Opposition parties have urged the Narendra Modi Government to reduce fuel retail prices since crude oil prices have come down. The parties want the Centre to stop oil companies from making windfall profits.
While the Congress demanded that the Centre bring down diesel prices to ₹37.75 a litre, the Left parties said the retail price of petrol also needs to be reduced further.
“Why is the Union Government not reducing diesel prices? What is restraining them to pass on the benefits to the ordinary Indian? Who is the intermediary benefitting out of the glaring price gap?” asked Congress spokesperson and former MP Ajoy Kumar.
He said the prices of international crude have come down by 15 per cent ever since Modi took over but the price of diesel in the domestic market has gone up by 3.9 per cent. “When international prices were at similarly low levels 46 months back, the price in the domestic market in Delhi was ₹37.75 per litre. The Government should bring down the prices to this level,” he said.
The Congress further said Modi should bring down the price of diesel to its December 2010 levels. “It would be a strong anti-inflationary step, but the Government is profiteering from international trends,” Kumar added. When asked whether the Congress is going back from the market-determined price structure, he said the party is demanding effective implementation of the policy decision taken by the previous Government.
“Isn’t the Government aware that diesel driven inflation is something that adversely affects the largest section of population? Aren’t they bothered about the fact that prices of diesel affect the prices of things as basic as food grains, vegetables and public transport?” he asked.
Nationwide protestsKumar said the Congress will launch nationwide protests if diesel prices are not brought down immediately. “What is the need for the Government to allow such windfall profits to the oil companies? We want to tell the Government that such obnoxious profits are not acceptable,” he said.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demanded an immediate cut in petroleum prices. “There has been a sharp fall in the international prices of oil. Despite this, the Modi Government has not reduced the prices of diesel at any stage. The retail price of petrol also needs to be reduced further,” a party statement said.