Communist Party India on Thursday asked the government and the public sector oil companies to share the burden of the surge in crude oil prices and expressed the desire to be consulted before any final decision on fuel pricing is taken.
"The whole issue of oil pricing needs some proper examination. Government has to absorb (some burden), the PSUs will also have to do something (to ease burden on consumers)," CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu told reporters in New Delhi.
Petrol costs Rs 33.71 per litre in Delhi. Crude oil procured at recent highs from global markets and the cost of refining totals up to only Rs 15.24 and the remaining Rs 18.47 is charged from the consumers.
Similarly, of the Rs 21.74 per litre diesel price in Delhi, the crude oil and refining cost add up to only Rs 15.02.
Basu said auto fuels constitute a major input of the economic activities and care should be taken to see that common consumers do not feel the pinch of high prices.
"All three issues - tax (rates), import parity pricing principle and affordability to consumers - should be looked into before firming up a pricing policy," he said, adding the present government should not carry on the legacy of previous National Democratic Alliance government of passing on the entire burden of rise in cost of raw material to the consumers.
Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar had on Wednesday stated that the government would announce, after consulting the allies, an oil pricing package by June 15.
Basu suggested the government should cut duties on crude oil and petroleum products and asked PSU oil firms to bear part of the burden as part of the review of the pricing formula.
Without these measures, oil firms would have to raise petrol prices by Rs 3.53 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.25 per litre to offset nearly 18 per cent increase in global prices of both the products.
"We are totally opposed to the principle of passing on the entire burden to the consumers. Government and PSUs should absorb part of it," he said.
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