Petrol price goes up by Rs 5 per litre in U’khand

DEHRADUN: Petrol has just become dearer in the hills. To enhance the revenue to the state exchequer for the first time, the state government on Wednesday formally issued an order hiking petrol prices by Rs 5 per litre, from the current price of Rs 62.20 to Rs 67.20, with immediate effect in all 13 districts.
The order, signed by secretary (finance) Amit Singh Negi came a day after the state government announced the hike.
Addressing a press conference at the secretariat after the notification was issued, state chief secretary Rakesh Sharma and secretary (finance) Amit Negi said the hike had come into effect about a month after the state cabinet gave the green signal to the proposal to introduce a fresh tax known as minimum revenue tax to increase revenue to the state exchequer.
Clarifying the government position on the new tax, Sharma said it was launched to ensure that the state government gets at least Rs 17 as revenue for every litre of petrol to check inflationary trends caused by rapid fluctuation in the prices of petroleum products, based on crude oil prices around the globe. Briefing reporters on why the government had to introduce the new tax, Sharma said this would help make up the financial losses of about Rs 30 crore incurred by the state government during the last financial year.
“We earned an annual revenue amounting to Rs 400 crore from the receipts collected from petroleum products during the previous year, which meant a revenue loss of Rs 30 crore. But after the introduction of the new tax, we will manage to compensate that loss by increasing estimated revenue targets to Rs 430 crore this year,” said Negi.
However, the officials said that there would be no change to the value-added tax (VAT) on petrol. They also clarified that although petrol prices have gone up, there would be no hike in diesel prices. “Keeping in view factors like how diesel prices will affect bus and other transport costs, we have decided not to increase price of this fuel,” an official said.
Meanwhile, there has been considerable opposition to the hike in petrol prices, including by the BJP. “We had received much-needed relief when petrol prices came down by Rs 2.50 per litre earlier. But with the state government introducing this new tax, people will have to face renewed hardship,” said a social activist in Dehradun.
Members and office-bearers of the BJP state unit also held a demonstration and brunt the effigies of the state government to protest against rise in the price of petrol. “The way state government suddenly increased the prices of petrol is nothing but a clear case of harassment of the people,” said the party’s state leader Tirath Singh Rawat.