The Congress party on Tuesday called the increase in the price of petrol and diesel 'unjust', 'thoughtless' and demanded from the Central Government to roll back increase with immediate effect and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country.
CWC conducted a meeting via video conferencing. The meeting was chaired by Congress working president Sonia Gandhi.
After the meeting, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala briefed about the meeting and said, "Central Government has raised petrol and diesel prices on 17 days in a row without any justification. The excise duty thereupon has been raised on 19 separate occasions since March 14."
"Central Government has increased the excise duty on petrol from Rs 9.20 per liter and on diesel from Rs 3.46 per liter in 2014 to an additional Rs. 23.78 per liter on petrol and an additional Rs 28.37 per liter on diesel. This translates to an inconceivable 820 percent hike in excise duty on diesel and258 percent increase in excise duty on petrol," he added.
In an official statement, CWC said that no Government should levy and impose such unacceptable strain on its people.
"If the Government does not alter the course on this ill-advised trajectory then it will have the ruinous consequence of pushing many middle-income households to the margins of poverty and pushing the poor to total economic ruin," it said.
"Central government has chosen to increase the excise duty on petrol 12 times in six years and has collected a staggering Rs 18,00,000 crores approximately from excise collection on petrol and diesel alone in the last six years. Before the nation entered the lockdown, the average price of petrol in Delhi was Rs 69.60 per liter. It is now Rs 79.76. Diesel was priced at Rs 62.30 per liter before the lockdown and is now Rs 79.40. The increase speaks for itself," it added.
( With inputs from ANI )