State's tax reduction on petrol & diesel stands at Rs 2.80/l & Rs 2.03/l: Mamata

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused the BJP government at the Centre of earning huge revenue from excise duty on petrol and diesel and reiterated that the state's tax reduction on petrol and diesel stands at Rs 2.80 per litre and Rs 2.03 per litre respectively. "The Centre has earned over Rs 18.23 lakh crore since assuming power in 2014 till December 2021 while the state has lost Rs 1,141 crore from revenue-earning on account of the state tax reduction and rebate on fuel prices," Banerjee said.

The West Bengal government levies 17 per cent VAT on diesel and 25 per cent on petrol.

The Mamata Banerjee government has been providing a subsidy of Re 1 on every litre of petrol and diesel for the last three years and has spent Rs 1,500 crore to provide relief to common people and with the Central cut on petrol and diesel by Rs 8 and Rs 6 per litre respectively has resulted in a further automatic reduction of R 1.80 state tax on petrol and Rs 1.03 on diesel.

"So the rebate on state tax at present is effectively Rs 2.80 per litre on petrol and Rs 2.03 per litre on diesel, which is more than other states when it comes to petrol, namely Kerala (Rs 2.41), Rajasthan (Rs 2.48) and Maharashtra (Rs 2.08).

In Kolkata, the price of petrol dropped by Rs 9.09 to Rs 106.03 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 7.07 to Rs 92.96 a litre on Monday. She further added that the Centre also collect cess from petrol and diesel and the states do not get a single penny on account of the same.

Banerjee termed the Centre's price cut on fuel and subsidy on cooking gas prices under the Ujjwala scheme as an election stunt maintaining that only a small number of people belonging to the Below Poverty Level (BPL) category would be able to avail of the benefit.

She presented an account of the retail price of petrol in Kolkata to substantiate that the Narendra Modi led government at the Centre has not cut down on fuel prices even after there was a drop in price in the international market. "The price was Rs 71.51 in May 2014, Rs 63.16 in May 2016, Rs 68.09 in 2017, Rs 73.30 in 2020, Rs 91.41 in May 2021 and Rs 106.03 in May 2022. So they have constantly increased the price though there was a decline in price in the international market after the BJP came to power," Banerjee said.

The Opposition states have been deprived of their dues and there have been attempts to politically malign these states, she said.

The petroleum dealers' association in the city have also expressed their disappointment over the sudden cut and is going for No Purchase on Tuesday and an hour's Light Off at all the petrol pumps across the state from 7 pm to 8 pm on the same day.

Meanwhile, Banerjee also announced on Monday that the name of retired Justice Asim Roy has been again proposed as the Lokayukta of the state unanimously. The earlier meeting on Lokayukta was held on December 27 last year and the name of Roy was proposed and a recommendation was sent to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar but no response was received.

The state government again recommended Justice (retd.) Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya as the chairperson of the state Human Rights Commission and retired Justice Madhumita Mitra as the member. The state has also recommended the name of retired DG Virendra and former IAS Naveen Prakash as Information Commissioner.

The state had extended an invitation to the Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari to be present in the meeting regarding Lokayukta at Nabanna but he skipped the meeting. As per norms, these recruitments call for a recommendation from the Chief Minister, the Speaker of Bengal Assembly and the Leader of Opposition and the final approval is accorded by the Governor.