Congress Deputy leader in the lok Sabha Capt Amarinder Singh on Friday criticised the Central Government’s decision to hike the excise duty on diesel and petrol by Rstwo per litre. Instead of people getting the benefit of the falling prices of crude oil in the international market, the BJP-led NDA Government was slapping them with extra excise duty, he said.
“The hike is totally unjustified. The Government has failed to pass on the benefit of the falling oil prices in the international market to the consumers in the country,” he said.
The Congress leader pointed out that the crude oil prices had come down from $115 per barrel in June to $50 per barrel now, which means a fall of about 60 per cent. “Compared to that, the NDA Government has slashed the prices of petroleum products in India by less than 10 per cent which amount to fraud with the people,” he added.