Govt increasing petrol-diesel prices unfair: Rahul Gandhi

Terming the rise in petrol and diesel prices as "unfair", Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said when the fight against COVID-19 is causing economic hardship to all, the government instead of reducing prices has raised them. He demanded immediate rollback of the increased prices on the fuels.

"The ongoing battle with the coronavirus is causing severe economic hardship for our crores of brothers and sisters. At this time, instead of reducing prices, the decision of the government to raise prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 10-13 per litre is unfair and should be withdrawn," he said in a tweet in Hindi.

His remarks come after the central government hiked excise duty and cess on petrol by Rs 10 per litre and on diesel by Rs 13 a litre.

Retail prices of petrol and diesel have, however, not been impacted by the rise in excise duty and cess as oil companies will adjust them against the recent fall in international crude oil prices.

Petrol prices in the national capital were hiked by Rs 1.67 a litre and diesel by a steep Rs 7.10 per litre after the Delhi government raised local sales tax or value-added tax (VAT) on the two fuels.

Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 71.26 a litre as against Rs 69.59 previously, oil industry sources said. Diesel price has been hiked to Rs 69.39 per litre from Rs 62.29.