Political parties trade blame for strike at petrol pumps
another group led by Delhi Taxi Tourist Transport Association protested in front of the Parliament.
“We regret the disruption caused to our riders and the driver-partner community, due to a small group of individuals. We remain committed to serving the city,” an Uber spokesperson said.
Two instances of cabs being damaged were reported at the Delhi border, officials said.“such miscreants are not part of our movement. Our demand is a dialogue with the governments so that issues like the monopoly of app-based cab aggregators and haphazard implementation of speed governors are resolved,” said Inderjeet Singh, AITTA chairman and convener of the joint forum.
At the Indraprastha bus depot, DTC workers had gathered to protest a revision of their wages. Many conductors did not report to work on Monday, officials said.
“Monday’s protest was a run-up to the bigger strike planned on October 29. That day, no buses will ply in Delhi,” said Anuj, a DTC conductor. NEW DELHI: A political slugfest broke out on Monday as petrol pumps and CNG dispensing units observed a 23-hour-long strike. Fuel station owners have been demanding that the Delhi government slash value-added tax (VAT) on the key transport fuels.
The strike call was issued by Delhi Petrol Dealers Association (DPDA) to 400 petrol pumps in the city that have linked CNG dispensing units.
In a series of tweets on Monday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of “threatening petrol pump owners with income-tax raids” if they did not participate in the strike. Kerjiwal said Monday’s strike was “BJPsponsored”.
“BJP people have threatened petrol pump owners of income tax raids if they did not go on strike,” the CM tweeted in Hindi.
Kerjiwal also shared figures showing Delhi’s oil prices were “lowest” among four metro cities. He questioned why petrol pumps owners in Mumbai were not on strike despite prices being “highest” there. “....because Mumbai has a BJP govt and the BJP is behind today’s strike in Delhi. BJP must apologise to the people of Delhi,” he said.
The BJP, in response, held the AAP government responsible for the crisis as his government “did not reduce VAT”. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari said, “People of Delhi are suffering due to the high price of petrol and diesel. The Kejriwal government should at least think about the poor.”
The DPDA, meanwhile, said it did not seek any political party’s support for the strike. “We wanted to make a point that we are making losses due to the present government’s wrong policies. We did not seek any political party’s support,” said Anil Bijlani, DPDA general secretary.
On October 4, the Central government had slashed fuel prices by ₹2.50 per litre. Many states backed the move by reducing local sales tax or the VAT. In Delhi, petrol price was slashed by 30 paise, bringing it to ₹81.34 per litre. Meanwhile, diesel was reduced by 27 paisa, bringing it to ₹74.92 per litre as on Monday.
Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken slammed both AAP government in Delhi and the BJP government in Centre.
“Petrol and diesel are selling at a higher rate in Delhi because Modi and Kejriwal have refused to cut taxes on petrol and diesel. Prices have gone up due to the higher excise duty by the Bjp-led Central government and higher VAT by the Delhi government,” Maken said.