Centre working hard to add to people's woes, says Abhishek Banerjee on fuel price hike

KOLKATA: A day after petrol prices in some parts of the state, especially North Bengal, crossed the 100-mark and the same inched towards the three digit figure in city, all-India general secretary of Trinamool Congress (TMC) Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday slammed the Centre on social media for its failure to bring down the fuel prices in the country.

Hitting out at the Narendra Modi-led government for fuel prices touching a 'historic high', the TMC MP stated that the Centre was 'adding to the woes' of common people.

"As fuel prices hit a HISTORIC HIGH, @BJP4India govt. seems to be working very hard towards adding to the woes of the public. Not much has changed from 2020. The same old blame game continues while the demands of the people of India are conveniently ignored! #ModiBabuPetrolBekabu," Abhishek tweeted from his social media account.

The TMC leader alleged that to cover up its fault, the Centre had started a blame game over the surge in fuel prices, completely ignoring the demands of the people.

Last month, Abhishek had tweeted: "While people are facing severe economic distress during #COVID19, @narendramodi Ji decided to snatch the benefit of low crude oil prices by imposing record duty hikes. However, when it's rising again, he passes on the hardship to common man. Disgraceful! #ModiBabuPetrolBekabu."

Abhishek had also cited details of the hike in Central duties during Covid pandemic in 2020. The price of petrol in Kolkata on March 12, 2020 was Rs 72.83. On June 22, 2020 it went up to Rs 81.27, recording 11.59 per cent rise. The Central duties on petrol on March 12, 2020 was Rs 19.98 and it went up to Rs 32.98 on June 22, 2020 and thus there was 65.07 per cent rise.

Similarly, the price of diesel in Kolkata on March 12, 2020 was Rs 65.22 and it went up to Rs 74.14 on March 22, 2020. Thus, there was a rise by 13.68 per cent. The Central duties on diesel on March 12, 2020 was Rs 15.83 and it went up to Rs 31.83 on June 22, 2020. Thus, there was a hike of 101.07 per cent. On July 4, the price of petrol in Kolkata was Rs 99.45/L (increased by 41 paise). The price of diesel was Rs 92.27/L (increased by 24 paise) on the same day. On Saturday, the price of petrol in Darjeeling, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and some areas of North Dinajpur, Nadia and Murshidabad had crossed Rs 100 mark, hovering between Rs 100.01 and Rs 100.10.

The sharp rise in the price of fuel and cooking gas has affected the middle class badly. The prices of vegetables, fish, mutton and chicken have reached beyond the reach of the common man. TMC has over and again demanded intervention from the Centre to bring down the price of fuel.