Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri on Thursday slammed the Centre for rising fuel prices and said that this indicated the failure of the government, due to its lack of economic knowledge.
Participating in a protest and signature campaign against the hike in Villupuram, he said that when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was in office, the international crude oil price was $108 per barrel yet petrol was sold at ₹70. Now the international crude oil price was $50 per barrel, yet the price of petrol is ₹100 per litre.
Mr. Alagiri said that the imposition of additional excise duty had resulted in the continuous rise in fuel prices. If the present trend of unchecked prices continued, even ordinary curry leaves would become costlier. The Centre should immediately withdraw the additional tax and rollback the prices, he said.
Referring to the Mekedatu dam issue, Mr. Alagiri said that it was not correct on the part of Karnataka to take the stand that Cauvery water originating from the State belonged to them. It is utterly unacceptable and the Congress’s stand is that Karnataka should not build a dam at the site.
The Tamil Nadu government has already taken up the issue with the Centre and Karnataka should not start work on building a dam at Mekedatu without the approval of the State, he added.
