Congress holds nationwide protests against fuel price rise

The Congress party held protests at petrol pumps across the country against the rise in the price of petrol and diesel. The party demanded a complete rollback of the price hike.

New Delhi: The Congress party on Friday, held a symbolic demonstration all across the country where party's senior leaders and members gathered at various petrol pumps, demanding a complete rollback of the fuel price hike. Congress leaders rode a horsecart, raising slogans against the Central Government.

While speaking to ETV Bharat, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said, "On one side, people are suffering from Covid. Even if they want to go for vaccination, they are dependent upon auto-rickshaw or their personal vehicle. At such unprecedented times, the government has increased the excise duty on petrol and diesel prices so many times."

He further added, "When UPA Government was in power, the excise duty on fuel was Rs 9.25, which has now come to Rs 22 under the NDA regime. Rather than addressing the concerns of the common man, the government is busy with its Central Vista Project. We demand a complete rollback of prices."

Congress Rajya Sabha MP and Delhi Congress in-charge Shaktisinh Gohil alleged, "We have a simple demand that when crude oil prices have fallen worldwide then our citizens should also get a benefit of that. If the government is increasing the fuel prices because there is a scarcity of funds then it should stop going ahead with the Central Vista Project."

He said, "In every democracy, Government has to listen to the voice of the people. If they don't make a decision for the welfare of people then people will surely give a scathing reply to you." Congress has been alleging that in the last 13 months of the Corona pandemic, the prices of petrol and diesel have increased by Rs 25.97 and Rs 24.18 respectively. The opposition party said the move will have a cascading effect on all kind of essential commodities.

Meanwhile, in his recent statement, the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said that the rates of mustard oil has been increased because the Government has stopped adulteration on it. Commenting on that, Delhi Mahila Congress Chief Amrita Dhawan said, "This Government always has a misleading reply to each and every issue of this country. They don't have any facts or figures. They should take advice from Dr Manmohan Singh. But they are not ready to speak to the opposition."

Today, the price of petrol and diesel prices increased by 31 paise and 28 paise per litre respectively reaching Rs 95.85 and Rs 86.75 per litre in Delhi. In Mumbai, prices reached Rs 102.04 per litre of petrol and Rs 94.15 per litre of diesel.