News Analysis India

Tag: Fuel prices

  • Keep up poll promise, effect cut on rates of petroleum products, OPS tells DMK

    By PTI

    CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s main Opposition AIADMK, a BJP ally, on Sunday welcomed the Centre’s move on slashing excise duty on petrol and diesel and urged the ruling DMK in the state to follow suit and implement its poll promise on reducing prices of the petroleum products to benefit people.

    AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam said the Union government reducing excise duty on petrol by a record Rs 8 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 6 will help in cooling down the spiralling inflation and bring under control, the prices of essential commodities and fares of autorickshaws and taxis.

    He also lauded the central government for other measures including provision of Rs 200 subsidy to the poor who got cooking gas connection under the Ujjwala scheme, for 12 cylinders in a year.

    In a statement, the former CM, also known as OPS, urged the MK Stalin-led DMK government to now implement its promise regarding slashing fuel rates, made ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls and further benefit the citizens.

    In fact, prices of some of the vegetables in the state including tomato were above Rs 100 a kilo, he said, adding the DMK was duty-bound to fulfill its poll promises.

    “Considering people’s welfare and aimed at controlling prices, inflation and to bring down the losses faced by state-run transport corporations (which operate diesel-run buses) besides implementing the poll promise, the chief minister (Stalin) should reduce the price of petrol (by a further) Rs 2 and Rs 4 for diesel per litre and ensure justice for people,” Panneerselvam urged.

    The DMK government had last year effected VAT cut to enable the consumers a Rs 3 per litre cut in the price of petrol.

    It had promised to slash the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 4 per litre, if elected to power, ahead of the April 2021 polls which it swept. If the DMK kept its word on slashing rates, the price of petrol and diesel will cost around Rs 99 and Rs 89, respectively, the AIADMK leader claimed.

    If the ruling DMK failed to do so, people will see it as “yet another Dravidian model”, he sarcastically said, in an apparent reference to Stalin’s oft-stated model of development taken forward by his government.

    Panneerselvam also pointed to the Congress-ruled Rajasthan and LDF-headed Kerala announcing tax cuts following the Centre’s move on Saturday.

  • Auto, taxi unions in on strike in Delhi to demand CNG subsidy, fare hike

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Various auto-rickshaw, cab and taxi unions in the national capital went on a strike on Monday, demanding a CNG subsidy and a fare revision in the wake of rising fuel prices.

    Delhi Auto Rickshaw Sangh General Secretary Rajendra Soni said they will also hold a protest outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence in Civil Lines later in the day to press their demands.

    Commuters in the city faced difficulties in getting cabs and autos on Monday morning. Though cars were available on Ola and Uber apps, the fares were inflated.

    Auto and cab drivers’ unions have been demanding a hike in fare and slashing of CNG prices to offset the impact of rising fuel prices.

    They refused to call their strike off despite an announcement by the Delhi government to form a committee to consider a fare revision in a time-bound manner.

    “Our strike has started and it will continue throughout the day. CNG has become costlier and we cannot keep running our business on losses. We should either be provided a subsidy of Rs 35 per kg on CNG or fares should be hiked,” Delhi Auto Rickshaw Sangh General Secretary Rajendra Soni told PTI.

    While most unions said they will be on a one-day strike, the Sarvodaya Driver Association Delhi, which has members who drive for cab aggregators, said it will be an “indefinite” strike.

    There are over 90,000 autos and more than 80,000 registered taxis complementing the public transport system in the city.

  • Congress leader’s Sunday night meeting with Dhami fuels speculation

    By PTI

    DEHRADUN: A meeting between Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and former leader of opposition in the state Assembly Pritam Singh has triggered the speculation of the Congress leader switching his allegiance to the ruling BJP in the near future.

    The meeting that took place at the chief minister’s residence late on Sunday night assumed significance as it came close on the heels of the Congress revamping its state unit in which Singh, a five-time MLA from Chakrata, was apparently sidelined by the party leadership.

    However, when contacted, Singh dismissed the speculation.

    Singh, who has held key positions like that of the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president from 2017 to 2021 and the leader of opposition in the Assembly after the death of Indira Hridayesh last year, has not been assigned any major organisational responsibility in the latest revamp of the party’s state unit.

    Karan Mahra, who is said to be close to former chief minister and Singh’s bete noire Harish Rawat, has been made the PCC chief, senior party leader and Bajpur MLA Yashpal Arya has been appointed as the leader of opposition and Bhuwan Chandra Kapri, who defeated Dhami in the recently-held state Assembly polls from Khatima, is the deputy leader of opposition.

