In the letter, the Congress leader said, "It's duty and responsibility of government to alleviate suffering, not put the people to still greater hardship. The government is doing nothing short of profiteering off its people when they are down and out," Gandhi said in the letter.
The oil and marketing companies raised the prices after an 82-day break from rate revision in amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Petrol price hiked by 47 paise per litre, diesel by record 93 paise per litre on Tuesday. Petrol will now cost Rs 76.73 per litre (increase by Re 0.47) and diesel will be costlier by 57 paise per litre at Rs 75.19/litre, respectively, in Delhi from Tuesday.
The hike in domestic auto fuel rates is due to the excise duty hike of ₹10 per litre on petrol and ₹13 per litre on diesel in May. It is also as a result of several state governments increasing VAT or cess on fuel but the impact is now being passed on to customers.
Check the prices of major cities.
New Delhi: Petrol ₹76.73 Diesel ₹75.19
Gurgaon: Petrol ₹75.41. Diesel ₹67.96
Mumbai: Petrol ₹83.62. Diesel ₹73.75
Bengaluru: Petrol ₹79.22. Diesel ₹71.49
Hyderabad: Petrol ₹79.65. Diesel ₹73.49
Chennai: Petrol ₹80.37. Diesel ₹73.17
Since March, the central government has raised excise duty twice on both the fuels along with the states increasing cess or VAT. It means that almost 70 per cent of the retail price of petrol and diesel is because of the tax component. OMCs are increasing fuel rates to make up for the losses. Meanwhile, the Congress has demanded the government to bring the fuels under the goods and services tax (GST) and urged it to pass the benefit of lower crude prices to the people.