The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has criticized Captain Amarinder Singh-led state government for increasing prices of petrol and diesel.
Chandigarh: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has criticized Captain Amarinder Singh-led state government for increasing prices of petrol and diesel. In a statement issued from the party headquarters on Friday, senior party leader and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Legislative Assembly, Harpal Singh Cheema, said that Captain Amarinder Singh government had failed to stop inflation, while advancing its policies of looting the public.
He said that Captain Amarinder Singh had failed on every front, looted the treasury of Punjab and was now trying to compensate by hiking petrol prices. Cheema said that Punjab has recorded the highest rates of fuel among all other North Indian states.
Harpal Singh Cheema
He said that this steep rise in prices was because of the high rates of tax that the Punjab government charges on fuel. He said that recently the Captain government had imposed cess on diesel and petrol thus putting burden on the people.”Captain has imposed new taxes on petrol and diesel thus increasing its price, due to which all sections including farmers, traders and small shopkeepers are burdened,” said Cheema.
He said that the Captain government had failed badly on the economic front, that is why it was forcibly recovering money from the public by imposing higher taxes. Cheema further said that as per the data released by the Petrol Pump Dealers Association of Punjab (PPDAP), Punjab, on an average charges Rs 4.1 higher than other North Indian states for petrol and Rs 3.1 higher than other north Indian states for diesel. He said that this immense price rise was causing great inconvenience to the people of Punjab.
Harpal CheemaLashing out at Captain Amarinder Singh, Cheema said that over the last 4 years, Captain had looted the state by promoting different sorts of mafia. “Captain has taken no proactive steps to clean up the state’s balance sheet. All the promises he had made have gone unfulfilled. Instead of working to make the lives of the people better, he has continued in the path of his predecessor to loot the state,” said Cheema. He said that now to make things worse and to earn revenue for the state, Captain Amarinder was charging excessive taxes on petrol and diesel making the prices shoot up.
Taking a dig at Captain, Cheema said the rise in fuel prices also show the attitude that the CM has towards the farmers. He said that the farmers of Punjab require a large amount of diesel to do farming and Captain was putting economic pressure on them by increasing the price of diesel during the agitation with an intention of suppressing the farmers’ movement. He added that the life of the people would be greatly affected by the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel.
Petrol and Diesel
“At a time when the farmers of Punjab are fighting for their survival, Captain Amarinder is strangling them further by increasing their cost of farming. With an increase in diesel prices, farmers of Punjab would be directly hit, their cost of production will increase and the margin that they earn on their crops would be reduced,” he added.
Cheema demanded that Captain Amarinder Singh should review the prices of fuel in the state and take corrective measures to reduce their prices. He said that due to the anti-people policies of Captain Amarinder Singh, petrol and diesel were being sold in Punjab at a much higher price than the neighbouring states. He said the public had now understood the intention of Captain government and in times to come, people would respond to their heartless and unrelenting actions in their own way.