    Arya has held the posts of PCC president in the past. He is also a former speaker of the Assembly.

    The Uttarakhand Congress has long been divided into two factions — one led by Rawat and the other by Singh.

    As the Congress looks for factors that may have led to its failure to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttarakhand, factionalism has emerged as a possible reason why its performance fell far short of the expectations.

    Congress’s poll observers Avinash Pandey and Devender Yadav prepared a report recently, attributing the party’s poll debacle in Uttarakhand to differences among its state leaders.

    Singh expressed his hurt on being accused of factionalism in the report, but refused to say anything on his meeting with the chief minister.

  • Delhi Congress holds protest against central govt over rising fuel prices

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi unit of the Congress on Sunday staged a protest in east Delhi’s Trilokpuri area against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government for constant rise in fuel and gas prices.

    The protest, part of the opposition party’s “Mahangai Mukt Bharat” campaign, was led by Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) president Chaudhary Anil Kumar.

    The protesters raised slogans against the central government, holding it responsible for “sharp” increase in the prices of oil and natural gas.

    Kumar said the Centre has increased prices of petrol, diesel, CNG, PNG and even the domestic gas cylinder just after the polls in five states were over.

    “Spike in fuel prices has also led to inflation among other daily commodities. The government should reduce fuel prices to give breather to people,” he said.

    In the protest, agitators mocked the central government by garlanding cylinders and motorcycles.

    Congress supporters, who participated in the protest, said it was becoming tough for common people to survive amid “such inflation”.

    “Constant increase in fuel and natural gas prices broke the backbone of the public. Rates of petrol, diesel are being raised everyday having a cascading effect on other commodities as well, which is making daily consumables costlier,” a Congress protester said.

  • Congress leaders stage protest against rising fuel prices

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress MPs led by Rahul Gandhi on Thursday staged a protest against the fuel price hike at Vijay Chowk here and sought its roll back.

    Congress MPs from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha carrying placards raised slogans against the government and sat on a dharna against the rise in price of petrol, diesel and LPG gas.

    Among those present included Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

    In the last 10 days, petrol and diesel price have been increased 9 times. We demand that the rising prices should be brought under control. Congress party is holding nationwide protests on this issue today: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, in Delhi pic.twitter.com/8AB8NusLC4
    — ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2022
    The Congress is also launching a week-long countrywide protest against inflation and rise in fuel prices.

    Petrol and diesel prices were on Thursday hiked by 80 paise a litre each, taking the total increase in rates in the last 10 days to Rs 6.40 per litre.

    Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.

    This is the ninth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.

  • LS heat over bill on full biological record of accused

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  Amid din, the government on Monday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to accord legal sanction to the police to take physical and biological samples of any person accused of crime. The Opposition vociferously opposed the bill, calling it illegal and unconstitutional.

    Agitated Opposition members like Manish Tewari, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary, N K Premachandran and Saugata Roy forced a vote at the introductory stage of the Criminal Procedures (Identification) Bill, though it was defeated with 120 ayes for the legislation as against 58 nays.

    Minister of state for home Ajay Mishra sought to allay apprehensions, saying the bill only seeks to make provisions for the use of modern techniques to capture appropriate body measurements of all accused for investigation.

    It is meant to replace the existing Identification of Prisoners Act, which was introduced way back in 1920. The existing law allows taking fingerprints and footprint impressions of a limited category of convicted persons. But under the new bill, the term ‘measurements’ includes finger impressions, palm print and footprint impressions, photographs, iris and retina scan as well as physical and biological samples and their analysis.

    Strongly opposing the bill, Congress leader Manish Tewari said it was against Article 20, Sub-Article 3 and Article 21 of the Constitution, adding it was beyond the legislative competence of the Lok Sabha. “Under Article 20, Sub-Article 3 explicitly states, no person or accused of any crime shall be compelled to be a witness against himself,” Tewari pointed out, adding that words like ‘biological samples and their analysis’ in the bill could lead to narco analysis and brain mapping. 

    Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, Premachandran and others questioned the intention for empowering the police to such an extent through the bill. But, Ajay Mishra countered that the bill grants legal sanction to the police to only take body measurements for efficiency in criminal investigations. The Law Commission, he pointed out, had suggested changes to the law in 1980, but the recommendations were not acted upon for 42 years. On apprehensions raised by Premachandran, Mishra said the Criminal Procedure Code already allowed collection of DNA samples.

