Truckers seek diesel price cut

The All-India Confederation of Goods Vehicle Owners' Associations (ACOGOA), the apex body of three million truckers in the country, has demanded that the price of diesel should be reduced by Rs 2 per litre with immediate effect.

The body alleged that the PSU oil companies have recovered almost Rs 20,000 crore since 2002 by charging truck owners in the country an additional Rs 2 per litre in the pretext of customs duties, when diesel and petrol consumed in the country was being produced domestically.

Business Standard had reported today that oil companies had pocketed nearly Rs 19,000 crore by marking up prices for the last two years.

According to the truckers' body, oil marketing and refining companies have been misusing the dismantling of the administered price mechanism (APM), which came into effect from April 2003.

"This is nothing but unabashed cheating of the consumers by PSUs," B Channa Reddy, president, ACOGOA, said in a statement issued here today.

The association has demanded that duties and taxes on imports of diesel should be rationalised in such a way that they confirm to the essential nature of road transport services. "Diesel prices should be immediately brought down as it is not related to the fortnightly price review or the Union Budget," added Reddy.

ACOGOA has also demanded that the Rs 20,000 crore, which oil companies have gained in the last two years, should be released immediately and credited to the Central Road Fund.

"The cost structure of petroleum products from 1997 onwards should be examined for their veracity by the Bureau of Industrial Costs and prices (BICP)," said Reddy.