IANS/Chennai
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately end the dual pricing in diesel, saying the move was hurting the common man.
She also threatened to file a case in the Supreme Court if the central government did not revoke the decision to hike the diesel prices for bulk consumers.
“I really wonder whether there is any justification for the partial decontrol of retail diesel prices and the huge increase in the price for bulk consumer,” she added.Dated January 24, the text of the letter was released to the media yesterday.
“In normal marketing practice, it is the bulk consumers who enjoy discounts. All this leads me to question what the true motive behind these perverse decisions could be.
“I really wonder whether the move is to protect public interest or to benefit private interest,” she said.
The dual pricing policy, Jayalalithaa said, was “one of the many short-sighted measures taken by the central government which is going to further increase the burden on the common people and aggravate their misery”.
The central government has decided to hike diesel price by Rs11 a litre for bulk consumers and 0.55 paise a litre per month for retail consumers.
She said due to the dual pricing policy, the state transport undertakings in Tamil Nadu would suffer an increased annual burden of Rs7.5bn in fuel bill.
“I am aghast at the callous attitude of the central government, which pays lip service to protecting the common man ... even as it perversely allows the super-rich owners of luxury cars and SUVs running on diesel to continue to enjoy subsidy and pay almost Rs10 less per litre than the state transport undertakings that provide transport to the poor.”
