The CPI (M) district committee has condemned the center’s steep rise in diesel and gasoline prices as the common people suffered from the severe crisis due to the second wave of COVID-19.
In a statement here on Monday, K. Lokanadham, the party’s district committee secretary, criticized the centre’s move to raise petroleum products prices after elections in five states across the country. Prices were either stable or decreased slightly until the counting process began on May 2nd. After the results were announced, prices began to rise steadily and galloped for three weeks, he said.
On May 31, gasoline cost 99.39 yen and diesel 93.71 yen in Visakhapatnam. The center raised the prices of petroleum products when international crude oil prices were falling. The center has given oil companies the freedom to change prices on a daily basis and the burden is on consumers, Lokanadham said.
The rise in the price of petroleum products had a cascading effect on the prices of the most important raw materials. He demanded that the center regulate prices.