Moving the Motion on ‘Price Rise’ in the Lok Sabha today (3 August, 2010), Smt. Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha effectively raised the concerns and hardships faced by common people and the housewives on account of unprecedented rise in prices.
She said that after the debate in Lok Sabha on 25th February, 2010 on the issue of price rise, all of us had thought that the Government will take some concrete and effective steps to curb prices. On the contrary, the prices of petrol and diesel were increased on the very next day i.e. on 26 February, 2010.
The Opposition parties brought a Cut Motion on this issue and a Division was called in the House. If the support extended by members belonging to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to the Government is not taken into account, then the Government was clearly in a minority. This was a technical victory not an emphatic or a credible one.
However, in spite of this, the Government did not do any introspection and exactly four months later i.e. on 26th June, 2010, the prices of kerosene and cooking gas were also increased in addition to the already hiked prices of petrol and diesel. This was like adding insult to injury and further adding to the misery of the already burdened common people.
The UPA Government stands exposed as totally insensitive on this issue and its conduct is nothing short of a betrayal. It is a betrayal as it had won the elections on the plank of common people and it burdened the same common man with unabated price rise.
She said that in June, 2008, the prices of petrol in international market was 134USD per barrel and the prices were not increased at that time. However, now the prices of petrol are 74USD per barrel and the prices are being increased. It is obvious that 2008 was a pre-election year as a result the increase in prices was not announced. But after winning the election in the name of the common man, the prices were increased. This is nothing short of a betrayal of the trust of people.
She also said that we have no control over the international prices but we can provide some relief to the common man by reducing the customs and excise duty. In this context, the suggestion of moving towards a ‘Revenue Neutral Regime’ was also given to the Finance Minister. He said that before advising the State Governments to reduce the Sales Tax on petroleum products, the Finance Minister should announce some reduction in customs duty.
She also said that by increasing the prices of cooking gas, the UPA Government has forced the housewives to go back to using the wooden logs for cooking purposes.
Taking a swipe at the UPA government, she said that while the NDA Government had to pay a heavy price for accepting the recommendations of the Kelkar Committee, the UPA government has set-up three committees viz. Ranganath Committee, Chaturvedi Committee and Kirit Parekh Committee and will have to pay a heavy price for the same.
Referring to the recommendations of the Kirit Parekh Committee, she said that these pertain to increasing the price of kerosene by six rupees and of cooking gas by rupees one hundred with immediate effect and to keep on increasing it steadily and also suggest removal of subsidy on LPG completely. She quoted from the replies given by the Minister of Petroleum in the Parliament and alleged that the intention of the Government is to keep on increasing these prices which will impose an unbearable burden on the common man.
Smt. Swaraj referred to the article written by Smt. Sonia Gandhi in the Congress Party magazine and said that even she has also justified this increase on the ground that the additional money generated will be utilized through the welfare schemes for the common people. This is like the saying that we will get to see the morning if we manage to survive the night.
She raised the difficulties being faced by traders of Agra due to the 60% increase in prices of APM gas. The BJP MP from Agra had met the Prime Minister with a delegation to apprise him of their difficulties and he had assured that the matter will be looked into. But so far nothing has happened. She said that nearly two lakh people earn their livelihood through this trade and it is essential to provide succor to them.
She put the Government in the dock over its argument that the PSUs are incurring huge losses due to non-increase of prices of petroleum products. Referring to the replies given by the Minister for Petroleum in the Parliament and the Annual Report of the Ministry, she said that these companies are earning a profit of thousands of crores.
Smt. Swaraj also criticized the Public Distribution System of the Government and said that on one hand crores of people are getting anything to eat and on the other lakhs of tonnes of grain is being allowed to rot in Government godowns and warehouses. She referred to Shahjahanpur in UP and said that nearly 3 lakh 97 thousand tonnes of grain is lying in the open.
Talking about Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, she said that adequate quantities of food grains are not being supplied to these states for PDS while the Chief Ministers of these states have been urging the Agriculture Minister repeatedly in this regard. It is extremely surprising that if any State requests for additional allocation of food grains under APL, it is made to pay extra charges for the same.
In the end, she said that all political parties are worried about the situation due to rise in prices. The Opposition parties have been raising this issue with full earnestness for quite some time now while the parties supporting the Government have been talking about it in muted tones. Even the Members of Parliament belonging to the Treasury Benches are keeping quiet on the issue due to party considerations and compulsions.
Smt. Sushma Swaraj said that as an Opposition party, BJP stands to gain from the unpopularity of the Government. But gain and loss is a language of the business and not of a responsible political party like the BJP which does not behave like a trader but rather like an alert custodian of people’s hopes and aspirations. It is our moral duty to ensure that the unabated rise in prices is checked and the common people are provided some relief. She called upon all political parties that they should work to make this Government take some concrete steps to provide relief to the common people.
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