Petrol and diesel prices were increased for the 11th straight day on Wednesday amid rising demand that is progressively returning to the levels before the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

In Delhi, a litre of petrol will now cost Rs 77.28 and diesel is priced at Rs 75.79. In Mumbai, price of a litre of petrol increased to Rs 84.15 and diesel to Rs 74.32. Meanwhile, in Kolkata, the price of petrol has been fixed at Rs 79.08, and diesel at Rs 71.38. Consumers in Chennai will have to pay Rs 73.69 for every litre of diesel, and Rs 80.86 for petrol.

In the last 11 days, petrol rates have been increased by Rs 6 for every litre and diesel by Rs 6.4. Fuel prices are at a 19-month high in the country even though Brent crude rate are currently witnessing multi-year lows, according to Mint.

The rise in fuel prices came a day after Congress President Sonia Gandhi demanded a rollback of the increased rates, saying the Centre’s decision to introduce successive increases over the past week amidst a pandemic is “wholly insensitive” and ill-advised. She had pointed out that the international price of crude oil had fallen by approximately 9%, but the Centre was doing “nothing short of profiteering off its people”.

The Congress president accused the government of earning an additional revenue of nearly Rs 2.6 lakh crore through the rise in prices, saddling people with an another burden that is “neither justified nor appropriate”.

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Covid-19: Sonia Gandhi demands rollback of fuel price increase, says Centre profiting off own people