Congress slams Centre for hike in fuel prices

MUMBAI: The Congress has slammed the Centre for hiking fuel prices and demanded that the government should give subsidy from the money that it ‘looted from the public’.

The fuel prices increased after the Karnataka Assembly polls and in Mumbai they are Rs 84 per litre — the highest.

 Despite the fall in crude oil prices, the government has not reduced the fuel prices and the extra money is going to the exchequer, leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil said. “The Centre should stop giving reasons for the hike. It is saying that the crude oil rate has gone to 80 dollars per barrel, forcing the increase in fuel charges. But when the prices had come down to 40 dollars per barrel, the government did not reduce fuel prices in the past. This is going to impact the entire country,” Mr Vikhe-Patil said.

 On Monday, in the other major cities such as Kolkata and Chennai, the price of the fuel rose to near five-year-high levels, at '79.24 and '79.47 per litre respectively and Delhi to Rs 76.57. Diesel prices, which have already reached unprecedented levels, set new records across the country. In Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, diesel was sold at Rs 67.82, Rs 70.37, Rs 72.21 and Rs 71.59 per litre, respectively.

The Congress leader claimed that the government has been looting the public from the beginning. “Now it can pay the subsidy for fuel from the money that was looted by the government,” he alleged.