Left rejects Deora's proposal on petrol price hike

New Delhi, May 10: The Left parties today rejected the Petroleum Minister Murli Deora's proposal for increasing the prices of petroleum products, saying the government should rather abolish all taxes on the import of oil.

''We have told the Petroleum Minister that we are opposed to any hike in the prices of petroluem products,'' CPI Parliamentary group leader in the Lok Sabha Gurudas Das Gupta told UNI.

In a presentation to Left leaders, the Oil Ministry said prices of petrol be raised by Rs 9.33 per litre and diesel by Rs 10.43 per litre, kerosene by Rs 17.16 per litre and LPG by Rs 114.45 per cylinder if they are to be brought at parity with import costs.

During the meeting with the minister in his chamber, the Left leaders spelt out the reasons for the opposition to any such hike.

''Why does the government want to increase the prices when it has claimed a high growth and while the fiscal budget is low...'' they asked.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the Manmohan Singh government should rather abolish all excise and customs duties on import of oil products or the common man would be badly hit.

UNI

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