The Hindu : National : Rectify anomalies, says Deve Gowda

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Rectify anomalies, says Deve Gowda

S. Rajendran

BANGALORE: The former Prime Minister and national president of the Janata Dal (Secular), H.D. Deve Gowda, has expressed shock at the steep hike in the prices of petroleum products and urged the Union government to immediately rectify the anomalies in the pricing structure.

The government should put on hold the hike till all State governments arrive at a consensus to reduce the burden on the common man “who is already weighed down by inflation and the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.”

Mr. Gowda said the Centre should convene an emergency meeting of all Chief Ministers to discuss this issue and arrive at a consensus on sharing the burden by further reducing the excise duty and sales tax.

Unfortunate

He said it was unfortunate that the government did not consider it necessary to take either its allies or the Opposition into confidence in this matter.

Mr. Gowda said the dismantling of the Administered Price Mechanism by the BJP-led NDA government in 2002 significantly tilted the balance against the public sector oil companies.

The application of the “highly irrational import parity principle despite our total self-reliance in petroleum refining has also resulted in the rise in the prices” he said.

Mr. Gowda said the government should establish a Price Stabilisation Fund from the cess that ONGC and Oil India Limited were paying to the government (as suggested in successive reports of the Standing committee of Parliament) and earmark substantial funds for the development of the oil sector and research and development of bio-fuel to “meet our long term requirements.

The government should also consider introducing some formula “akin to the quota system or cash payment prevalent in Malaysia to cushion citizens against such price hikes.”

Though the government claimed to have “shared the burden” of the common man, the fact remained that taxes accounted for 57 per cent of the selling cost of petrol, while in the case of diesel more than a third of the price paid by the consumer went to the government in the form of taxes and duties, he said. Thus, with every price rise, it was the government that made money out of the common man’s misery through a corresponding increase in taxes.

Mr. Gowda said that with inflation already touching an all-time high, the nation was facing the worst-ever economic crisis — unfortunately under the leadership of an economist Prime Minister.

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