LAHORE: The PPP has asked the government why it did not reduce petroleum prices as per recommendations of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and a decline in the international market.

“Ogra recommended a Rs12 per litre reduction in petrol and diesel prices according to a decline in prices in the international market, but the government only reduced Rs3 to Rs4 for end consumers, which is unjustified,” PPP Punjab President Manzoor Wattoo said in a statement here on Tuesday.

He said the government was giving subsidies of billions of rupees to capitalists at the national exchequer’s expense through issuance of SROs but not relief to masses.

“The unjustified increase in gas tariff both for domestic and industrial consumers will affect the productivity and the competitiveness of the sector,” he said, adding the government had levied this “tyrannical tariff” on orders of the International Monetary Fund to get the next tranche.

He said foreign loans served the interests of rulers, capitalists and bureaucrats while the poor had to bear the brunt in the form of excessive indirect taxation on goods and services. He warned the government not to test the patience of people as they were already suffering from its poor policies. Wattoo demanded the recommendation of Ogra be implemented fully for benefit of the people.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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