NEW DELHI: At a time when fuel prices are shooting through the roof due to increasing global oil prices, the Congress on Thursday put the government on the mat for not providing relief by passing on the benefit of money it has mopped up by raising excise duty on petrol and diesel.
Raising the issue of increasing pump prices in Parliament, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge asked the government what it has done with over Rs 5.5 lakh crore garnered by raising excise duty on motor fuels when global prices were down.
Pointing out that petrol and diesel prices were not reduced in line with the falling global oil prices, he said excise duty on diesel was hiked by 386 per cent and on petrol by 126 per cent. But in spite of generating additional revenue, Kharge claimed, the government has reduced the benefit of welfare schemes, including those meant for Dalits.
"You should tell the people under which scheme this money (additional revenue) has been used," he said. Kharge said crude price stood at $110 per barrel in March 2014, two months before the BJP came to power and dropped to $40 in June 2016. It was $60 (per barrel) "yesterday (Wednesday)".
The government had cumulatively raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 per litre and on diesel by Rs 13.47 a litre between November 2014 and January 2016, taking advantage of the sliding global oil prices.
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