Telangana's Industry and Commerce Minister KT Rama Rao on Sunday, May 22, demanded the Union government scrap the cess on fuel, saying this will bring down the prices to 2014 level. He was reacting to the Union government’s move to slash the excise duty on petrol and diesel and subsequent demands that state governments should also cut Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel to ease the burden on common man.
KTR tweeted that crude prices in May 2014 and now in May 2022 are almost the same yet petrol was Rs 70 per litre then and Rs 120 now. "Telangana VAT has remained unchanged. So what & who caused price rise & who is responsible," he asked.
KTR pointed out that special additional excise duty, road and infrastructure cess, agriculture and infrastructure development cess all unilaterally imposed by the Union government are responsible for hike. "Revenues from above are NOT shared with states If CESS are scrapped, Fuel prices will be at 2014 level," he added.
"There was this shopkeeper next to my school who used to hike the prices by 300% during peak season & then just to hoodwink people, slash it by 30% & his cronies would start hailing it as a bumper offer & thank him! Sounds familiar? Who increased the prices in the first place?," asked KTR.
Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao also accused the BJP-led Union government of only "cheating" in the name of price reduction on fuel and demanded it to bring the cess on petrol and diesel to the level prevailing in 2014. All claims of reduction (tax cut on fuel by the Union goverment) is humbug and bogus, he asserted and wanted the Union government to entirely reduce the taxes.
"The Union government is still (even today) collecting Rs 7.40 on diesel and Rs 16.40 per litre on petrol as cess. Bring the cess back to 2014 level and then talk. There is no change in Telangana between 2014 and now," Harish Rao told reporters. "If you are sincere, bring the cess back to 2014 levels on petrol and diesel, when BJP came to power at the Centre," he said.
"Hike (by) one rupee, reduced by 25 paise but you are celebrating... We have not hiked anything, so where is the question of reducing?" Harish Rao asked. He further said the price of LPG cylinder was Rs 400 in 2014, and now it has crossed Rs 1,000. "But you (Union government) now reduced by Rs 200 and it is also not applicable for all. The Rs 400 subsidy on cylinder has also been removed. What cheating is this?" he questioned.
Meanwhile, Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and Development of North Eastern Region G Kishan Reddy, urged the ruling TRS government in Telangana to reduce the taxes on petroleum prices saying they were among the highest in the country.
"Recently, several state governments including Congress and BJP-ruled states have reduced taxes on petroleum products, but the TRS government did not reduce the price even by Re 1. The rate of petrol in the country is highest in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh," Reddy told reporters here.
The Union government on Saturday had cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 8 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 6 per litre to give relief to consumers being battered by high fuel prices which has also pushed inflation to a multi-year high.