Petrol, diesel, ATF prices up; Sonia writes to PM seeking rollback

NEW DELHI: Jet fuel or ATF price on Tuesday was hiked by 16.3 per cent while petrol price was increased by 47 paise per litre and that of diesel by a record 93 paise on the back of firming international oil rates. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was hiked by Rs 5,494.5 per kilolitre (kl), or 16.3 per cent, to Rs 39,069.87 per kl in the national Capital, according to a price notification by state-owned oil marketing companies. This is the second straight increase in ATF price this month. Rates were hiked by a record 56.5 per cent (Rs 12,126.75 per kl) on June 1.

Simultaneously, petrol and diesel prices were hiked for the 10th day in a row. Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to roll back the hike in fuel prices, saying the government’s decision to increase them during the Coronavirus crisis is “wholly insensitive” and “ill-advised”. “I am deeply distressed that in these exceedingly difficult times since the beginning of March, the government has taken the wholly insensitive decision to increase petrol and diesel prices on no less than ten separate occasions,” Gandhi said in her letter. She accused the government of earning an additional revenue of nearly Rs 2.6 lakh crore through these “ill-advised” hikes in excise duty and the increase in prices of petrol and diesel. “I urge you to roll back these increases and pass on the benefit of low oil prices directly to the citizens of this country,” she said.