Photo for representation
The government is concerned over the spiralling petrol, diesel price and making efforts to find long-term solutions to tackle the issue, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said. Gadkari, however, suggested that it was important for the country to look for options and move to 'alternative' fuels.
Gadkari's statement has come even as petrol and diesel prices registered a dip for the fourth consecutive day on Saturday. Prices of both petrol and diesel were cut by 9 paise each to cost Rs 78.20 per litre and 69.11 per litre in Delhi respectively.
In Mumbai, petrol was selling at Rs 86.01 per litre and diesel at Rs 73.58 litre per litre.
Address a press conference in Pune to highlight the Modi government's achievements in the last four years, Gadkari said that the government is making efforts to find long-term solutions to tackle the fuel price hike issue.
"We have already stopped the subsidy on petrol and diesel, and we are giving LPG connections to 8 crore people. We could give the LPG connections to so many people because we stopped the subsidy on petrol and diesel," Gadkari said.
Pitching for alternative fuel such as ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel, bio-CNG and electric, to address the fuel price hike issue, he said, "India is importing petrol and diesel worth Rs 8 lakh crore and long-term efforts are being taken to bring the expenditure down."
Meanwhile, the main opposition party - Congress - slammed the Modi government for fuel and LPG price hike.
"We have this great, generous, magnanimous government giving us one paisa a few days ago. Today, they have done five times better and six times better. I congratulate them. We are really overwhelmed," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
"We do not know whether to die of happiness or to bend down and prostrate ourselves before this government," a sarcastic Singhvi added.
"During their tenure, the international crude prices of gas is 30 per cent lower. This is the duplicity, hypocrisy, utter thick-skinned attitude and insensitivity of this government to the necessities of the aam aadmi. This is their definition of 'achhe din'," he added.
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