Fuel Price Hike: BJD, Congress flay Centre; BJP blames State VAT

BHUBANESWAR:The BJP-led government at the Centre came in for strong criticism from the ruling BJD and Congress on Tuesday over the unprecedented fuel price hike.

Coming down heavily on the Centre for its failure to take concrete steps to address the situation, BJD general secretary Sanjay Dasburma said the party will launch an agitation for three days from September 7. The protest will be organised in different places of the State from 10 am to 12 pm, he said.

OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik was equally critical of the Centre on the issue. “While prices of petrol and diesel are sky-rocketing in the country, the NDA Government remains indifferent,” he said. Patnaik also accused the ruling BJD in Odisha of being dormant and lacking courage to raise its voice against the BJP.

On the other hand, the BJP asked the State Government to reduce the 26 per cent VAT it is charging on fuel to bring down the prices. Accusing the BJD of maintaining double standards, BJP spokesperson Golak Mohapatra said the State Government is looting people by collecting higher VAT on petroleum products.
The State Government, which was collecting 21.2 per cent VAT from the two fuel products in 2014, has increased it to 26 per cent. As a result, the VAT revenue from petroleum products has increased from Rs 3,046 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 6,930 crore in 2017-18.“If the State’s VAT is reduced, the petroleum product prices will come down considerably,” he said.

After reducing the Central excise duty by Rs 2 per litre on petrol and diesel, the Centre had appealed to the State Government to take similar step to provide relief to the consumers. However, the State refused to reduce VAT.