Kerala CM-designate Satheesan: Assessing impact of fuel price hike on people

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala CM-designate V D Satheesan on Friday said that he was in discussions with officials on how to reduce the impact of the rise in fuel prices on the general public, while former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed the hike by the Centre as a grave injustice to the people and demanded its withdrawal.

Satheesan, speaking to reporters here, said, "We are discussing the increase in the price of petroleum products and we are assessing its impact on the public and then we will take a decision on it."

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Vijayan, in a statement, said that the central government was imposing an additional financial burden on the common people who were already reeling under the weight of price rise and increasing living costs, instead of providing them some relief.

He demanded that the central government should immediately withdraw its allegedly "unjust decision that protects corporates by robbing the people".

He claimed that when the price of international crude fell, its benefit was not passed on to the public and now, under the garb of recouping losses incurred by oil companies, the cost of petrol and diesel has been increased by Rs 3 per litre.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by Rs 3 per litre each on Friday, the first rate increase in more than four years, amid mounting losses of fuel retailers due to surging global crude prices.

The senior CPI(M) Politburo member said that the new development comes even as the lives of the people were miserable due to the shortage of cooking gas and price rise caused by the allegedly wrong policies of the central government.

He contended that such decisions, at a time when people should have been helped through correct governance and effective interventions, cannot be justified by any means.

Vijayan pointed out that the increase in fuel prices will cause the prices of daily necessities and transportation costs to skyrocket again and it will adversely impact workers, farmers and middle-class families.