November 5, 2004
Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued
the following statement:
Oppose The Steep Hike In Petroleum Products
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the hike in the prices
of petroleum products announced by the UPA government. Surprisingly,
this hike comes when the international crude oil prices have fallen from
over $ 56 per barrel to $ 49 during the course of last week.
The CPI(M) has been consistently urging the government to meet the hike
in the international oil prices by reducing the customs and excise
duties on petroleum products currently being levied. The decision to
dismantle the administrative price mechanism (APM) was accompanied by
the assurance that the duties on all subsidised petroleum products
would be reduced to zero per cent while the rest would be between zero
to 5 per cent. This has not been done. If these were done, there would
not have been any need for increasing the prices.
Further, due to the dismantling of the APM, the profits after tax of oil
companies have soared. (IOC has gone up from Rs. 2884 crore in 2001-2002
to Rs. 7004 crore in 2003-2004, for HPCL from Rs. 787 crore to Rs. 1903
crore, for BPCL from Rs. 849 crore to Rs. 1694 crore.) A major private
refinery has also made huge profits with the increase in international
oil prices. Instead of putting further burden on the common people, the
impact of international price hike should have been absorbed by these
companies.
Not raising the price of kerosene is not a big concession since this is
not imported. The hike in the LPG cylinder price by Rs. 20 alongwith a
monthly increase of Rs. 5 will badly affect the living standards of
millions of consumers. The hike in the diesel prices at the rate of Rs.
2.12 per litre, apart from directly burdening the common man, would also
have a cascading effect contributing to the inflation spiral.
The UPA government should reconsider these price hikes. The Polit
Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon all its units to organise protests
against this unjustified hike in prices of petroleum products.
end
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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