Despite the hue and cry of the Opposition over the soaring prices of fuel in the country, it has now come to light that no non-BJP ruled states has reduced local taxes on petrol and diesel except for Odisha.
BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tripura, Goa, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Assam, Bihar and Haryana announced cuts in VAT on Wednesday evening itself. This came a few hours after the Centre announced the excise cut on petrol and diesel prices on the day
Biju Janta Dal-ruled Odisha was the only non-NDA state to slash fuel prices as of Thursday. Northeastern states like Mizoram and Nagaland joined in too to cut fuel rates.
On the 4th of November, the Chief Minister’s office of the Odisha government had announced that they were reducing the tax on fuel following the announcement by the Modi government.
With the reduction, the state government will incur a loss to exchequer of approximately ₹2000 Cr. Following the reduction, fuel price will be one of the lowest in country, bringing a huge relief for the people of #Odisha.
— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) November 4, 2021
Press Information Bureau (PIB) informed that a total of 22 States, mostly run by the BJP or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had given relief to the masses. The Centre had made the first move by reducing the Central Excise Duty on diesel by 10% and on petrol by 5%. This was followed by the relief on local taxes granted by the BJP/NDA run States, with Karnataka and Union territories of Ladakh and Puducherry being the largest beneficiaries.
Interestingly, non-NDA ruled states like Maharashtra, NCT of Delhi, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andaman & Nicobar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Punjab and Rajasthan have not undertaken any reduction in VAT prices in petrol or diesel.
NDA ruled states join price cut move
After the centre cut the excise duty and urged the states to do the same, several states have reduced VAT on petrol and diesel. For instance, the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh announced a flat cut of Rs 12 per litre in petrol and diesel.
The Chief Ministers of Karnataka, Assam, Tripura, Goa, Gujarat, Sikkim and Manipur had announced a reduction of VAT by Rs 7 per litre on petrol diesel. NDA-ruled Haryana government, too, reduced VAT making petrol and diesel cheaper by Rs 12 per litre, whereas Madhya Pradesh also announced a reduction of 4 per cent VAT on petrol and diesel. Nitish Kumar led BJP-JD (U) government in Bihar has announced a relief of more than Rs 3.
