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| Congress holds protest over price hike, border situation | |
Jammu, May 24, (Scoop News)-Congress Thursday staged a protest against the Central Govt. over the unprecedented hike in the prices of petrol and diesel in the country and to express concern over the border situation and unabated Pakistan shelling leading to large number of causality of civilians and soldiers.
A large number of Congress leaders and activists including senior functionaries of PCC, DCC and leaders of frontal organizations including Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, INTUC & Congress Seva Dal held a strong protest demonstration at party office in Jammu against the BJP Govt. at the Centre over the unprecedented hike of petrol and diesel and other commodities of common use.
Led by Congress leader Raman Bhalla, besides Mula Ram, Vikram Malhotra, Yogesh Sawhney, Faqir Nath, Th. Hari Singh, Girdhari Lal Chalotra, Krishan Chander Bhagat, B.S. Sambyal, Hari Singh Chib, Gurdarshan Singh, Shashi Sharma, Thomas Khokhar, Nadeem Shrief Niaz, Satish Sharma, Varinder Singh Chib, Chetan Wanchoo took out a protest demonstration with ply cards and raised slogans against the NDA Govt. led by Modi over the issue of unprecedented hike during the past 4 years causing great hardships to poor people.
They also raised slogans against Pakistan for resorting to continued shelling and also against the Centre Govt. for its failure to silence the Pakistan guns and ensure the safety and welfare of border residents of the state.
Addressing the protesters, Bhalla said that in the current scenario, there could be a strong case for bringing petrol and diesel under the GST, CARE Ratings.
“With the sharp recovery of crude oil prices globally and with the increase in the prices of the auto fuels, the inclusion of petrol and diesel under the GST will help in rationalising the prices of these auto fuels,” he said.
If petrol and diesel are brought under GST, it will lead to a 10% and 20% reduction in effective tax rates respectively for petrol and diesel, he added.
Bhalla also demanded reduction in excise duties on petroleum products imposed by the Centre and the VAT by state government. Congress leader claimed that there has been an increase of 211.7 per cent in the excise duty on petrol since May 2014, when " Modi" took over as Prime Minister.
The increase in excise duty on diesel is 443.6 per cent since May 2014 till today, is "mindboggling and unprecedented", he said. "This has happened nowhere in the world, never in the history of India", Bhalla said.
He said to protest against the NDA government's action of "looting" the common people by raising prices of petrol and diesel, despite a fall in international crude oil prices, the Congress took out protest rally today.
"The Narendra Modi government has betrayed the trust that common people had bestowed on it. It has miserably failed to curtail the rise in fuel prices and is busy filling treasury coffers at the expense of the ordinary citizens.
"Our simple demands are that the central government should immediately reduce the Central Excise on petrol-diesel, BJP state government should reduce VAT and other taxes, and petrol-diesel must be brought under the GST," he told reporters.
Bhalla said the entire agriculture sector and the transport sector depended on diesel. He said there is a collateral factor that is responsible once the prices of diesel are high and the effect also goes on the prices of essential commodities. "There is a GDP crisis - gas, diesel and petrol crisis of the Modi Government. This is greed," he alleged.
Congress leader said the Modi government had "fleeced" the common people of Rs 10 lakh crore in four years by taxing "GDP" (Gas, Diesel and Petrol). He alleged that its "greed" was making everyone's "Budget bleed".
"The all-time high prices of petrol and diesel are bleeding the budgets of common people, farmers and the middle class," the Congress leader said. The sky-rocketing diesel prices of Rs 68.08 per litre is impacting farmers' lifeline, besides having a stinging effect on the runaway food inflation, Bhalla said.
"Modi government's surreptitious move to raise prices of petrol on a daily basis has burnt holes in the pockets of common man, as today's price of petrol in Jammu is Rs 77.87 per litre and is continuously rising by Rs 2.24 per litre in the last 9 days," he said.
Post May 26, 2014, international Crude Oil Prices came down by more than 30 per cent and the Modi government has earned a windfall of Rs 9,95,850 crore by levying various central taxes on petrol and diesel, Bhalla claimed "Where has the money gone?
We remind the BJP that it came to power on its promise to usher 'Achhe Din', bringing down the petro prices and controlling inflation on necessary daily use articles is a pre-requisite of that. The BJP Government has disappointed all the people on all fronts," he said.
Bhalla said that in Jammu the price of petrol was Rs 78.58/ litre and diesel Rs 69.24 per litre on May 22; but today ( May 24) it again increased on the tenth consecutive day to Rs 78.88 and Rs 69.50, respectively. He said this is the highest ever price of petrol and diesel in the history of the country.
He said that the State Government is charging Rs 2 per litre as cess on the name of development charges for maintaining road infrastructure but see the condition of the roads in all the districts. During past nine days, there has been increase in the rates of petrol by Rs 2.24 and Rs 2.15 in respect of diesel prices and it is still un-awaited.
