CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has urged the Centre to roll back the latest hike in diesel price, and has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to withdraw the petroleum pricing deregulation put in place by the previous UPA government.
“It is disturbing that the price of diesel has been raised by 50 paise per litre just days after the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said controlling food inflation would be the top priority of the new government. This brings a feeling of being cheated to all those people who had sought progress through change,” said Jayalalithaa in a statement on Sunday.
“I urge the Prime Minister to intervene and reclaim the power of petroleum price determination from the oil marketing companies, and undo the wrong economic policies of the previous UPA government,” she added.
Jayalalithaa suggested that the Centre could arrive at its own price determination mechanism, taking into account factors such as crude import cost, local production cost, refinement cost and exploration cost. “Doing so will certainly lead to a reduction in the price of petroleum products, and aid in controlling rising prices,” she said.
Jayalalithaa has called for the dismantling of the petroleum pricing deregulation after each hike in petrol or diesel price, ever since it was put in place by the UPA government.