Centre of Indian Trade Unions denounces fuel price hike

The Indian government finally took the decision and increased the prices of petrol and diesel in the country. However, they are continuing to face protests from their supporting parties at the center and now the Centre of Indian Trade Unions has denounced the advertisement campaign by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry.

CITU is claiming that the advertising campaigns are totally unjustified when the government is not giving out the complete facts out to the people of the country.

CITU secretary Dipankar Mukherjee said in a statement that the Government owed an explanation as to why people have to pay Rs. 25 for a liter of petrol and Rs. 12 for diesel as taxes and duties when the crude price was not more than Rs. 18 to 19 a liter.

He added that the Indian government must explain the basis of the present pricing mechanism, which gives a picture of computed or notional figures of profit and loss without referring to the actual cost of refining and marketing along with the `reasonable profit’ margin.

The fact remains that the subsidies on kerosene and LPG is not really benefiting the Indian consumer. Kerosene is one of the most common products used to adulterate petrol and as per reports just around 10% of LPG users in the country are below the poverty line.

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