New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday, came down heavily on the Centre over the rising fuel prices terming it as tax extortion. "Long-inconvenient queues for public transport aren’t just due to Covid restrictions. See the rates of petrol-diesel in your city to find out the real reason," Rahul tweeted, hashtagging 'TaxExtortion'.
Petrol prices were last hiked on June 26, which is the 30th increase in prices since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.
In 30 hikes, the price of petrol has risen by Rs 7.71 per litre and diesel by Rs 8.12 a litre. Oil companies too had revised rates of petrol and diesel daily based on the average price of benchmark fuel in the international market and foreign exchange rates.
In Delhi, petrol hit an all-time high of Rs 98.11 a litre, while diesel is now priced at Rs 88.65 per litre. Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as value-added tax (VAT) and freight charges.
While petrol has crossed Rs 100 a-litre mark in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, and Ladakh, several towns in Tamil Nadu including Salem, Vellore and Cuddalore too witnessed a steep price hike.
Read: Petrol crosses Rs 100 in Tamil Nadu after steep hike in fuel rates
On Sunday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too had slammed the Centre over rising fuel prices and asked why the government hiked the taxes on petrol and diesel. In a Facebook post, the Congress general secretary said that in 2013, when the price of crude oil in the international market was $101 per barrel, then the people were getting petrol for Rs 66 per litre and diesel for Rs 51 per litre.
"In 2021, the BJP government is charging you Rs 33 in taxes on every single litre of petrol and Rs 32 on diesel," Priyanka Gandhi said.
She went on to add, "The BJP government has increased the excise duty on petrol and diesel 12 times and recovered about Rs 4 lakh crore in 2020-21 which is 300 per cent more than the amount collected in taxes on petrol and diesel in 2014. Despite crude oil prices reaching USD 19 per barrel in the international market in April 2020, the central government did not allow its benefits to reach the people of the country but continued to fill their pockets and those of companies."
Read: Priyanka slams Centre over fuel prices, asks how much relief given to people from taxes collected
