By IANS,
Kolkata : Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Brinda Karat Thursday said the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government must scrap the Kirit Parikh panel’s recommendation to hike the prices of petroleum products.
“We are opposing the recommendations. We think it will have a cascading effect on the country’s economy if the government increases the price of petroleum products,” Karat told media persons after emerging from the first day of the CPI-M’s three-day central committee meeting here.
She said the hike in petroleum prices would also impact the poor farmers and ‘aam admi’ (common people) across the country.
Condemning the panel’s recommendations, Karat said: “The government should scrap the report considering the current price-rise of essential commodities.”
The committee chaired by Kirit Parikh Wednesday recommended total deregulation of petrol, diesel prices with a suggestion to immediately increase the price of kerosene by Rs.6 per litre and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Rs.100 a cylinder.
“When the union government is mulling to lower the price of aviation fuel, it should consider the petroleum price also,” she said.