ISLAMABAD - Strongly condemning the recent increase in petroleum prices and electricity rate during the month of Ramadan, PPP on Wednesday asked the government to immediately lower the price to provide relief to common man.
“The government should lower the price of petroleum products so as to provide relief to the common man,” said Additional Secretary General PPPP Mian Raza Rabbani in a statement issued here on Thursday. The increased margins of the oil companies and dealers of petroleum has resulted in an additional profit of about Rs.360 million for the oil companies and dealers at the cost of the common man, said PPP’s Senator, in a statement.
The increase in prices of petroleum products and electricity will have a snow balling effect on the overall prices of essential commodities which will sore sky high.
 The Government has failed to give adequate relief to the common man in terms of a corresponding increase in their salaries, he added.
Rabbani said that this collusion between the civil bureaucracy and the cartel of oil companies is at the expense of the common man.
He said most of the oil companies are making huge profits at the cost of a common Pakistani and then sending them outside of Pakistan. It is demanded of the government that the petroleum product prices be reduced immediately.  
Increase in the rates of electricity, commercial and domestic is in negation of the PML-N electoral promises.
The prices are being increased while load shedding continues to haunt the people. He was of the view that the government has failed to redeem its electoral promise of immediately providing electricity to the people.
The Senator said that the government claims that increase in electricity rates is essential in order to prevent the reoccurrence of the circular debt, it has already been established that a majority of the pay off in the circular debt has gone to the owners of those power houses who support and are present in policy meetings of the present Government.