Tura, June 25: The MPYC today staged a protest against the daily increases in the price of fuel despite the international crude oil prices being at all time lows.While India is reeling under an unprecedented crisis due to the outbreak of the Corona Virus and the unplanned lockdown imposed by the Modi Government.
The MPYC said that the common man is bearing the brunt of this blunder struggling to make ends meet. Instead of helping the people, especially the poor, PM Modi and his government continues to LOOT the people of India by not just raising fuel rates on a daily basis but also refusing to share benefits of lower crude oil prices with people.
The President of the MPYC Mr Richard Marak said that for those who are not aware, petrol has been hiked by Rs. 8.5/ltr in last 19 days and Diesel has been hiked by Rs.10.49/ltr in last 18 days, all this has been done when crude oil prices are at a historic low.
Excise duty on Petrol was mere ₹9.20/litre and on Diesel, it was ₹3.46/litre in May 2014 when the Modi government assumed office but subsequently, they have hiked the same by 258% and 820% respectively. – The current excise duty stands at Rs.23.78/litre on Petrol and ₹28.37 on Diesel.
It’s a fact that, In 2008, When the crude oil prices shot up internationally the Congress-led UPA government kept them stable in the interest of the people. Time and again, Congress party has demanded that the Governement should pass on the benefits of reduced international crude oil prices to the people by reducing the rates of Petrol-Diesel-LPG.
The MPYC said that petrol and diesel as commodities should be under GST to bring relief to the common man but this anti-people Modi Governement is not paying heed.In the last 6 years, the Central Government earned Rs.8,00,000 crores from hikes on excise duty on fuel. Till date there has been no transparency as to what happened to all this money.
It is not only the Central Government, but also the state government that should be giving relief to the people. The MPYC see that instead of helping the people, the state government decided to let the people take care of themselves.
There was absolute chaos in the handling of the situation during and after the lockdown. No planning in quarantining the returnees from other states, thereby risking the state’s population, no transparency in the testing and results, creating confusion.
The highly publicised funds to be credited for citizens of the state living in other states nothing but a publicity stunt. What takes the cake is deferring the salaries of govt employees and asking for donations and at the same time raising the duties on alcohol and fuel.
The state government must also answer as to why the excise duties in Meghalaya are higher at Rs. 33.14/litre for petrol and Rs. 32.42/ litre for diesel. It is due to such high taxes that the prices of essential commodities, public transportation fares, etc are becoming higher.
With backbreaking taxes and high prices of essentials, how will there be any money left in the hands of the people. If there is no money in the hands of the people, the consumers, how can the economy be kick started, If the government says more taxes, then good luck on your “Resurgent Meghalaya”.
For those naysayers who think this is a political stunt, when Mr Gabriel Wahlang was the president of MPYC in 2013, they did write a letter and approach the then Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma regarding the state taxes in the interest of the people and he obliged by lowering the taxes, said Mr Richard Mrong Marak in the press statement today.
