People's Democracy

CPI(M) Condemns Petro Hike

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on February 14, 2008

THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns the unwarranted hike in the prices of petrol and diesel, under the plea of an upward revision in international crude prices.

The CPI(M) and the Left have consistently been demanding the restructuring of the indirect tax structure on petroleum and doing away with the ad valorem duty structure and replacing it with specific duties. It had also demanded the creation of a price stabilisation fund for petro products to be set up with the resources generated through the oil cess. If the central government had returned to the oil companies the ad valorem tax that it had collected over the budget estimates, the necessity of increasing the prices of petroleum products would not have arisen.

Not heeding to this advice, the government has gone ahead and hiked the prices of petroleum products. The hike comes at a time when people are already suffering from the spiraling prices of essential commodities. The peasantry is the worst hit. This hike will only fuel it further and have a cascading affect.

The Polit Bureau calls upon its units throughout the country to protest this hike in the prices of petroleum products.