Pradhan lobs ‘fuel price ball’ in Naveen’s court

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Bhubaneswar: Soon after the Centre reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel, effecting a price cut of `2.5 per litre, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Thursday dared the state government to reduce the value added tax (VAT) imposed by the latter on petrol and diesel.
At a presser, Pradhan said, “Centre has decided to reduce the petrol, diesel prices by `2.5 per litre by reducing its share on tax and profit margin of the oil companies. We urge the states to cut down their taxes and pass on the benefits to the consumers.”
States like Maharashtra, Gujarat and others have already reduced their taxes, said Pradhan, requesting the state government to cut its VAT on petrol and diesel to help the consumers in the state. “Let the state cut down `2.50 from their tax basket,” he said.
On a question relating to price of gas cylinders, he said, “The price rise in LPG cylinders is compensated through subsidy. Some portion of the price rise was due to GST and the state government is also reaping its benefits. The price rise burden for LPG gas cylinders is basically for the consumers who are using more than 12 cylinders.”
The minister meanwhile also took a dig at the BJD government and said though more beneficiaries could be included in the Centre’s food security scheme, the state government went ahead to launch its own food security scheme. Pradhan termed the move as ‘purely political’.
“Total beneficiaries of 3.26 crore under the NFSA was fixed after discussion with the state government. The NFSA still has the scope of adding another 3.6 lakh beneficiaries from the state,” Pradhan alleged.