Chennai, May 1 (IANS) Leaders of different political parties in Tamil Nadu on Friday condemned the steep rise in petrol and diesel prices terming it an “anti-people” pricing policy of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
The government-owned oil marketing companies increased the prices of petrol by Rs.4.18 and diesel by Rs.2.25 per litre on Thursday.
Condemning the price hike, PMK founder S.Ramadoss in a statement issued here said the central government is adopting an anti-people stand in respect of oil prices.
Noting that the government had hiked the excise duties on petrol and diesel some months back, he said the government should have reduced the excise duties so that the retail price does not go up.
He said when Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office, the price of a barrel of oil in the international market was $106 and this has come down now to $62.25 – nearly a 40 percent drop.
Consequently the prices of petrol and diesel should have been reduced and retailed at Rs.45.11/litre and Rs.35.50, said Ramadoss.
AIADMK general secretary J.Jayalalithaa urged the central government to take back the power to fix the oil prices from the oil marketing companies.
She said the oil prices in India should be determined based on the crude oil prices and not on the basis of international prices petrol and diesel.
Jayalalithaa said the BJP-led central government did not pass on the full benefits of the fall in oil prices in the international markets to the Indian consumers.
DMK president M.Karunanidhi also condemned the BJP-led central government’s anti-people oil pricing policy of not passing on the benefits of price reduction while passing on the rise of crude oil prices in the international markets.