Congress flays government over excise duty on petroleum products

'All over the world the prices of petroleum products have gone down as the international prices have gone down,' Jaipal Reddy added

Hitting out at the Narendra Modi government for the rise in petroleum prices, the Congress on Tuesday said even though prices of petroleum products across the world have gone down with the international prices declining, excise duties have been increased many times.

"During the UPA government, the international crude oil prices were double the present rates, but our excise duties were much lower.

"Now the excise duties have been increased many times and even as the international prices have gone down, the petrol and diesel prices are soaring," said Congress spokesperson Jaipal Reddy.

"All over the world the prices of petroleum products have gone down as the international prices have gone down," he added.

Reddy further said: "Arun Jaitley (Finance Minister) earlier said they are not getting adequate tax collection.

"The fact is dishonest people are not paying taxes and you want to punish the poor and honest middle class people. How does he advance such an argument in public? This government has become utterly insensitive to public opinion," said Reddy.

Fuel prices continued to rise on Tuesday, with diesel prices rising to fresh record levels across metros and petrol crossing the Rs 78-per-litre mark in the national capital.