GUWAHATI, July 12: Opposition MLAs, including Congress and All India United Democratic Front legislators, staged a walkout on the inaugural day of the budget session of the Assam Assembly on Monday after Speaker Biswajit Daimary refused to allow an adjournment motion on rising fuel prices.
The Opposition MLAs maintained that skyrocketing prices of petrol and diesel in the state have worsened the conditions of the common people amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“If such a burning issue cannot be discussed in the Assembly now, then what will be discussed. We have decided to stage the walkout in protest against this anti-people step of the state government,” an AIUDF MLA said.
Assam parliamentary affairs minister Pijush Hazarika however said that the state government “has nothing to do with the price rise of petrol and diesel.”
Addressing reporters, Hazarika drew a comparison of the fuel prices in the Opposition-ruled states of the country, saying that the rates are much higher in a Congress-ruled state like Rajasthan as on Monday.
“For example, a litre of petrol in Jaipur today costs Rs 108.03 while a litre of diesel costs Rs 98.85. However in Assam, the price of a litre of petrol today is much lower at Rs 96.98 while diesel costs Rs 89.05 per litre,” the minister said.
“Fuel rates are determined by international fluctuations and controlled by OPEC,” Hazarika said.
He further said that Assam was the first state to have withdrawn the additional tax of Rs 5 per litre that was imposed on petrol and diesel during the COVID-19 pandemic peak last year.
“So instead of questioning the government, the Opposition should ask their respective parties as to why the fuel rates were higher in those states,” the minister said.