Fuel price hike unwarranted: Jayalalithaa
J. Jayalalithaa slams UPA for destructive policies.
Chennai: Condemning the hike in petrol and diesel prices and demanding its immediate rollback, chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Friday said that it was totally unacceptable to hike the prices of petroleum products at a time when the international crude oil price and value of Indian rupee were stable.
She said that the Centre had hiked the petrol price by 41 paise per litre while diesel price had increased by 10 paise per litre due to a hike in the petroleum dealers’ commission.
In a strongly worded statement, Jayalalithaa said that the price hike of petrol and diesel came even before the common people could recover from the burden imposed by the Centre by the increase in the price of LPG gas cylinders by Rs 3.46 per cylinder.
“Considering the welfare of people and the country, the Centre should immediately roll back the petrol price hike and take the burden of hike in the commission of diesel pump dealers,” she said, urging the Centre to immediately scrap the deregulation of petroleum prices.
Terming the Centre an anti people government, Jayalalithaa said that the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre was leading the country towards a destructive path by hiking the prices of petroleum products frequently when everyone was asking the government to take the nation towards the path of development.
The chief minister also pointed out that hiking prices of petroleum products would have a cascading effect on the economy. “Without taking steps to control the price rise, inflation and fall in the rupee’s value, the Centre has hiked the prices, citing increasing international crude oil prices and oil pump dealers’ commission,” she said.