New Delhi, June 6 : The UPA Government needs to take critical and immediate measures to curtail the consumption of petroleum products in the wake of the recent fuel price hike, said Naresh Gujral, the Member of Parliament representing the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the Rajya Sabha.

In a second letter sent to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in the last four days, Gujral acknowledged the necessity of the fuel price hike, given the crisis created by the burgeoning prices of global crude, but said remedial counter-strategy must be initiated sooner than later, as there was every possibility that crude prices could rise even further.

“May I suggest that the excise duty structure on both four wheelers and two wheelers be modified in order to encourage production and sale of low engine capacity vehicles and at the same time punitive duties be imposed on fuel guzzling cars and SUVs,” Gujral said.

“The government must encourage the production of hybrid cars, which give extremely high mileage, by giving excise and duty incentives. Import duty on such cars could be reduced by 50 percent till such time that these cars are manufactured in the country.

It is also imperative to curtail the wastage of fuel on vehicles owned by the government. You would send a very positive signal by restricting the number of security vehicles, which accompany V. V. I. P. cavalcades.

I am not suggesting that we should expose our high dignitaries to unnecessary risk but may I gently point out that such ostentatious display of security is not witnessed anywhere else in the world,” he concluded in his letter. (ANI)