Yechury calls for cut in excise rates for petroleum products

New Delhi: Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday asked if the Narendra Modi-led central government will initiate excise rates cut following rise in global crude prices.

"When the global crude prices fell, the BJP government didn't pass on the benefit to the people. It went ahead and doubled the excise duty on diesel and petrol, keeping the prices high," Yechury pointed out on social networking sites.

"But now that the global crude prices are rising, will the BJP government start with cutting excise rates instead of burdening the middle class and poor," he asked.

It cannot be a one-way process where benefits of low prices are gobbled up by the government, but burden of higher prices is borne by the people, he said.

"Rising fuel prices will increase inflation and further burden the average Indian, while the government fills its coffers with higher excise collection," added Yechury.

Oil prices saw a rise after declines in the US fuel supply offset the gains in crude inventories.