The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Elangovan flays critics of fuel price hike

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Saturday, Jun 28, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Elangovan flays critics of fuel price hike

Special Correspondent

VILLUPURAM: Union Minister of State for Textiles E.V.K.S. Elangovan has lashed out at the critics of the petroleum price hike saying they are oblivious of the international trend. It is not a problem unique to India but has encompassed the entire world.

Mr. Elangovan was speaking at a function organised to inaugurate Esalam Handloom Cluster here on Friday. He said the detractors could not expect the government to supply petroleum products below the cost price. It was not right on their part to urge the government to stick to the sale price of petroleum products when the crude was selling at $30 a barrel, even at a time when the price was hovering around $140 a barrel.

Mr. Elangovan admitted that the steep increase in the prices of petroleum products had triggered the inflationary trend, but it was the phenomenon the world over. Even developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom were no exceptions. He cited the instance of oil-rich Russia where economy had started looking up in the post-disintegration period owing to revenue from fossil fuel reserve.

Those who were dear to Russia and China should prevail upon those countries to supply oil to India at reasonable price, but they were not doing so.

Acknowledging the problems faced by the people on account of surging oil prices, Mr. Elangovan said the government was taking all out measures to mitigate the problem.

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