Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi slams centre over fuel prices, inflation issue

Slamming the Centre over the fuel prices and inflation issue, Congress leader Imran Pratapgarhi on Thursday said the government is celebrating Diwali making people bankrupt.

Speaking to ANI, Pratapgarhi said, "The present regime has made the festival difficult and used it for political gain. The government is trying to make people diwaliya (bankrupt) this Diwali. A world record has been made in terms of price hikes of fuel and gas. In this inflation, how common people can celebrate Diwali."

The Congress leader's remarks came after the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led-government on Wednesday lit 12 lakh diyas on the occasion of 'Deepotsav 2021' and entered the Guinness Book of World Records once again.

On the occasion of Deepotsav, out of 12 lakh diyas, 9,51,000 earthen lamps were lit on the bank of the Saryu river in Ayodhya while 50,000 diyas were lit at the site of the Ram temple and the rest were lit in other temples across the state.

In a significant decision, the Centre on Wednesday reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel to bring down the prices of the two petroleum products which had been seeing an upward trend.

The relief to consumers came on the eve of Diwali. According to the Finance Ministry, the excise duty on petrol has come down by Rs 5 and that on diesel by Rs 10 from Thursday.

The Centre had also urged the states "to commensurately reduce" VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers.

On Pakistan's denial of allowing its airspace for Indian flights, Pratapgarhi said, "I do not think the neighbouring country should be so rigid. It should be dealt by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Union Home Ministry. Otherwise, the common people have to face difficulties."

Notably, Pakistan had declined to allow the use of its airspace for flights from Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

"Pakistan has refused use of its airspace to Go First's Srinagar-Sharjah flight. It has raised concerns over the use of their airspace. Matter reported to the concerned ministries; MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation), MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) and MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) are looking into it," a government source told ANI.

Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had flagged off the first international flight services from Srinagar to Sharjah.

(ANI)

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