LAHORE: Farmers have protested the federal government’s decision of increasing the levy on petroleum products effectively denying local consumers the fall in world oil prices.

Kisan Board Pakistan Vice-President Amanullah Chathha said in a statement on Sunday that the government hit the local consumers, particularly farmers, hard by increasing the Rs60 petroleum levy while oil prices were falling in the world markets.

He regretted that the levy hike came at a time when paddy sowing is in progress and higher power tariff is barring the growers from running their tubewells on electricity.

Chathha urged the government to fix the rates of petroleum products at Rs225 per litre for averting the serious crisis facing the agriculture sector and to provide relief to the general public from the sky-rocketing prices of daily-life essentials.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2026