Delhi Congress workers will protest the high petrol and diesel prices in the city by forming a human chain from Mandi House to Parliament Street, on September 21. The chain will make people aware about the hike in prices of the fuels due to the “unprecedented” increase in taxes by both the Narendra Modi and the AAP governments, the party’s Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken said.
“The protest will be held in a peaceful manner without disturbing traffic,” he said in a press conference. The excise duty and VAT on petrol and diesel have been increased many times in the past three and half years, resulting in an “all time high” in their prices in Delhi, Maken claimed. “The excise duty on petrol and diesel was increased by the Modi government 11 times while the Kejriwal government made amendments in the law to increase VAT on them twice,” he said.
Maken said that it was “saddening” that countries like Sri Lanka that import the fuels from India sell it at “lower prices” as they do not impose “unnecessary taxes” on these products. Delhi Congress workers in the last three days staged protests at petrol pumps across the city and collected signatures of people against the hike in prices. Maken claimed that petrol and diesel worth Rs 100 included Rs 51.78 and Rs 44.40 as taxes. The current prices of petrol and diesel in Delhi stood at Rs 70.52 and Rs 58.85 per litre, respectively.
