'Official figures expose BJP's oil bond falsehood'

New Delhi: Rejecting the 'claims' of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on oil bonds, the Congress on Tuesday said that the government since 2014-15 has spent Rs 73,440 crore on servicing oil bonds and collected Rs 22.34 lakh crore through taxes on petroleum products.

While addressing a press conference, Congress leader Ajay Maken said, "Official figures expose BJP's oil bond falsehood. Since 2014-15 the Modi government has spent Rs 73,440 crore on servicing of oil bonds and against this, they have collected Rs 22.34 lakh crore through taxes on petroleum products."

Maken further pointed out that spending on servicing of oil bonds is just 3.2 per cent of the tax collection from petroleum products.

"In the current fiscal also, the government has only a liability to pay Rs 20,000 crore in the form of bond repayment and interest on the outstanding oil bonds. At the present rates, the government is expected to collect Rs 5 lakh crore from taxes on petroleum products," he said, adding that the real reason is not oil bonds but reduction in subsidy by 12 times and increase in taxes by three times.

"In 2020-21 alone, tax on petrol-diesel was Rs 4.53 lakh crore. It is three times more than 2013-14. The BJP raised central taxes on petrol and diesel by Rs 23.87 and Rs 28.37 per litre in the last seven years. He said that the government collected additional Rs 1.89 lakh crore every year," he said.

Slamming the government for high taxation on fuel, Maken said, "Modi government has extorted Rs 22,33,868 crore by levying excise on petrol-diesel in the last seven years."

Citing the official figures of petroleum planning and analysis cell, he said that during the UPA government, it gave subsidy on petroleum products to the tune of Rs 1.64 lakh crore in 2012-13 and Rs 1.47 lakh crore in 2013-14. "On the contrary, the present Modi government drastically reduced this amount year after year to Rs 12,231 crore in 2020-21," he said.

"Since the lockdown, the increase on excise duties on petrol and diesel has surpassed all forms of exploitation and extortion," he said, adding that on March 5 last year excise duty on petrol and diesel was increased by Rs 3 per litre. On May 5 last year, the government increased the excise duty on diesel by Rs 13 per litre and on petrol by Rs 10 per litre, he said.

"In the last 15 months, the insensitive BJP government has raised petrol and diesel rates by Rs 32.25 and Rs 27.58 per litre respectively," he said.