UPA's petrol policy devoid of concern for common man: Ram Naik

MUMBAI: Slamming the UPA government at Centre for its "ad hoc" petrol pricing policy, senior BJP leader Ram Naik today said it should focus on protecting the common man from fluctuations in international market.

Naik, who was Petroleum Minister in erstwhile NDA government, said the Centre's defective pricing policy has been affecting the economy of the country.

"We (NDA) had evolved a system to review the petrol prices after every 15 days. The fluctuations in international market would naturally affect the prices, but not directly the consumers," he said.

Naik was speaking to reporters here on the sideline of a party function.

"We used to adjust the import and excise duties so the burden was not passed directly on to the common man. If the government had adopted that policy there would have been some relief to the common man and economy in general," he said.

Oil companies yesterday hiked the petrol prices by 70 paise per litre on firming international oil rates.