Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Saturday took on the BJD government in the state and said that their proposed demonstration before the Raj Bhawan, October 1 would not help in any way to bring down prices of petrol and diesel in the state.
The party said that instead of holding such a dharna, the BJD government should cut down the taxes levied by them on petrol and diesel and pressurise the Centre to also cut down its taxes so that prices come down.
“BJD is arranging this drama for eye wash. The state government is collecting Rs 13.26 on petrol and Rs 12.50 on diesel for every litre as VAT. Likewise, the Centre is imposing excise duty of Rs 19.48 on petrol and Rs 15.33 on diesel for every litre. Both the governments are getting huge amount as tax on petroleum products,” the party said Saturday and urged that instead of the state-Centre blame game, a resolution should be made to cut down the taxes and prices of the products.
“If BJD is really sympathetic towards common people, then it must slash VAT and demand lowering of excise duty by the Center. Both state and central governments must go back to March 2014 tax structure on petroleum products,” demanded Satya Prakash Nayak, Chairperson, Odisha Congress Media Cell.
The party also accused both the BJD government in the state and the BJP government at the Centre of not giving due attention to the problem of fuel price hike. It said that non-cooperation of the BJD and BJP when the Monsoon Session was going on to protest against the price rise showed their callous attitude towards the problem.
The party also said that many other issues were confronting the people of the state. A release from the party late evening said, “The BJD government in the state and BJP at the Centre are shedding crocodile tears for the sake of common people. People of Odisha are heavily burdened with unemployment, price hike of essential commodities, high tax structure and failure of law and order among others.”
PNN