K’taka: Petrol gets cheaper by Rs 12 and diesel by Rs 17
Bengaluru, Nov 4 :With announcement of central and state governments reducing prices of fuel, the price of petrol is expected to be Rs 95.5 and diesel Rs 81.5 per litre in Karnataka.
The Centre, on the eve of Deepavali, took a significant decision of reducing central excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 and Rs 10 on diesel from November 4 and also urged state governments to commensurately reduce VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers.
The 7-rupee cut will lead to a loss of Rs 2,100 crore to the state exchequer, State CM Basavraj Bommai had stated in his tweet late yesterday night.
The fuel prices had skyrocketed over Rs 100 a few weeks ago.
Interestingly, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre cut the petrol and diesel prices soon after by-polls that were held in some parts of the country unlike the previous governments.
The Congress had been very vocal against the fuel price rise.
In Karnataka, KPCC president DK Shivakumar and Opposition Leader Siddaramaiah had taken out cycle and bullock cart protests at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, protesting the fuel hike.
Even in the monsoon session of the state assembly, Siddaramaiah had raised the issue resulting in a debate.
Dismantling the submissions of the Opposition, Bommai had cornered the Congress by saying that the petrol prices in the last 7 decades had increased manifold during Congress rule in the country and the party did not have any right to condemn the present Modi government.
He had also asked the Congress-ruled states to reduce VAT or other taxes on fuel before launching a tirade against the Centre as the Modi government shared 30 per cent of the taxes collected on fuel to state governments.
Taking to Twitter, the In-charge of BJP’s National Information & Technology Dept In-charge Amit Malviya yesterday put the ball in the Congress-ruled states to reduce VAT across fuels.
“Now that GoI has slashed excise on fuel prices, will opposition States reduce VAT? Delhi levies 30% VAT on petrol, Mumbai (26% plus additional 10.12/litre), Kolkata (25% or 13.12/litre, whichever is higher), Hyderabad (35.20%), VAT in Congress ruled Rajasthan is 36% plus 1500/Kl!,” Malviya tweeted.
After the Center slashed excise on petrol and diesel, BJP and NDA ruled State governments have also reduced VAT across fuels, he said adding that the opposition ruled Delhi, WB, Rajasthan, Telangana, Maharashtra, Punjab, TN among others haven’t done so yet.
“Don’t people living in these States deserve respite?” he asked.
Malviya did not spare West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who spoke eloquently about fuel prices.
He said the Mamata government had in the last one year increased state levies on both petrol and diesel sharply, while the center had not.
“Now that the Center has slashed excise, will she reduce State levies and make Deepavali happy for West Bengal?” Malviya asked.