AMN / WEB DESK
Congress party on Friday held protest at various districts across the country against the unprecedented price hike of essential commodities especially petrol, diesel and gas.
Party leaders KC Venugopal and Shakti Singh Gohil reached the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium petrol pump on a horse cart.
Mr Venugopal said that under the UPA government, the tax on petrol and diesel stood at ₹ 9.20. Now, it is ₹ 32.
“The government should stop imposing excise duty on petrol and diesel. It should come under the purview of Goods and Services Tax. We demand a complete rollback of fuel price hike,” Mr Venugopal, who is the Congress general secretary, said.
Ajay Maken led a protest against rising fuel prices at petrol pumps in Rajinder Nagar and Janpath.
Party leaders said protests are being held at petrol pumps across the county by local units in compliance with COVID-19 protocols.
Petrol and diesel prices were hiked again on Friday by 31 paise per litre and 28 paise per litre, respectively.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh during protests at a petrol pump in New Market questioned the whereabouts of “cycle borne” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and union minister Smriti Irani and “Dhongi Baba” who used to appear when fuel prices were hiked in UPA government.
“Whenever fuel prices were revised in UPA, Shivraj used to ride a bicycle and leaders like Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and ‘Dhongi Baba’ hit the roads; where are they now,” asked Singh while staging a protest at Nanke petrol pump in Bhopal.
Highlighting the excessive taxation on fuel, the Rajya Sabha MP called the Modi government a “government of high inflation.” He demanded that excise duty levied on fuel at Rs 34 per litre should be withdrawn to Rs 9 a litre as earlier.
A litre of petrol in Delhi costs ₹ 95.85, whereas diesel costs ₹ 86.75 per litre.
Petrol prices have crossed the ₹ 100 per litre mark in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Ladakh.