Roll back excise duty hike, says Congress as it slams Centre over rise in fuel prices

NEW DELHI:  Slamming the Centre over fuel prices touching an all-time high, the Congress on Sunday demanded that the excise duty hike by the Centre be immediately rolled back to give relief to the masses.

Attacking the Centre over rising fuel prices, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that people are suffering due to inflation and the Modi government is busy in tax collection.

“What is more shocking is that during the Congress regime when we left power in May 2014, the international crude oil was USD 108 per barrel, but petrol and diesel prices were at Rs 71.51 and Rs 57.28 per litre respectively, which have increased to Rs 85.70 and Rs 75.88 in Delhi today despite the crude oil prices coming down to half of that time,” said Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken.

Fuel prices touched all time high with hike in latest hike in diesel and petrol prices Saturday. Petrol price in Delhi on Saturday was Rs 85.70 per litre and in Mumbai Rs 92.28.