Imphal: The CPI (M) Manipur organised a street corner meeting at Paona Bazar, here ‘strongly’ denouncing yet another hike in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
CPI (M) Manipur secretary Kshetrimayum Santa said, “The international oil prices have fallen with the base price for petrol being Rs 47.12 in 2014 to Rs 29.34 in 2021, which is nearly 38 per cent. The main reason for these escalating prices in Manipur is the unbridled hike in the excise duties by the central government, which today is 38 per cent of the cost of petrol and the Manipur government led by BJP charged Value Added Tax (VAT) on every litre of petrol and diesel at the rate of Rs 25 and Rs 17 respectively.”
Santa demanded that the excise duty by the central government and the VAT by the Manipur government on petrol and diesel should be withdrawn in the interest of the people.
The Modi government’s bonanza to the rich and its cronies is sought to be made up by these excise duty hikes imposing further burdens on the people, who are already groaning under the double whammy attack on their livelihoods by the pandemic and the economic recession, the secretary said.
The hikes in prices of petroleum products will result in higher transportation costs which will increase the prices of all essential commodities and that will hurt the purchasing capacity of the people of the North-eastern states particularly Manipur. The cascading inflationary effect will further worsen the economic recession, he added.
The CPI(M) strongly condemn the hike in petrol and diesel prices and demand that withdraw excise duty hike by central government and VAT by state government both led by BJP to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel to approximately Rs 62 and Rs 48 respectively in the interest of the people.
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