Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi took to social media to question the Narendra Modi-led central government about current oil prices in India. He wrote, "Prices of crude oil have fallen at an unexpected rate across the world, yet petrol in our country costs ₹ 69 per liter and diesel is ₹ 62 per liter. Why? Reduced prices in these times are welcome. When will this government listen?"
The Party held a press conference and said that reducing prices could bring relief to the transporters and farmers in these difficult times as in the last 6 years the government has already raised taxes 12 times and has made Rs 20 lakh crore.
"Central excise duty on oil has been increased 12 times in the last 6 years that has earned Rs 20 lakh crore. Why has the benefit not been passed on to the consumers? Is the government fulfilling its obligation by not passing on this benefit to the consumers," said Pawan Khera while addressing a press conference.
The Congress further added that India is the tenth-largest oil importer from the US after it was banned from importing oil from Iran. "Why did we refuse to buy oil when the price has fallen so low internationally, while we also have storage capacity."
For the uninitiated, crude oil prices hit a historic low on Monday. This happened due to the non-purchase of crude oil in America.
As most people are unable to commute because of the Coronavirus lockdown, the demand for oil is at its lowest. But due to high supplies, the US has run out of storage for the commodity with prices turning negative which is unprecedented as it indicates that traders are forced to pay buyers to lower their stock of oil.
(With Agency Inputs.)
Watch: Historic crash: US oil prices turn negative per barrel