West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said she was shocked that the retail prices of petrol had crossed ₹100 a litre across many States.
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she urged him to substantially reduce the taxes charged by the Central government on petrol and diesel. “It is my earnest request that the taxes charged by the Central government on petrol and diesel be substantially reduced to give much-needed relief to the common people and also to check the overall inflationary trend in the country today,” she wrote.
In the two-page communication, Ms. Banerjee pointed out that the petrol and diesel prices have been hiked eight times since May 4. Out of these, prices were hiked six times in June and four times in one week.
“Wholesale Price Index (WPI) in the country rose by 12.94% in May 2021, compared to May 2020. Similarly, Consumer Price Index rose by 6.30% where the prices of edible oils used by common people every day, rose by 30.8%, eggs by 15.2%, fruits by 12%-and health-related items, in the middle of the pandemic, by as much as 8.44%,” the letter stated.
‘Staggering’ revenue collection
Ms Banerjee noted that the Centre had collected a ‘staggering’ revenue of ₹ 371,725 crore from oil and petroleum products in the financial year 2020-21 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. “In fact, over the past six years of your Government, Government of India’s tax collection from oil and petroleum products has jumped by a staggering 370 % since 2014-15 due to constant hikes in Central Excise Duty on oil and petroleum products including cesses and surcharges at the cost of the common people,” she observed.
The Centre was constantly increasing the cess component of Central taxes, which resulted in denial of the State’s legitimate share of 42 % tax collected by the Centre. “I sincerely urge you to desist from the anti-federalist trend development in the last few years,” the letter said.
It comes at a time when the petrol price in most of the districts of the State had crossed over ₹100 a litre.
During the day, the Trinamool Congress leadership announced Statewide protests against fuel price rise. Party leader Partha Chatterjee said the TMC would hold protests and demonstration on July 10 and 11.