Uttarakhand govt slashes fuel prices by 50 paise per litre

Dehra Dun, Jun 10 (UNI) The Uttarakhand Government today decided to slash petrol and diesel rates by 50 paise per litre and scrap the four per cent tax applicable on cooking gas to ease the burden on the people of the state against the backdrop of unchecked spiralling prices.

This would result in a Rs 49 crore loss on the state's coffers.

Informing this to mediapersons after a meeting in the Secretariat here, Chief Minister B C Khanduri said the state government had decided to lower petrol and diesel rates by 50 paise to bring some relief to the people who were being ''harassed'' due to the Centre's ''ad hoc'' policies to curb inflation and price rise, which were proving ineffective.

A consumer would now pay Rs 12. 48 less for a cylinder, he said, adding this would only be applicable to domestic household consumers. This is expected to result in Rs 15 crore loss to the state's coffers while lowering of petrol and diesel rates would lead to a Rs 34 crore loss.

The Chief Minister has been vocal of his criticism of the Centre's efforts to pull down increasing price rise trends despite it having two noted economists: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The problem of price rise is more acute in the state which has fighting illegal hoardings of goods in the market,he added.

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