The
fears have come true. There will be no reduction in the
prices of petrol and diesel. The State Government has
ruled out any possibility of cutting taxes on the two
fuels citing burden on the State exchequer as the reason.
If
a generous Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy came forward
to bear the entire burden of the hike in the price of LPG last
night, the State Government appeared to have developed cold
feet in reducing the price of petrol and diesel.
The Chief Minister, before leaving Guntur this morning, told
media persons that there would be a hike in fares of the
APSRTC albeit marginally, which came as a surprise since it is
an election year.
"I will ensure that the hike in bus fares of APSRTC would
be marginal," the Chief Minister said, indicating that he
was not prepared to dip his hands into the treasury any more
to offer concessions to the people.
Ministers K Rosaiah (Finance) and K Ramakrishna (Commercial
Taxes) said in Hyderabad that there was no way VAT on diesel
and petrol could be cut.
"The State had lost Rs.600 crore last year after the
Centre reduced the central sales tax (CST) from four per cent
to three per cent. This year, it had been reduced it further
to two per cent which means that the State would lose another
Rs.500 crore. Though the Centre had to reimburse the loss,
there are no signs of any attempt in this direction,"
Rosaiah said.
He said the State had honoured the direction of UPA
chairperson Sonia Gandhi to reduce the burden on people in the
wake of hike in fuel prices.
"She did not tell us price of which fuel should be
brought down. What all she said was to ensure that the burden
is lessened and we thought reimbursement of Rs.50 to oil
companies for LPG cylinders was more appropriate."
Rosaiah shared the concern that if the price of diesel is not
reduced, it would lead to more inflation which was touching
all time high. He said the Government was seized of the issue
and would take measures to rein in the prices.
He maintained that after the Congress took over in 2004,
efforts were made to reduce the tax on LPG and now it is only
four percent.
"In 2004, the tax was 16 per cent. It was brought down to
12.5 per cent. Now it is only four per cent," he said,
adding that by reimbursing Rs.50 per cylinder to oil companies
the State would have to bear a burden of approximately Rs. 325
crore per annum.
The Finance Minister said that last year, the tax had been
scaled down by one per cent on petrol and 0.75 per cent on
diesel which resulted in a drain of Rs.200 crore on the
exchequer, the minister pointed out.
Source
: Newindpress - Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, dated
07/06/2008
