New Delhi: Petrol for common man costs more than the Aviation Turbine Fuel used in planes, Congress said today while seeking to paint the Narendra Modi government as anti-poor and questioning it for the “grave injustice”.
What is “more painful” today is the fact that the price of petrol paid by the common man is Rs 61.33 per litre as against price of aviation fuel which is Rs 52.42 per litre, Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala told reporters here.
Terming it as “most shocking”, he said the government is “anti-poor and anti-farmer” as he accused it of “shameless profiteering” and “betraying” the people by refusing to reduce the prices of Petrol.
“Will the BJP and Modi answer the fundamental reason for this grave injustice to the people where they pay more for fuel in ordinary scooter/motorcycle/car/tractor as compared to the Aviation Turbine Fuel used by airplanes,” he asked.
Seeking to paint the government pro-rich, he said the “irony” is that the price of aviation fuel has been reduced by 31.24 per cent as against a “mere reduction” of 15.73 per cent and 11.38 per cent in prices of petrol and diesel, respectively.
This, he said, was “most shocking and painful” in view of the fact that since formation of the BJP government on May 26 last year, international prices of crude have fallen from 110.55 dollars per barrel to 56 dollars per barrel, a reduction of 50 per cent on May prices.
Posing a host of questions to the government and the BJP, he said, “To hide its complete failure in reviving the economy, boost industrial production, bridge government's deficit and increase growth rate, BJP government is pre-occupied with feeding its empty coffers by burning a hole in the pocket of the common man and farmers through sustained imposition of excise and customs duty on petro products.”
He wondered why the government was not truly reforming the oil companies by introducing transparency and proper price discovery methods in order to truly benchmark the fuel prices.
Besides, he sought to know why the government was not following the true policy of decontrol of petrol and diesel.
