petrol price hike

Unable to check the falling value of the rupee, the UPA government is resorting to successive increases in the fuel prices. This will only add to the burdens on the people by stoking inflation and rising prices of all commodities.The Polit Bureau demands that the UPA government stop this ruinous policy of continuous hike in prices of petroleum products.T

This hike in petrol prices will increase transportation costs and, once again, drive a further increase in the prices of essential commodities at a time when the government has utterly failed to control food inflation. Having disbanded the administered price mechanism for petroleum products, the government is making the people bear the cost of its flawed economic policies.

The CPI(M) demands the cancellation of the price hike and the restoration of the administered price mechanism. To protest against this.....

The Left parties are already conducting protests against this price hike. In order to build up a sustained movement to demand a rollback of the price hike, the Left parties have decided to observe an All India Protest Day on May 31, 2012. On this day countrywide protest actions will be held including hartals, demonstrations, picketing, rasta rokos and rallies.

The Left parties will conduct a month long campaign from the grassroot level in all the states in July. This will be followed by a continuous dharna during the monsoon session of Parliament from July 30 to August 3, 2012 in New Delhi in which thousands of people will participate. This dharna will see the participation of the national leaders of the Left parties.

The government’s deregulation of petrol pricing is responsible for the fuelling of the price hike of essential commodities and inflation. The hoax of the pricing according to the market has been exposed as the international oil prices have fallen considerably in the recent period.

The big increase in food prices, with the food inflation rate crossing 11 per cent once again underlines the totally callous approach of this Government whose policies are directly responsible for the current situation. Today even vegetables, the cost of which are up by 25 per cent, are a luxury item under the regime of the Congress-led Government.

Immediately after the elections, this steep increase in prices has been announced. This itself shows that the hike in the price of petrol is politically manipulated. The UPA government refuses to restructure the ad valorem tax structure on import of petro products. If the cess revenues earned by the government due to rise in international prices is returned to oil companies, then there would be no need to hike prices and burden the aam admi.

This cruel blow makes a mockery of all the assurances of the government to take steps to curb price rise. The people of this country will not take such burdens on them quietly.

The Congress-led government is responsible for this anti-people measure for having deregulated the prices of petrol.The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon all its units to launch vigorous protests by mobilizing the people against this price increase.