New Delhi: The Left parties on Sunday termed
the hike in petrol prices as a "cruel blow" by the UPA
government and demanded a reversal of the deregulation policy.
"By increasing the price of petrol by Rs. 5 a litre, the
UPA government has given another cruel blow to the people who
are already suffering from all-round price rise," a statement
issued by CPI(M), CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc said.
After the deregulation of petrol pricing, the parties
said, there have been more or less a monthly increase in
petrol prices.
"But since January 2011 no increase in petrol prices was
announced by the oil companies. Obviously, the government had
directed them not to do so keeping in view the assembly
elections to five states.
"Immediately after the elections, this steep increase in
prices has been announced. This itself shows that the hike in
the price of petrol is politically manipulated," they said.
Alleging that the UPA government refuses to restructure
the ad valorem tax structure on import of petro products, they
said, if the cess revenues earned by the government due to
rise in international prices are returned to oil companies,
then there would be no need to hike prices and burden the `aam
admi`.
"The people are not going to take this cynical policy
which leads to increased inflation and price rise quietly. The
Left parties call upon all its units to mobilize the people
and organize protests against this fresh attack and demand a
reversal of the deregulation policy," they added.
PTI
