New Delhi, Aug 2 : Slamming the hike in the prices of subsidised cooking gas, petrol and diesel, the Congress today charged the BJP Government with burdening the common man for enriching a handful of its crony friends. It also described the BJP Government at the Centre as “Only Taxation, No Administration”. 'Central BJP Government has unleashed a three-pronged economic attack on the livelihood of over 60 crore Indians. Unprecedented hike in the subsidised cooking gas as also petrol-diesel at a time when saving interest rates are being slashed, has unmasked the anti-people face of the Modi Government. 'Principal objective of ‘Democracy’ and ‘Welfare State’ is the duty towards last man in the line. BJP Government is, however, burdening the common man for enriching a handful of its crony friends. Truth is that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the BJP are breaking the ordinary Indian’s back by overburdening them with a slew of unprecedented taxes,' AICC media incharge Randeep Surjewala said in a statement. Mr Surjewala said that the hike in prices of subsidised cooking gas, petrol and diesel has jeopardised the budget of every household. ' A total 18.11 crore customers purchase subsidised gas cylinders every month. By a ‘Tughlaki farmaan’ of Modi Government, it has been decided to increase the price of every gas cylinder by Rs 4 every month starting from July 1, 2017 upto March, 2018 until the current subsidszed cylinder prices are increased from present price of Rs 477 to Rs 524 per cylinder. In last three years, Modi Government has hiked the price of subsidised gas cylinder by Rs 63 per cylinder (from Rs 414 per cylinder in May, 2014 to Rs 479 per cylinder today). This total hike of Rs 110 per cylinder will cause immense distress to every housewife upsetting the complete household budget. This is being done when the International prices of gas have gone down by 35 per cent in last three years. 'Further, the BJP Government has decided to increase the dealer commission on petrol by Re 1 per litre and on diesel by 72 paise per litre w e f August 1, 2017. Cost of this would have to be borne by the ordinary consumer and it will cost an additional Rs 12,000 crore. In last three years since May, 2014; price of crude oil has gone down by 53 per cent. If this benefit was passed on to people of India, price of petrol would be Rs.37.84 per litre and price of diesel would be Rs 29.40 per litre. Truth is that Government of India is earning an annual revenue of Rs.2,33,000 crore by imposing tax and import duty on petrol-diesel. Latest decision would further cause distress to an overburdened public. 'Hundred and twenty five crore people of India have realised that the current BJP Government is 'Only Taxation, No Administration', ' Mr Surjewala said. He lamented that the hike in prices of these commodities comes at a time when saving interest rates were being slashed. 'Government’s principal bank i e SBI has taken a decision to slash saving bank interest rates from 4 per cent to 3.5 per cent. Saving Accounts in SBI are currently estimated at 37 crore with a deposit of 9.4 lakh crores. If there is a reduction of 0.5 per cent in interest rate, there is a direct loss of Rs 4,700 crore annually to the 37 crore account holders. 'Even prior to this, BJP Government had imposed a service charge of Rs 100 w e f April 1, 2017 on all bank accounts for more than three monthly transactions. Similar charges were also imposed on use of ATM cards. 'Post-GST, all banking services attract a tax of 18 per cent. Not only this, present BJP Government has attacked the savings of common man by reducing the interest rates on ‘National Saving Certificate’, ‘Sukanya Smridhi Account’, ‘Kisan Vikas Patra’ and ‘Public Provident Fund’ and other saving schemes,' he said. UNI
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