| Date: |
01-05-2015 |
| Subject: |
Petrol price up Rs 3.96, diesel Rs 2.37/litre; Cong slams govt, seeks roll-back |
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New Delhi: After two rounds of cuts, petrol prices were on Thursday raised by Rs 3.96 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.37 a litre, tracking global cues. The government, however, came under attack from the main opposition party Congress, which accused it of profiteering at the cost of farmers.
The increase in petrol and diesel prices was effective from Thursday midnight.
Prices of petrol in Delhi will be Rs 63.16 a litre from Friday as against the current Rs 59.20; while diesel will cost Rs 49.57 per litre as against Rs 47.20, Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest oil company, said.
Rates were last cut by 80 paise per litre on petrol and Rs 1.30 a litre on diesel from 16 April. This followed a reduction of 49 paisa a litre in the price of petrol and Rs 1.21 in diesel from 2 April.
Petrol prices had been cumulatively cut by Rs 17.11 a litre in 10 reductions between August and February and diesel by Rs 12.96 a litre in 6 reductions between October and February. The rates were increased by 0.82 a litre in petrol and Rs 0.61 per litre in diesel on 16 February, and by Rs 3.18 per litre in petrol and Rs 3.09 a litre in diesel on 1 March.
After these, rates had been cut twice.
State-owned fuel retailers IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) revise petrol and diesel prices on 1st and 16th of every month based on average imported cost and rupee-dollar exchange rate in the previous fortnight.
"The movement of prices in international oil market and Rupee-USD exchange rate shall continue to be closely monitored and developing trends of the market will be reflected in future price changes," IOC said.
Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded an immediate roll-back of the "massive" hike in petrol and diesel prices and accused the government of "profiteering at the cost of gullible farmer and common man."
The party's media department incharge Randeep Surjewala said the increase in petrol and diesel prices by the Narendra Modi government is "another step reflecting a disconnect with people-oriented governance".
"Instead of adjusting excise and customs duty revenue which is leading to an accrual of additional Rs 90,000 crore, government is profiteering at the cost of gullible farmer and common man", he said.
"We demand roll-back of this massive increase at a time when the common man is already reeling under unprecedented inflation", Surejwala said.
Source : firstpost.com
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