3 weeks of fuel hike, Congress asks people to speak up

After a day of pause, oil marketing companies resorted to another hike in petrol and diesel prices on Monday, making both fuels costlier. Petrol is costliest at Rs 87.21 per litre in Mumbai. In Bangalore, it is a little above Rs 83 per litre.

In the past 22 days, the price of petrol has gone up by Rs 9.17 a litre while that of diesel has increased by Rs 11.14 a litre, excluding local taxes or VAT.

With both fuels skyrocketing, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday urged people to join the “Speak Up Against Fuel Hike” campaign.

He made the appeal through a video posted on the micro-blogging site Twitter.

“The Centre is looting people by increasing fuel prices for consecutive 21 days. Let us raise our voices to compel the government to withdraw increased prices. Post videos of people perturbed with fuel prices hike on your social media handles,” says the voiceover in the video.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan replied by saying the taxes earned from petrol and diesel were being spent on healthcare, generating employment and giving people financial security.

Taxes now make up around 66% of the retail price of petrol and diesel.

However, the rise in both transport fuels has a direct correlation with the rise in inflation at the retail level. Petrol and Diesel have a combined weight of 2.34% in the CPI index. Hence, any increase in the CPI inflation will deter RBI from cutting interest rates at a time when it is most needed to boost growth. The RBI uses the consumer price index as an inflation gauge.

High diesel prices will also impact the agriculture sector, the only sector which did well even during the lockdown.