The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has urged the Union Government to call off the move to deregulate diesel prices by allowing oil marketing companies to decide the price of fuel.
She also said the decision to limit the supply subsidised cooking gas cylinders to nine per year should be called off and unlimited supply restored.
The Chief Minister said in a statement that the move to oil companies decided diesel prices will inevitably result in diesel prices being hiked and will impact the poor.
Diesel is the lifeline of the economy and any increase in the price of the fuel will drive up prices of essential commodities, and transport cost. Therefore, the Government had retained with it the power to control diesel price.
The Centre has taken the decision at a time when experts were saying the policy of pricing diesel and petrol in line with international market prices was not right. The move to allow oil companies decide diesel price will not contribute to a healthy economy.
The country produces 30 per cent of its crude oil requirement and imports only 70 per cent. It would not be right to burden the people with a price hike in line with international market prices, the Chief Minister said.