CHENNAI: Slamming the central government for hiking the petrol price, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Wednesday said the decision could have been avoided by sound economic action.
In a statement, she said: "By reducing the profits of the oil companies and the central taxes on the oil and by controlling the rupee depreciation through economic actions, the petrol price hike could have been averted."
Instead of taking action for developing the economy, hiking petrol prices several times during a year "is an act of cruelty on the people", she added.
Charging the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government's policies for the depreciating rupee, Jayalalithaa said the hike of Rs.7.50 a litre in petrol prices was historic and inflationary.
"The price hike is the gift the UPA government has given to the people on the completion of three years in office," she added.
Questioning the oil pricing mechanism, Jayalalithaa said pricing the domestic crude at international prices was not a equitable policy.