KTR demands Centre to remove fuel cess, pass on benefit to people
KT Rama Rao lashed out at the BJP-led NDA government for reducing the Windfall tax on crude oil rather than transferring the benefit to people
Hyderabad: Continuing to criticise the Centre over its refusal to remove cess on fuel and reduce fuel prices, BRS working president and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao lashed out at the BJP-led NDA government for reducing the Windfall tax on crude oil rather than transferring the benefit to people of the country by reducing the fuel prices, which have become a huge burden.
He accused the Narendra Modi government of being insensitive towards common citizens without considering their hardships, while favouring a handful of corporate companies.
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“The Central government did not reduce prices of petrol and diesel, but it brought down the taxes paid by corporate companies. This clearly shows that the corporate companies are the top priority for the Centre,” he said. He said by reducing the windfall tax, the BJP government had exposed its faulty economic policies.
In a statement, the Minister pointed out that the Centre attributed the fuel price hike to the Russia-Ukraine war, but did not pass on the benefits of importing crude oil from Russia at discounted price, to the people of the country. “The Centre claimed to have saved Rs 35,000 crore by importing crude oil from Russia, but only a couple of oil companies benefited from it. These corporate companies refined the crude oil brought from Russia at discounted prices and exported it to other countries,” he stated.
Rama Rao demanded that the Centre explain as to what prompted it to allow export of nearly 75 per cent of petroleum products refined from crude oil imported from Russia, instead of using them for domestic purposes. “Ordinary Indian citizens did not benefit from it. Who is pocketing profits earned from these exports?” the Minister questioned.
Finding fault with Central government blaming States like Telangana for high petrol prices, the Minister reminded that the cess imposed by the Centre led to steep hike in fuel prices. The Centre collected Rs 30 lakh crore from people of the country in the form of fuel cess over the last eight years. “The BJP government is neither willing to share the revenue with the States nor pass on the benefit to the people of the country,” he said. He also stated that the Telangana government did not increase Value Added Tax (VAT) since 2014.
Rama Rao said the price of petrol can be reduced to Rs 70 per litre and diesel to Rs 60 per litre, if the Centre scrapped the fuel cess. He suggested that rather than blaming the States for its sins and working for benefit of the corporate companies and multi-billionaires, the Modi government should consider working for the people of the country. However, he said he had lost hope that the Modi government will ever consider the same.
