BHUBANESWAR: Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain on Wednesday, October 6, 2021, targeted the Centre over fuel price hike. Speaking to media persons, the Minister said that the increase in the price of domestic cooking gas by Rs 15 and a rise of 29 paise per litre in petrol price and 36 paise in diesel is a double whammy for people who are already under financial stress due to Covid-19 pandemic.” The situation will worsen from here. Financial condition of states will further deteriorate”, he said.
Accusing the Centre of using fuel as a political tool by reducing its price during elections and hiking it again once the polls are over, Swain said excise duty on petroleum products in 2014 was Rs 3.50 which has now shot up to Rs 34. He said the fuel price remained constant for 20 days prior to the by-polls in West Bengal and shot up again on the polling day.“The Centre has arbitrarily imposed cess in view of Covid-19 situation. As a result, state governments are not getting money from the divisive pool,” he said.
Besides, the spiralling prices of petroleum products have a cascading effect on various sectors including agriculture. Justifying the hike in the petroleum products, BJP State general secretary Prithviraj Harichandan said to contain the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre had to spend around Rs 35,000 crore towards free vaccination of the people.
Besides, the Centre also invested a huge amount towards treatment of Covid patients under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana and supply of free food grains during the extended lockdown. He said the BJP has been requesting the state government to cut its tax components on petroleum products for an interim period to provide relief to the consumers.