Youth Congress activists today staged a protest against the steep rise in petrol and diesel prices near the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas here, blaming the BJP-led Centre for the same.
The activists planned to march from the IYC to Shastri Bhawan, which houses the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, but police did not allow them to proceed by erecting barricades few meters away from the ministry office.
Terming the hike in petrol and diesel price "historic", IYC's national spokesperson Amrish Ranjan Pandey said, "The steepest fuel price hike will have cascading effects on other essential commodities effecting people already suffering from the exhaustive policies of the NDA government."
More than a week after state-owned oil firms ended a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus on revising fuel prices, petrol and diesel rates have touched record highs.
Petrol costs Rs 76.87 per litre in Delhi and diesel costs Rs 68.08 a litre. In the last nine days, petrol price has risen by Rs 2.24 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.15.
The rates vary from state-to-state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or value added tax. The prices in Delhi are the cheapest among all metros and most state capitals.
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