Bhopal: The hike in the prices of petrol and diesel has hit the common man, but it has increased the state government’s income every year. In a written reply to a question raised by legislator Manoj Chawla, finance minister Jagdish Devda informed the House that the state government’s income had increased by Rs 6,200 crore in 10 years.
In 2009-’10, the government earned a revenue of Rs 811 crore from petrol and Rs 1,804 crore from diesel, he said. Similarly, the revenue earned by the government from petrol has reached Rs 3,844 crore, and from diesel, it has gone up to Rs 4,959 crore till January 2020-’21, he said.
In 2019-’20, the government earned Rs 4,188 crore from petrol and Rs 5,634 crore from diesel, Devda added. According to Devda, the state is set to earn more revenue in the current fiscal and, but for one year, the government’s income has increased every year.
The government principally takes the decision to reduce the prices of petrol and diesel, he said. At present, the government is charging 33% VAT, additional tax of Rs 4.50 and a surcharge of Re 1. Similarly, 23% VAT, additional tax of Rs 3 and surcharge of Re 1 are being charged on diesel.
The government has earned Rs 6,563 crore from liquor till December this year. The government had earned Rs 10,773 crore from liquor last year, the minister said.
The government has received Rs 32,573 crore in the form of GST. A sum of Rs 36,391 crore was received in 2019-20. The amount is set to increase this year.
Congress protests against price rise
The Congress walked out of the House on Wednesday in protest against the rise in the prices of petrol and diesel. The party raised the issue of petrol and diesel price hike during Zero Hour. Former minister Sajjan Singh Verma said the government should reduce the prices of petrol and diesel and staged a sit-in outside the House.
