The Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged the State government to mount pressure on the Central government to slash the prices of petrol and diesel.
In a letter to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday, the CPI State secretary K. Ramakrishna said the Centre increased the prices of petroleum products for the 16th time in a row. As the YSR Congress Party was extending support to the Centre on all issues, the State government should exert pressure to see that the prices were brought down, he said.
At a time when crude oil prices were falling, the petrol price increased by ₹9.07 per litre and diesel price by ₹8.49 in the last 17 days. The Excise duty on petrol and diesel which was ₹9.48 per litre and ₹3.56 per litre respectively in 2014, the year Modi government came to power, rose to ₹32.98 and ₹31.83, he said. In addition, the State government levied a VAT of ₹2.76 per litre on diesel and ₹3.07 per litre on petrol putting an additional burden of ₹3,900 crore on the transport sector. This would escalate the prices of essential commodities.
The hike when people were reeling under coronavirus impact was unfair. The State government should withdraw VAT and also mount pressure on the Centre to roll back the fuel prices, he said.
