Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal
The LDF government in Kerala has decided to cut petrol and diesel prices by Re 1, with effect from Friday, June 1, Chief Minister Pinarayai Vijayan announced Wednesday.
“Our state is not doing financially well. But our government has taken the decision to cut sales tax on fuel to effect a Re 1 reduction in petrol and diesel prices from June 1. This will cause a revenue loss of Rs 509 crore annually. This should be seen as our message to the Centre. Fuel prices cannot go up like this. They must slash prices so as to provide relief for the common man,” Vijayan told reporters during a routine press briefing after the weekly cabinet meeting.
There were indications, over the past few days, that the state government will make an announcement to send a message to the BJP-led Centre.
Earlier today, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) reduced fuel prices by 1 paisa hours after erroneously announcing a cut of 60 paise. Price of petrol in state capital Thiruvananthapuram today was Rs 82.61 while diesel was retailing at Rs 75.19.
Today’s revised #PetrolPrice in #Trivandrum is ?82.61, down by ?0.01 (0.01%). #TrivandrumPetrolPrice
— #PetrolPrice (@PetrolPriceIN) May 30, 2018
Today’s revised #DieselPrice in #Trivandrum is ?75.19, down by ?0.01 (0.01%). #TrivandrumDieselPrice
— #PetrolPrice (@PetrolPriceIN) May 30, 2018
Today’s marginal reduction comes after 16 consecutive price increases since May 14 when fuel retailers ended a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus to pass on a spike in global oil rates. In all, petrol price was increased by Rs 3.8 per litre and diesel by Rs 3.38 in that fortnight.
Prices vary from state to state depending on local sales tax or VAT. Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg had on Monday stated that fuel prices are expected to cool in the next two or three days. Last week, the government announced that it was working on a long-term solution to address the volatility in fuel prices.
The BJP-led government, in June last year, junked a 15-year old practice of revising rates every fortnight and moved to daily revisions. Accordingly, domestic prices now track global oil prices each day. But these price revisions were put on hold for nearly three-weeks, prior to the May 12 Karnataka assembly election.