Bhubaneswar,October 04: Just two hours after the Centre decided its excise duty on petrol and diesel by making the fuel prices cheaper by Rs 2.5 per litre, Union P&NG Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has requested the Odisha Government to reduce its VAT component by Rs 2.5 per litre and give more benefits to the common people.
Earlier, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had appealed the state governments to reduce their VAT component on fuel prices. Responding to his call, 5 BJP-ruled States – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Tripura and Jharkhand have reduced the VAT by Rs 2.5, which means people in these states will pay Rs 5 less per litre on petrol and diesel.
“The Odisha Government has made a lot of hue and cry over the issue of fuel prices. They accused the Centre of being anti-poor. There are a lot of factors that contributed to the rise of fuel prices. The Union Government is aware of the situation. We have now reduced the prices by Rs 2.5 and urge the Odisha Govt to reduce their own VAT component by Rs 2.5 per litre in the larger interest of poor and middle clas in the state,” Dharmendra Pradhan said.
Earlier, the Centre had reduced the excise duty on fuel prices by Rs 1.5 while Oil Marketing companies would absorb another Rs 1 making the petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 2.5 per litre.
Prasanta Patnaik