Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said that there are two main reasons behind the record-breaking rise in the price of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and related products.

Talking to the media, Dharmendra Pradhan, on Sunday, said that there are two main reasons behind the fuel price rise. The international market has reduced fuel production and manufacturing countries are producing less fuel to gain more profit. This is making the consumer countries suffer.

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“We have continuously been urging the OPEC and OPEC plus countries that it should not happen. We hope there will be a change,” he said.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries that was founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members namely Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

The current OPEC members are Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia (the De facto leader), the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

“Another reason is COVID. We’ve to do various development works. For this, Centre and state governments collect tax. Spending on development work will generate more jobs. Govt has increased its investment and 34% more capital spending will be done in this budget

“State governments will also increase spending. This is why we need this tax but there is also the need for balance. I believe Finance Minister can find a way,” said the Union Minister.

As of Sunday, the oil marketing companies (OMC) have kept the prices of the fuel unchanged across metros after an incessant increase in petrol prices to new record high levels for the past 12 days.

In the past 12 days, petrol prices have increased in the range of Rs 3.2 per litre (Kolkata) to Rs 3.63 a litre in Delhi.

On Sunday, the price of the fuel in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata was at Rs 90.58, Rs 97.00, Rs 92.59, Rs 91.7 per litre, respectively, unchanged from the previous levels.

In the past few days, petrol and diesel prices increased with steep hikes, pinching the consumers harder, and drawing criticism for the government from several quarters along with the opposition.