Kolkata, May 28: Urging the Centre to "act" on the surge in domestic petrol prices, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said agriculture and the common people were suffering because of the spike.

"Fuel prices are increasing again and again. All are being badly affected: agriculture, transport and common people are being forced to bear burden," Mamata tweeted.

"In spite of the grim situation, why isn't the Central Govt taking any serious steps to find a solution? They need to act," she wrote.

Starting from Delhi, prices of fuel in Mumbai and Chennai have already reached record levels and are only reaching new highs every single day.

This surge in fuel prices is largely attributed to the recent rise in crude oil prices and the high excise duty on the fuels in the country.

The price Brent crude oil, however, has declined around $3 per barrel in the last two days, which raises hopes of easing fuel prices in the country. Brent crude is currently priced around $76 per barrel.

Prices of diesel, the key transportation fuel, which are already at record levels across the major cities rose to Rs 68.90, Rs 71.45, Rs 73.36 and Rs 72.74 a litre on Saturday in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai respectively.

 

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Chennai (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the opposition parties defeated the delimitation bill in the Parliament on Friday to defend the "idea of India."

Addressing a poll rally at Ponneri here, he said the BJP-led government at the Centre brought a new bill on April 16, and said they were trying to pass the women's bill, which he said was passed in 2023.

"In the so-called Women's Bill, delimitation was hidden. The idea was to reduce Tamil Nadu's representation in the Union of India... the delimitation move by BJP was to weaken the strength of southern states, small states, north eastern states," he alleged.

"We defeated in Parliament, a bill in which delimitation was hidden; we defeated it to defend the idea of India."

Rahul added that India that is Bharat, is a union of states, and every single state should have a voice, be free to express itself, and protect its tradition.