KTR urges Centre to scrap cess on fuel to reduce prices

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Thursday demanded that the Centre scrap the cess on petroleum products to provide relief to people by reducing the prices.

Rama Rao said that if the Centre scrap the cess, the prices of petrol and diesel can be reduced to Rs 70 and Rs 60 per litre, respectively.

Rama Rao, who is also Telangana Industries and Commerce Minister, was reacting to the Centre blaming governments of Telangana and five other states for not reducing Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel.

Speaking in Lok Sabha, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Jharkhand have not reduced VAT on fuel. He said if the governments of these states cut the VAT, the prices of petrol and diesel will reduce for consumers. People in these states have to pay more because their state governments continue to levy heavy VAT, he said.

Reacting to this, Rama Rao reminded the Central minister on Twitter that fuel prices have shot up only because of the NPA (Non-Performing Alliance) government.

“Name-calling states for not reducing VAT even though we NEVER increased it; is this the co-operative federalism PM Modi Ji talks about?,” asked KTR, as the BRS leader is popularly known.

He pointed out that Telangana has not increased VAT on fuel since 2014 and rounded off only once.

“We don’t get 41% of our rightful share because of the Cess imposed by NPA govt In the form of Cess Union Govt has already collected more than Rs 30 Lakh Crore! Isn’t it enough? Please scrap the Cess so we can give Petrol at Rs 70, Diesel at RS 60 & provide relief to all Indians,” he wrote.