'Ek Paise ki Sarkar': Modi govt gets 'petrolled' over fuel prices

The central government became the butt of jokes on Wednesday when the oil marketing companies reduced the price of petrol by just 1 paisa after sixteen days of consecutive hikes. The marginal reduction of 1 paisa per litre was a result of reduction in the prices of crude oil in the international market.

People were tweeting as well as sharing social media memes expressing anger at the cruel joke by the government-owned oil marketing companies that had earlier announced that the reduction would be in the range of 56-63 paise a litre on its website. But within hours Indian Oil revised the prices on its website, saying "The reduction was supposed to be 1 paisa but due to a clerical error the price prevalent on May 25 was communicated as today's price.”

The reduction of 1 paisa per litre came after a hike of Rs 3-4 per litre in the four metros in the last 16 days. After the change, petrol prices were at Rs 78.42 per litre in Delhi, Rs 81.05 per litre in Kolkata, Rs 86.23 per litre in Mumbai and Rs 81.42 per litre in Chennai.

On the other hand, the Kerala government announced a Rs 1 cut in the price o of petrol for people by reducing the state taxes on petrol prices.

The hashtags #EkPaiseKiSarkar and #1PaisaGormint trended on Twitter on Wednesday evening.

Here' what the people made fun of the 1 paisa cut in petrol prices by the oil companies.