people are facing several difficulties on account of incidence of coronavirus, the government is further compounding their problems through price hikes rather than coming to their rescue. Leaders of the Left parties, including the CPI (Marxist), CPI and others staged a dharna against the spiralling rise in the petrol prices here on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, CPI (M) national secretariat member B.V. Raghavulu accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government of enforcing an unofficial state of emergency by stifling people’s voice and rights. The government is indulging in forcible collection of taxes during difficult times - helping the corporates rather than coming to the rescue of common people, he alleged.
This could be seen from the fact that the price of petrol has been increased by ₹11 a litre and diesel by ₹10 a litre in the recent days while the prices of crude oil dropped steeply in the international markets. Expressing concern that the hike in prices would adversely impact farmers, he demanded that the government reduce the prices of petroleum products by 50% with immediate effect.
CPI State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy lamented that the government is collecting more than 50% of its revenues through taxes on common man while the corporates were being given incentives. The hike in prices of petroleum products is likely to impact the transport sector and this would have a cascading effect on other sectors, he said.
The Left parties would intensify their agitation further in the coming days if the government does not take back the price hike.
CPI (M) State secretary Tammineni Veerabhadram said the State and Central governments are imposing exorbitant taxes on petroleum products and demanded that steps be taken to roll back the hike.
