Jammu, July 04:(KNS0 President District Congress Committee (Jammu Rural) Mr. Hari Singh Chib and Mr. Mohinder Bhardwaj, Senior Congress leader and member AICC led a massive protest march from Tara Chowk, Bishnah to Tehsil Office and submitted a memorandum to the Tehsildar Bishnah against the continuous increase in the prices of petrol and diesel over the past nearly two months despite a regular fall in prices of the crude oil in international market is a vindication of the Congress charge that the Modi Government was pursuing anti-people policies.
Addressing a protest rally here on Saturday, organised on the call of Congress president Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi, against the back-breaking hike in petrol and diesel prices, he said that a dangerous situation has been created by this mismatch between crude oil prices at the international and the domestic price chart. Ultimately, it is going to hit the public hard particularly the poor, middle class, farmers, students and unemployed youth as unprecedented increase in diesel prices will result in inflation and high cost of farm produce.
Mr Bhardwaj wondered as to why the Government has not decreased the prices of petrol and diesel in consonance with sharp fall in prices of crude oil world-over. The petrol and diesel were cheap in India when prices of crude oil in the international market were as high as 100 dollars per barrel during the Congress-led UPA Government’s time. How come the prices of petrol and diesel are now threatening to touch Rs 100 per litre mark when the price of the crude oil has plummeted to a mere 40 dollars per barrel in the international market, he asked?
This only reflects failure of the Centre and the J n K administration to respond to the situation and pass the benefit of lower crude oil price to the people. It also reflects the abject failure of the Centre’s economic policies particularly in devising alternative means of raising economic sources. “Why should people be penalised through imposing higher taxes in the name of raising finances, when they are already facing the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic resultant lockdown? How would people face the inflation being caused by higher petrol and diesel rates when there was already cash-crunch due to fall in businesses and loss of jobs?, he questioned.
Mr Bhardwaj accused the Government of losing sight of the people and their problems. The political leadership of the ruling dispensation has been lying to the people, through their teeth by proclaiming welfare measures on one hand in view of the situation created by the lockdown and imposing heavy taxes on petrol and diesel on the other hand. “This is a typical example of duping the people by putting something in their one pocket and stealing from the other,” he observed.
Referring to the plight of the farmers, underprivileged sections of the society and particularly people living in border areas due to steep increase in diesel prices, he said that it has resulted in increase in the cost of transportation and farm activities. It is an unprecedented condition created by the Government where diesel and petrol prices have come on equal footing forgetting that diesel is only the poor and common man’s fuel, he added.
Mr Bhardwaj described as a criminal act the imposition of high taxes on petroleum products in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic. “A revenue starved Government has increased the excise duty by a record Rs 10 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel. By doing so the Government is collecting about 270 per cent taxes on the base price of petrol and 256 per cent on diesel and that too when many households are finding it difficult to get two square meals,” he further said.
The steep hike in petrol and diesel prices happened at a time when the demand of these products due to lockdown was at its lowest and as the lockdown is being lifted the demand is also increasing. He demanded immediate reduction in the prices and warned the Government against further increasing the same in view of increased demand now.
PCCI Secretaries Sh. Ashok Dubey and Sh. Ashwani Puri, Sh. Krishan Saini (President Block congress committee Arnia), Sh. Kailash Saini (Municipal Councillor MCJ Arnia), Sh. Rajesh Sharma (Sarpanch), Sh. Tara Singh, Sardar Mehar Singh, Surinder Singh Saini, Sh. Kimti Lal ( Panch), Sohan Singh (Youth Leader), Ravi Kumar (Panch), Diwan Chand Khajooria, Rajeev Sharma, Vinod Kumar, Sub. Vijay Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Kuldeep Sharma, Kirpal Singh, Ajay Sharma, Sh. Rajesh Sharma, Kasturi Lal Lambardar, Ghanshyam Sharma, Darshan Kumar, Digvijay Singh, Parshotam Kumar,Thakur Joginder Singh, Inspector Parshottam, Inspector Retd. Romesh Sharma, Nanak Chand and many others.(KNS)