Shadow Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 15:
The Congress party, on Monday, held a protest demonstration at Talab Tillo, Jammu against the government for the continuing incessant hike in fuel prices all over India. The protest was organised and led by Sanjeev Sharma, Secretary PCC I/c Block No. 4, and Corporator Ward no. 30 Smt. Sonika Sharma.
Prominent senior Congress leaders who participated in the protest were Former Minister Sh. Raman Bhalla (Vice President JKPCC), Former Minister Sh. Yogesh Sawhney, General Secretary JKPCC & Incharge District President Jammu (U), Thakur Manmohan Singh, General Secretary PCC, Rajnish Sharma, Co-Treasurer JKPCC , Rajbir Singh and Dr. Ramakant Khajuria.
The protesters were moving towards the DC office in order to submit an official memorandum detailing their issues and demands pertaining to the rise in petrol, diesel and gas prices. However, they were not allowed to do so as their march was stopped by the Police. The protest concluded, therefore, at Talab Tillo Chownk. The people held placards and raised slogans against the government in a bid to raise their voice against the day by day increasing petrol and diesel prices. The relentless price hike was criticised by the leaders who demanded an immediate cut in taxes to ease the burden on the common man.Central and state taxes make up for over 61 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol and about 56 per cent of diesel. The Union government levies Rs 32.9 per litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs Rs 31.80 a litre on diesel.
Others present included Chandershekhar Sharma, Atul Sharma, Janak Raj mehra, Koushal Sharma, Babu Singh, pappu pardhan Ashok Baghat- (all are ward presidents), santosh Kumar, Darshan verma, susheel sharma vikas manhas, jatinder srangal jagdish Kumar, Rajinder Kumar jindi, madam Guliwunder Bahitya, Nirmala sharma, swarn kanta, Rajinder kour, usha rani, sumit sharma, Raj Kumar Raji, karan jot singh, shama gupta, Rajni verma and many others.
Former Minister Raman Bhalla slammed government over rise in fuel prices, demanded rollback of central excise duty hike. Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla attacked the Centre over rise in fuel prices, saying people are suffering due to inflation, while the Modi government is busy in tax collection. The former Minister’s attack came a day after petrol and diesel prices in the country touched new all-time highs after rates were increased for the fourth time in the week. PM Modi has brought about tremendous growth in GDP — gas, diesel and petrol — prices,” he said.Attacking Central government over the rising prices of petrol and diesel prices, he accused the BJP regime of “extorting money from people” and sought an immediate rollback of the increase in prices of petroleum products.
Leading the ‘Speak Up Against Fuel Hike’ campaign of the party, he said that people were battling coronavirus pandemic and the government has increased price of diesel and petrol. “The government is profiteering at the expense of the people, it is an example of extorting money from people,” he said.
He alleged that the Narendra Modi government has increased excise duty on diesel and petrol prices 14 times since 2014.”Since 2014, instead of giving the benefit of a decrease in the price of petrol and diesel in the international market, the Modi government has increased excise duty 14 times and collected Rs 18 lakh crore,” he said.” Former Minister urged the Centre to roll back the rise in excise duty on petrol and give the benefit to people.”This will provide big relief in this period of economic crisis,” he said.”What is more shocking is that during the Congress’ regime when we left power in May 2014, the international crude oil was USD 108 per barrel, but petrol and diesel prices were at Rs 71.51 and Rs 57.28 per litre respectively, which have increased to Rs 92.70 and Rs 85.88 in Delhi today despite the crude oil prices coming down to half of that time,” he said.The Modi government has earned Rs. 20,00,000 crore in the last six and a half years by increasing the excise duty on petrol and diesel alone, he alleged.
Former Minister Yogesh Sawhney, also speaking on the price hike, said that petrol and diesel prices are hitting record highs every day and the government is not taking any steps to relieve the people from this stress. They are showing their hypocrisy by not taking any action while they were the same people who had pointed fingers at the Congress government for the same reason, but prices were much lower then.
For them, fuel is a cash machine they’re not ready to give up as it brings them high revenues. The international crude oil prices cannot be solely blamed because they were much higher even in 2012 at 111.67 $ per barrel but the domestic price was controlled. And now, when the crude oil price is 60.76 $ per barrel, fuel prices in India are much higher, touching as high as ?95 per litre in Mumbai for petrol and ?86.35 per litre for diesel.
The government has ignored the plight of the common man caused by this relentless hike in fuel prices which would automatically lead to an increase in prices of other commodities as well.
Sawhney further slammed the Centre as he said that as fuel prices continue to surge, it is creating persistent stress on the people and economy which is already highly stressed due to the pandemic and damaging policies of the government. The blow of the pandemic has rendered the poor and middle class to go through immense loss and misery which is left unaided by the government. Fuel retailers have repeatedly mentioned that cutting taxes can help ease the burden as only 25-30 per cent of the retail pump rates are dependent on international benchmark cost and the rest are central and state taxes. The government must make efforts to control and lower fuel prices organically and through expert suggested measures but steps must be taken indeed, he said. The former Minister further said that the government doesn’t realise that the repercussions of this ongoing hike are not only burdensome but detrimental for the economic health of the country. Even when international prices are on a decline, it is an opportunity for the government to make more revenue and in this way the government is defrauding and looting the people by charging excessively high prices and not offering any relief irrespective of whether the international market has caused the inflation or not.
Also addressing the gathering, Sanjeev Sharma spoke against the government for paying no heed to the fuel price crisis in India. Although, the pandemic and it’s consequences have caused a surge in crude oil prices globally, it is not the single biggest reason for domestic consumers bearing high fuel costs. In fact, it is the government’s indifferent and greedy attitude towards the resource as a money generator which won’t let it to cut excise duty and other taxes. But in such a financial situation, the government should think about India and it’s citizens and offer at least some relief measures to ensure that people are able to afford fuel on a regular basis, because by far it is the single most important commodity which cannot be replaced as of now. The Central government cannot turn a blind eye towards the sufferings and misery of common man in it’s bid to serve the rich, he added.
