Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday shot-off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel and urged the Centre to immediately roll back hike on fuel prices.
In the letter, she urged the Centre to immediately roll back hikes on fuel prices and pass the benefit of low crude oil prices to the citizens.
She stated that it is the duty and responsibility of the Central government to alleviate suffering and not put the people to still greater hardship.
"Your government is seeking to earn an additional revenue of nearly Rs 2,60,000 crores by these ill-advised hikes in excise duty and increases in the prices of petrol and diesel. As it is, people across the board are facing unimaginable hardships what to say of widespread fear and insecurity. These price increases are saddling our motto with an additional burden of this enormous magnitude that is neither justified nor appropriate. It is the duty and responsibility of government to alleviate suffering and not put the people to still greater hardship," the letter read.
"I urge you to roll back these increase an pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of the country. If you wish for them to be 'self-reliant' then do not place financial fetters on their ability to move forward. And I am once again obliged to repeat what I have said before: please use the government's resources to put money directly into the hands of those who need it in time of severe hardships," she wrote in the letter.
On Tuesday morning, fuel prices were hiked in Delhi. Petrol saw a hike of Rs 0.47 per litre, which led to the price reaching at 76.73 per litre. While for diesel, the rate was hiked by Rs 0.57, making it reach the price of Rs 75.19 per litre.
( With inputs from ANI )