The government is "sensitive" towards the prices of the petroleum products and is taking all possible steps to address the issue, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday, and blamed the Congress for the current trend of hike in petrol and diesel prices.
If state governments want, they can lower the prices of petrol and diesel, as a state did so recently, he said in a press conference at the Delhi BJP office.
"We are sensitive towards it and are taking possible steps like doing blending of 10 per cent which we are going to raise to 20 per cent. So, we are taking many steps," Puri said when asked about the rising prices of petroleum products including cooking gas.
The Congress government in 2010 deregulated prices of petrol and diesel, meaning there would be a local impact of international rates, he said.
"The Centre imposes excise tax on petrol and diesel, while states impose VAT on it. We use this excise money to fund schemes like PM Garib Kalyan Yojna under which 80 crore people received free foodgrains, PM Awas Yojna, Ujjwala scheme," he said.
Puri said that the Congress government, before 2014, issued oil bonds of Rs 1.34 lakh crore to control prices of petrol and "passed on their problem to us. They emptied the chest. We have to pay Rs 20,000 crore this year for the oil bonds that have a maturity period of 15 years."
The minister also hit out at the Congress, saying the figures on oil bonds presented by it were "flawed" and challenged the party to ask states ruled by it to reduce the VAT on petrol and diesel.
Puri, who is taking a tour of the city under the 'Jan Ashirvad Yatra' of his party, also took a dig at the Kejriwal government in Delhi, saying cities do not develop with "populist" measures.
"Wherever he goes, he promises 300 unit free electricity. He promised it in Punjab but they should look into the situation in the state," he said, referring to the AAP supremo and Delhi chief minister's visits to poll-bound states.
Puri, who is also the Housing and Urban Affairs Minister in the Narendra Modi government, said people were not only blessing ministers in the 'Jan Ashirvad Yatra' but were also extending their support to policies and programmes of the government.
Citing various schemes and initiatives of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, Puri said the work to regularise unauthorised colonies in Delhi has been done by the central government.
"So far over 8,000 people have got ownership rights which is a huge gift for Delhiites," he added.
The minister said that under the land pooling policy, there will be 17 lakh units and for that, 6,930 hectares of land has already been registered with the DDA.