Centre collected Rs 3.7 lakh crore from oil & petrol items, fleecing people: Amit Mitra

KOLKATA: Revealing that the BJP-led Central government has collected Rs 3.7 lakh crore through taxes on petrol and diesel by "fleecing common people" in 2020-21 amid Covid pandemic, Bengal Finance minister Amit Mitra termed the Modi government to be "ruthless" as price of LPG cylinder increased by 47 per cent in 14 months and the same of petrol and diesel raised 36 times in two months.

In a tweet on Monday, Mitra stated: "Shocking revelation of GoI: Modi Gov collected Rs 3.7 LAKH CRORES on oil & petroleum products in 2020-21, FLEECING COMMON PEOPLE."

"Price of petrol/diesel RAISED 36 TIMES IN 2 MONTHS. Price of LPG cylinder up by 47% in 14 months, while subsidy to poor simply CUT OFF. RUTHLESS !!" he further stated in the tweet.

The petrol and diesel prices on Monday in Bengal stood at Rs 102.08 a litre and Rs 93.02 a litre respectively. The same on May 1 was Rs 90.62/litre and Rs 83.61 per litre respectively.

It was on July 7 when the price of petrol touched a new high and crossed Rs 100-mark in Kolkata for the first time ever.

Expressing her concern over the distress caused to the common people with "shocking" rise in prices of petrol and diesel, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to substantially reduce the Central taxes on fuel to give much needed relief to people by checking the present inflationary trend in the country.

Banerjee's July 5 letter reads: "Shockingly, the retail price of petrol in many states across the country has crossed an unprecedented Rs 100 per litre. I have come to learn that petrol and diesel prices were hiked by your government eight times since May 4 and out of these, prices were hiked 6 times in the month of June and shockingly, 4 times in one week. These rather cruel hikes in petrol and diesel prices have affected the common people most adversely and have directly impacted the dangerously rising inflation in the country."