Bhalla further revealed that J&K Government is charging 21 % Sales Tax /VAT on petrol and 14.5 % on diesel. The Central Excise duty on petrol is Rs 19.48 per litre while on diesel it is Rs 15.33.
The prices of crude oil in the international market remained too, low during past three years but the Modi Government did not allowed reduction in the price of petrol of diesel with the intensions to generate huge revenue and provide benefit to the Corporate sector.
He pointed out that in Punjab petrol is cheaper by 72 paise and in Himachal by 42 paise and in Haryana it is more cheater than Punjab.He claimed that for winter stocks in Ladakh, about 1,22000 k.lit of petrol-diesel is stocked by oil companies every year for Army and other supplies.
This oil is coming from outside the State; mostly from Ambala, Jallandhar and Sangroor, Bhalla said adding the security forces and other big companies working on roads and tunnels besides industrialists are also bringing fuel from outside the state, thus causing loss to the petrol pump dealers/ operators in the State.
He demanded that J&K Government should immediately stop charging Rs 2 cess imposed on consumers/ public and also reduce the sales tax. The Central Government should also reduce the Excise duty on the petroleum products, Congress leader added.
Bhalla said that this Government has broken all the previous records with respect to hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. It will directly affect the transport industry which is already struggling in the State. He said the Government has failed to give hike in the freight / fare rates despite repeated requests by transporters and moreover, this massive hike will break the back bone of the transporters.
He demanded that Government should withdraw cess of Rs 2 per litre on petrol and diesel which is being taken from the consumers on the pretext of maintenance of roads. It should also reduce VAT on the fuel and Central Excise duty on petroleum products.
Congress leader said that with the increase in the rates of petrol and diesel, the rates of essential commodities, vegetables and fruits etc will also increase.
Bhalla alleged that Modi Govt has failed to control the prices of petrol and diesel. He said during past few years, the price of crude oil per barrel in the international market remained too, low. But despite this fact, the BJP Government did not slash the rates of petrol and diesel. The BJP used to curse the Congress Govt when it was in opposition, but now they stand exposed.
Targeting the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre over the fuel price hike, Bhalla today sought to know why the petrol-diesel rates have gone up despite a fall in international crude oil prices. “The common man has only one question today- when the crude prices are USD 70 per barrel, why is it that petrol prices are Rs 85 per litre and diesel Rs 73 here now?”.
He recalled that BJP had made a false promise to the people of the nation to give them “Achey Din” but in reality they are giving us “expensive days” by increasing the prices of essential commodities, one by one ranging from LPG, Petrol and diesel to the prices of essentials of daily use and railway fare.
Bhalla said increase in prices of Petrol, Diesel and Gas (LPG) will result in the increase in price of all commodities. When the BJP was campaigning before the elections, they had promised to curb inflation and cut down the cost of basic amenities.
But coming to power the BJP government has started increasing the price of everything to protect interest of big business houses. While warning the NDA of intensified agitation if the Centre continued to take such “anti-people decisions”, he regretted.
“BJP has betrayed the people in the name of “Achey Din” and after elections their good days are not arriving, but the price hike is taking place on essentials one after the other," Bhalla said adding that womenfolk are bearing maximum brunt of the anti-people policies being propagated by the NDA government headed by Narendra Modi.
Bhalla maintained that increase in fuel price has also increased in food price. This will have a more severe impact on poor people because poor households spend more than half of their income on food and only a tenth on fuel. It is a chain reaction, once started will affect all.
Increase in petrol price will increase the transportation cost, increase in transportation cost will increase in price of goods, and this increase in price of goods would gradually force the people to loosen their pockets even more, and so on like this, the chain will further propagate, he said.
Bhalla said these ups and downs push more people into poverty and leading to a more pathetic situation of those already poor. This has obviously sent shock waves to the common man who is trying hard to make both ends meet.
Congress leader pointed out that price hike affects only the low wages or fixed salaried middle class families as compared to higher wages salaried class. The existing middle class is squeezed and many of those striving to attain the middle-class standard find it persistently out of remit will bring no negative impact on government employees as their DAs will be increase accordingly.
He said rich and corrupted people are least bothered of it. Business class like auto-rickshaw drivers shall transfer the burden to common people so they are also safe. Common people if doing business shall also pass the burden to customers and chain reactions. The community that suffers the most is the common people or “aam aadmi, Bhalla maintained”.
Prominent among others who participated included Kirtan Singh, Rajinder Singh Pinki, Imran Zaffar, Michael Wazir, Anoop Gupta, Nasir Wazir, Vijay Hiteshi, Hoshiar Singh Chib, Simrandeep Singh, Ranjit Chopa, Divyaansh Chopra, Tamana and others.... |
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