Oil companies on Thursday raised petrol prices by
Rs. 1.82 — for the second time in less than two months — taking the price in Delhi to
Rs. 68.64 a litre from Thursday midnight.
The government hinted that diesel and cooking gas prices might also be hiked in the near future. On
Wednesday, oil minister S Jaipal Reddy asked for a meeting of the Pranab Mukherjee-led group of ministers to decide on diesel and gas prices.
Although the decision triggered a strong demand from the Opposition for a rollback, state-run oil companies argued that the price hike resulted from rising crude prices and falling rupee value against the dollar, which have made imports costlier.
The rupee had been badly hit by a sputtering global economy, plunging to a 30-month low recently, breaching the psychological barrier of 50 to a dollar.
BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “This is yet another midnight deceit with the people of India. The Congress party has unleashed a terror of a different kind on the common man.”
“It shows how insensitive the Congress-led UPA government continues to be to the suffering of the common people,” D Raja, CPI’s national secretary said.
CPI-M leader Nilotpal Basu said the hike will lead to rise in prices of essential commodities.
Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi, however, said, “Eighty-one per cent of our (crude) oil is imported. There are certain issues that are not in the hands of the government. We have to find ways to reduce the burden on common man.”