The grand old party accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government of “shamefully” taking advantage of people’s suffering and profiteering from the crash in international crude oil prices.
Congress accused Prime Minister
Randeep Surjewala, who is a Congress chief spokesperson, said such an act by the government was “inhumane and heartless”, as people were losing their livelihood and the government was earning a profit by raising excise duties on petrol and diesel.
“Dear PM, To take advantage of people’s miseries in this fashion is utterly shameful, inhumane and heartless. People are losing livelihood and jobs and the BJP government is profiteering from the crash in crude oil prices by raising excise duties. Don’t push people to the brink,” he tweeted.
Dear PM,
To take advantage of people’s miseries in this fashion is utterly shameful, inhumane & heartless.
People are losing livelihood & jobs and BJP Govt is profiteering from the crash in crude oil prices by raising exise duties.
Don’t push people to the brink! https://t.co/unEAqIyjsv
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) March 23, 2020
The price revision
According to the sources, the government on Monday increased the caps on special additional excise duty by Rs 8 per liter on both petrol and diesel, taking the cap to Rs 18 per liter on petrol and Rs 12 per liter on diesel.
A principal economist, at India Ratings, Sunil Kumar Sinha said even if the government allowed fuel prices to fall further along with global prices, an increase in demand would be unlikely given the restrictions on movement and lockdowns around the country.
“The consumption of both diesel and petrol will go down and this situation is unlikely to change over the next 15 days or a month. An increase in the special additional duty may not even compensate for the loss in revenue because of lower demand at this time,” said Sinha.
