SAD chief urges Centre to bring down fuel prices

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged the Union government to bring down fuel prices to give much needed relief to farmers, industry

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged the Union government to bring down fuel prices to give much needed relief to farmers, industry and common man.

Representational photo

Punjab government should also roll back the hike in state VAT on fuel, he said.

In a statement here, the SAD chief said the huge hike in fuel prices over the last 16 days was causing a lot of stress to the country’s economy which was still reeling from the effects of Covid-19 lockdown. He said the consecutive hike had made petrol dearer by ₹9.21 per litre and diesel costlier by ₹8.55 per litre.

He said pricier fuel had hurt farmers and common man the most. He said farmers were already bearing a huge increase in labour charges for transplantation of paddy, and now had to reckon with an unprecedented hike in fuel prices.

Sukhbir said the Congress government should also reverse the hike in state VAT on fuel in the interest of consumers. He said the state had affected an increase of ₹3.20 per litre in the price of petrol and ₹2.53 per litre for diesel.

“In view of this scenario, the government should come out with a financial package to revive the economy, but instead it is putting fresh burden on the people. The hike in state VAT on fuel should be withdrawn immediately,” he demanded.