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New Delhi, May 6 (PTI): 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the decision of the government to raise prices of petrol and diesel by INR 10-13 per litre is unfair and should be withdrawn," he said in a tweet in Hindi.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 INR 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 INR 1.67 a litre and diesel by a steep INR 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 INR 71.26 a litre as against INR 69.59 previously, oil industry sources said. Diesel price has been hiked to INR 69.39 per litre from INR 62.29.