[Marxistindia] oppose petrol hike

[news from the cpi(m)]

February 14, 2008



Press Statement



The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the
following statement:



The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns the
unwarranted hike in the prices of petrol and diesel, under the plea of an
upward revision in international crude prices.



The CPI(M) and the Left have consistently been demanding the restructuring
of the indirect tax structure on petroleum and doing away with the ad
valorem duty structure and replacing it with specific duties. It had also
demanded the creation of a  price stabilisation fund for petro products to
be set up with the resources generated through the oil cess. If the central
government had returned to the oil companies the ad valorem tax that it had
collected over the budget estimates, the necessity of increasing the prices
of petroleum products would not have arisen.



Not heeding to this advice, the government has gone ahead and hiked the
prices of petroleum products. The hike comes at a time when people are
already suffering from the spiraling prices of essential commodities. The
peasantry is the worst hit. This hike will only fuel it further and have a
cascading affect.



The Polit Bureau calls upon its units throughout the country to protest this
hike in the prices of petroleum products.



 eom