In a recent letter to the Prime Minister, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa asked the centre to withdraw the decision on dual pricing of diesel, which she terms as “ill-conceived, ill-timed”.
Jayalalithaa warned in the letter that if the centre does not hear the stateÂ’s request, the state government has no other option, but to approach the Supreme Court for a remedy.
Recently, the central government allowed oil marketing companies (OMCs) to charge market price for bulk consumers of diesel, while retail consumers are allowed to pay the subsidised price (with small periodic revision).
Accordingly, the price of diesel for bulk consumers has been hiked steeply by Rs 11 per litre. The chief minister said this would add a burden of Rs 750 crore to the state transport undertaking.
Jayalalithaa also argued that the decision to allow OMCs to raise diesel price for retail consumers by 55 paise per litre per month is one of the many short-sighted measures, which is going to further increase the burden on the common people and aggravate their misery.
The chief minister added that the additional burden for the transport corporation from the diesel price hike would be absorbed by the state government.
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