  • Opposition demands discussion on fuel price hike, Speaker says only during Zero Hour

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday declined the opposition’s demand for a discussion on the issue of fuel price hike after suspending the Question Hour, saying he would give them “enough time and opportunities” to raise the matter during the Zero Hour.

    As soon as the House assembled at 11 am after the weekend break, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Trinamool Congress’ Sudip Bandyopadhyay and DMK’s T R Baalu demanded that the House should discuss the fuel price hike, which the government effected for the sixth time in a week.

    The opposition parties, including the Left, insisted that they should be allowed to discuss the issue and came to the well of the House.

    The opposition members shouted slogans against the Modi government demanding withdrawal of the hike in fuel prices.

    However, the Speaker said the first hour, which is reserved as Question Hour, should be allowed to function without interruption and he would allow them to raise the issue during the Zero Hour, which begins at 12 noon.

    “I will give you enough time and opportunities to raise the issue after the Question Hour. Question Hour is very important. So, let the Question Hour continue,” he said.

    As the opposition members pressed for their demand, Birla said he listens to all opposition members and always gives them enough opportunities to raise their issues.

    “I will not allow forced adjournment of the House. The Question Hour is vital to raise people’s issues. Please sit down. I will give you the opportunities during Zero Hour. I give opportunities to you all. I always give opportunities to Adhir ji, Sudip ji and Baalu ji,” he said.

    Following the Speaker’s appeal, the opposition members returned to their seats. Petrol price on Monday was hiked by 30 paise a litre and diesel by 35 paise, taking the total increase in rates in the last one week to Rs 4-4.10 per litre.

    Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 99.41 per litre as against Rs 99.11 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 90.42 per litre to Rs 90.77, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.

    Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.

    This is the sixth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.

    In the first four occasions, prices were increased by 80 paise a litre, the steepest single-day rise since the daily price revision was introduced in June 2017. On Sunday, petrol price went up by 50 paise a litre and diesel by 55 paise.

    In all, petrol prices have gone up by Rs 4 per litre and diesel by Rs 4.10.

    Prices had been on a freeze since November 4 last year ahead of the assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab — a period during which the cost of raw material (crude oil) soared by about USD 30 per barrel.

  • Shiv Sena protests in Aurangabad against fuel price rise

    By PTI

    AURANGABAD: Shiv Sena activists in Aurangabad in Maharashtra on Sunday protested against rising fuel prices and shouted slogans against the BJP-led government at the Centre.

    The protest took place at Kranti Chowk here and was attended by local leaders, including MLC Ambadas Danve and MLA Sanjay Shirsat.

    “The BJP government came to power speaking about price rise. But under their rule, the cost of a gas cylinder has gone up from Rs 400 in 2014 to Rs 1,050 now. This rise in fuel prices is fanning inflation,” Danve said.

    Shirsat said the Union government was running away from its responsibility of controlling price rise.

  • Opposition members walk out of Lok Sabha proceedings over fuel price hike

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Opposition members from various parties in Lok Sabha on Friday walked out of proceedings over rising fuel prices, with a Congress MP questioning the need to hike price of petrol, diesel and cooking gas following a 137 days hiatus after polls in five states concluded.

    Gaurav Gogoi (Cong) raised the issue of rise in fuel prices during Zero Hour, saying after inflation and uneven recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, people needed a breathing space. He wondered why prices of petrol and diesel were increased three times in a week after a hiatus of 137 days.

    He claimed that tensions between Russia and Ukraine were simmering since December last year, but blaming the conflict now, the prices were hiked. “We don’t know how many more hikes await the people of India and people of India have just returned from Omicron. They want an environment where they can do their business but all these price hikes have increased the cost of business, especially the price of transportation and this will lead to inflation,” he said.

    He, as well as members from various opposition parties, sought a reply from the government as to why for 137 days they managed to keep the prices stable. They said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was present in the House, should respond.

    Members, including those from Congress, DMK, NCP, Left, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and IUML, walked out of the House to register their protest on the issue.

  • Decisions on Rajasthan government, organisation soon: Pilot

    Pilot also accused the Centre of collecting Rs 20 lakh crore through cess on petrol and diesel, giving no relief to people even after the price of crude in the international market “halved.”